Saabaru 9-2X Linear, Victory Vision, Gen1 RAV4: The Dopest Vehicles I Found For Sale Online

I’ve had another week of sleepless nights, dreaming of cars I could own if only I had a garage the size of the Titanic. I like finding cheap used cars that can either be daily driven right away or daily driven after minor work. I’ve sort of turned this into my own little art form.

This time I’ve expanded my searches outside the Rust Belt. I wanted to see what gems my car-finding magic would turn up in places where road salt isn’t in the vocabulary of the locals. Unfortunately, most of the cross-country ads sold while I was writing them up for this post.

Below are seven vehicles I’ve found across the country that I’d drive or that I judge to be solidly Jalop. I’ve resisted the urge to buy something in the previous entries, but once again I have a couple messages out there. Oh, no.

I love the Volkswagen Passat W8. These cars have an appropriately weird engine housed in a bland family sedan. Some would joke that the engine is like half of a Bugatti W16 living in a much more attainable VW.

While manual-shift examples like my restoration project W8 are quite rare, cars with automatics are comparatively common. Since the automatics are not as coveted, they’re cheaper too. So if you want that W8 experience on the cheap without having to restore the car, this is your choice.

If you want to join my craziness, pick this 2004 Passat W8 up in Muskegon, Michigan, from Facebook Marketplace for $2,700. It’s going to need plastic side skirt replacement, but that’s cheap, and it’s an easy job.

If that’s too expensive, here’s a 2003 Passat W8 for $1,400 in Aurora, Illinois.

The seller told me it runs and drives but hasn’t said much else. We haven’t seen snow in Illinois for a few weeks, so this one seems to have been for sale for a while.

A first-generation Toyota RAV4 is a funky little SUV. I’ve watched some of these in serious action working the off-road trails, so they are better in the sticks than you might think.

These two-door versions appear to be rare nowadays, and in my opinion they’re also the coolest. Searching Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace across the country, I had an interesting time finding running examples and ads with prices. I even found one with rust in a place where cars don’t usually rust. I finally found this two-door RAV4 in Indianapolis, Indiana, for $2,200 on Facebook Marketplace.

This is a Saab that’s not even a Saab! Under that very fashionable skin is a Subaru Impreza. The 9-2X vehicular mashup is affectionately known as the “Saabaru” and between us, I like the looks of the Saab version better. This particular model is the Linear, which doesn’t come with the WRX’s hot 2.0-liter 227-horsepower turbocharged engine, but with the still-respectable 2.5-liter, 165-HP unit.

The seller notes some title problems, so I’d get that resolved before picking it up in Freeport, Illinois, for $2,500 on Facebook Marketplace

I owned a $900 red Sportster 883 of this exact year, and I don’t regret it one bit. Buying an old Sportster like this is one of the cheapest ways to buy into the potato-potato thrum of a Harley-Davidson. At $2,500, it is realistically about the bottom of the market for these; as long as you don’t crash it, you might even make some money when spring rolls around. This beautiful blue machine is on Facebook Marketplace for $2,500 in Sycamore, Illinois.

The lesson I learned from riding mine is that the only way to truly enjoy a Sportster 883 is to ride it hard all the time — redline every gear and pretend you’re an old-timey motorcycle racer. I see this one has the same Screamin’ Eagle pipes mine had. The novelty of my 883 wore off quickly, but that’s just me. Sportsters have tons of fans all over the world.

This Honda Element is for sale for $2,500 in Oak Park, Illinois, on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve long wanted one of these to make into an off-roader. I’m not sure what draws me to the Element. Perhaps it’s the bold colors. Perhaps it’s the squared looks. I just see that box of a Honda and think how awesome would it be to wrap those wheels in some mud-terrains and take it into the woods. (Contrary to popular belief, you don’t want to hose out the floor.)

The Element offered an optional Real Time All-Wheel-Drive system. In this system, the Element is front-wheel drive in normal situations; when slippage is detected, the rear wheels are engaged to help. Occasionally an Element shows up for under $1,000 in my local area, but when they do they’re almost guaranteed to sell before I can even add one to this list.

Before Polaris brought Indian back from the dead, it had created Victory Motorcycles. Victory was Polaris’s take on the American cruiser, and at least visually, they’re quite striking. Seeing one in person, I’d say they look like a cruiser from the future. They have quite the commanding presence.

Despite Victory no longer being around, these bikes hold their value surprisingly well. This one’s on the cheaper side due to needing a minor gasket repair. This Vision has heated seats, heated grips and a jammin’ sound system. What else would you want on a couch with two wheels?

Thankfully I don’t have $6,500 to throw on a motorcycle, else I’d be on my way to Elmwood Park, Illinois, to buy this Vision from Facebook Marketplace.