Subaru BRZ, Suzuki RE5, Suzuki Samurai Diesel: The Dopest Vehicles I Found For Sale Online

I’m going to start this off with something that made me do a double-take. This Smart Fortwo popped up in my feed and I am glad it’s all the way over in Swindon, England. Had it been close to Illinois I would be having a crisis at this very moment. This crazy Mad Max-inspired kart was built by Podpadstudios in England. The outfit specializes in making bonkers props for conventions and film. If this car were in the States it would be a contender for my next Gambler 500 rally car. It already looks the part and it still runs and drives as it should. Check out this video of it in motion!

If you’re a reader in England you can pick it up for £2,000 in Swindon on Facebook Marketplace.

The Subaru SVX is a strange, futuristic coupe styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro. It’s not quite like anything Subaru made before or since. The SVX isn’t particularly fast, and competitors from the era like the Nissan 300ZX handily beat it. However, what the car lacks in speed it can make up for in its exterior and interior design. This particular example has 182,000 miles, and the driver’s seat certainly shows it.

I chose this particular example because it’s cheaper than SVXs I found with more critical issues. This one has a mostly clean body, and I think everything else shouldn’t be too hard to fix. The SVX has a strong community of fans that can help keep it on the road, too. It’s $1,500 on Facebook Marketplace in Springfield, Ohio.

I have a long bucket list of bikes I absolutely need to own one day, and a Suzuki RE5 is on it.

What is the Suzuki RE5? Well, it’s what happens when you take a single-rotor Wankel engine and cram it into a Giorgetto Giugiaro designed motorcycle body. Yes, I have two wildly different Giugiaro designs back to back.

The result of this mashup was polarizing. Cycle World put it on the magazine’s list of the Ten Worst Motorcycles, citing its cost, complexity and lack of power as reasons. In a modern take, Classic Bike Guide believed that with different circumstances, Suzuki could have had an entire family of rotary-powered motorcycles.

Regardless of its faults, I still want to own a RE5 one day. Unlike the inline-6 cylinder Honda CBX monster, the Suzuki RE5 has not exploded in value. This one ran when parked and is being sold for $5,000 on Facebook Marketplace in Pekin, Illinois.

The eighth generation Buick Riviera is one of those cars people feel should either burn in the fires of hell or be given a second chance. I posted this car in our office Slack channel and it seems I may have an unpopular opinion in thinking it’s cool. But I’m with Torch, this is a neat car.

The Riviera certainly had a striking appearance, and the supercharged Buick 3800 engine under the hood gave the personal luxury coupe good motivation, but clearly that wasn’t enough to justify its continued existence in the world of massive massive SUVs. The Riviera died with the close of the 1999 model year.

The price is pretty good, too. Riviera prices are all over the place, but examples in decent shape are often asking $5,000 or more. This is a much more reasonable $1,500 on Facebook Marketplace in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

The Suzuki Samurai is a capable off-road machine. It’ll go just about anywhere a Jeep Wrangler can, and it’s a fraction of the Jeep’s size. This one appears to be tastefully modified and almost ready for its next adventure.

You can get it for $3,000 in Frontenac, Kansas on Facebook Marketplace.

If for whatever reason you need your Samurai to sound like a tractor, you could alternatively go for this cheaper one that comes equipped with a 1.6 liter Volkswagen turbodiesel engine. It runs, drives, and has a working 4x4 system. That one is in Castlewood, Virginia, for $2,500 on Facebook Marketplace. You may want to close the hood before driving it home.

Finding an inexpensive Subaru BRZ or Scion FR-S proved to be a bit of a challenge. Most of the ones I found under $10,000 had body damage, severe engine damage or an automatic. Here’s one under $10,000 that is none of those things. This BRZ looks very well cared-for inside and out.

It comes equipped with a manual transmission, and it looks to be pretty much unmodified. These cars are fun to drive and loved by many. I can see why used ones still ask the coin they do.

Pick it up for $9,000 on Facebook Marketplace in DuBois, Pennsylvania. I’ve been to this town before and can say you’ll be able to enjoy a relatively scenic drive home. Take backroads and you may even be able to carve some curves!

This is a hard car to find for cheap. I see examples with over 100,000 miles trying to get $13,000 or more. While I firmly believe the Marauder is the best of the Panther platform cars, I’m not sure I’d pay five figures for one. This example has mileage similar to those high-priced ones, but it needs a little work. None of the tasks suggested by the ad (and visible in the photos) should be very hard or expensive. The corrosion is reportedly surface rust, and from the interior pictures it just needs a new seat and door card on the driver’s side.

Pick it up for $4,500 in Burton, Michigan, on Facebook Marketplace. Fix it up, then enjoy yourself a fun burnout machine, or flip it one day for decent profit.

To round out the list we have the cheapest sidecar motorcycle I’ve seen in a couple of years. Winter may be here but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any cool motorcycles out there. If you’re into older motorcycles you won’t wrong with a Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM). Whether the badge says Honda, Kawasaki, or Yamaha it’s going to be a fun ride that’s easy enough to work on. And when they do go wrong, you can fix them and they’ll probably ride forever.

This Kawasaki KZ650 not only looks like it has been someone’s commuter motorcycle for some time but it also comes with a slick sidecar. Even though it looks like it has been ridden a lot, it’s still in very presentable condition. I’ve seen sidecars alone cost this much so I think it’s a pretty decent deal.

Get it in Sutersville, Pennsylvania, for $3,900 on Facebook Marketplace.

That’s it for this week! As an interesting observation, I’ve noticed most of the ads I feature in these articles end up selling within a few days of publishing. I’d love to know if some of you are picking these up.