Christina,

In addition to all the good points that the others have already written (e.g., hard to insure and register, high prospect of future mechanical headaches, etc.), I'd like to comment on that remark you cited, "...and to get the AWD going another drive shaft...." That's likely far from true.

There have been problems with the AWD in these cars -- often it's a cost of a couple of thousand $$ -- and the common solution has been to remove the rear driveshaft to turn it into a mere FWD car. The absence of the driveshaft hints that this "fix" has already been done, and it won't be just a matter of putting in a driveshaft to restore the AWD.

All in all, that's way too much money for all the concerns the owner of this salvage car would face.