I had hoped my wife would love the red wagon I bought "her" last March but she doesn't, and I do, so she wants a minivan and we have been looking for one we can afford. In the meantime, I have to decide which of my Bricks I will keep, my '86 744GLE (NA) or the '91 745Turbo.

The '86 had one previous owner and I have the records from when the car was purchased (oil changes every 5K miles, and all other recommended service). It had a new head gasket and valve job just before I purchased it at 117K miles, and it now has 172K. Never had a hint of a problem with it. I have replaced rotors, brake pads, spark plugs, routine stuff, but never a major problem of any kind. It always starts without fail, and always gets 22 mpg around town and 26 mpg on the highway. The a/c works well (converted last year to R-134a), it has only a couple of small areas of body panel rust and a shiny metallic clearcoat with a few scratches and dings, and the beginnings of some significant floor pan rust (I repaired one area a couple of years ago with POR-15 and it is beginning to look rusty again.) It has was sounds like rod knock (knocks under no load, goes away under load) but it has never gotten worse and doesn't affect the performance of the car in any way. The leather on the driver's seat had holes so I replaced the cover with one I found on ebay (fun job). The passenger's side leather is very cracked but no holes yet. It leaks a tiny bit of oil, only a drop or two. It is, however, a sedan, and I would prefer a wagon, all other things being equal.

The '91 I purchased from ebay last March and it is a beautiful car, but has had several body panels repainted, one by some one who thought he should use clearcoat (which you don't on solid colors, I am told). It is completely rust free with the very minor exception of just a hint of rusty color under the body (driver's and passenger's floor pan), but no degeneration of the metal. The engine bay is clean as could be, no rust of any kind, some evidence of oil leaks (probably from a cam cover leak I recently fixed and something else I can't trace). The turbo runs well and the oil return line is leak-free. It runs great except for the fact that it doesn't idle at 750, and the idle doesn't change when the a/c comes on (stays at arouind 600), but it never ever stalls. However, I have had to replace a lot of stuff on it - head gasket (along with valve job), several sensors, etc., and problems with the sensors have caused some significant running problems, something that has never happened with the other car. It leaves two oil spots on the driveway every night, one about 2" in diameter, the other about 3", but the driveway was recently sealed so it doesn't get absorbed. The interior is nearly perfect, no flaws in the leather or the headliner or dashboard. It just has me a little nervous and jerky because it has been pretty unreliable since I got it, and the other car has been dead-on reliable. I also understand that turbo problems are inevitable at some point.

The '86 was very conscientiously maintained, but the '91 was not, according to the indy mechanic I go to (he was mad at me for buying this car). But, the B230FT engine of the '91 runs very smoothly and quietly, compared to the B230F in the '86.

Some one is sure to suggest, why not keep em both, which is a possibility, but I don't need two cars and my daughter is vegan and won't accept a car with a leather interior at this point (she's 16, what can I say?).

Any suggestions? Any experience with minivans - other than Hondas and Toyotas which are out of our price range?

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Darius in Albany NY '86 744 GLE, '91 745T