I like my 240 sedan because I know everything that is wrong with it. I know its peculiar tendencies, its driving limits, the gear/rev range I need to overtake another vehicle, how far out I can slide the rear end in the snow, where it tends to rust, all of the cool and rare accessories, what to grab from a junkyard and the interesting people who appreciate the old bricks.

I'm not interested in driving an appliance (read: Toyota passenger vehicle). I want a machine, something that was really "built," maybe even overbuilt. To be fair, my brother has an '05 Accord sedan, and it is a remarkable piece of equipment. In many ways, it beats my Volvo by a long shot. It has great power and fuel economy, handles beautifully, stops quickly, has been reliable, etc, etc. It's even kind of fun to drive. He bought it with 5K miles for around $16K. Hard to do better than that.

But like many others who post on this board, I'm a lifelong automotive enthusiast. Compared with others here I'm young (just finished undergrad work), but observing my father's automotive obsession and those of many Brickboarders, I have no reason to believe that this enthusiasm will ever go away. In short, I don't want a vehicle that is so reliable that I forget about it. When a problem arises, I want to solve it. And with any luck, I'll discover new problems in the process of fixing the original.

Safe holidays to all.