wrf@ernie.BERKELEY.EDU (W. Randolph Franklin) (11/08/85)
References: I am about to buy a Japanese 4WD station wagon (or maybe minivan). What experience do people have with them? Is 4WD worth the extra $2K over front wheel drive? This applies to NYS in addition to CA. I plan to drive to the Adirondacks in the winter. How trouble free is it? My front wheel drive car had expensive problems in the front wheel drive. Does 4WD generally have worse problems? The dealers in this area want an extra $1500 to $2500 markup because 4Wd's and Japanese cars are scarce. Is this universal? Are there regions where the prices are closer to list? Are there standard ways to get this lowered? Is there any preference between the Tercal, Subaru GL, etc? The Nissan Stanza minivan(?) looks interesting, if big. However several reviewers gave 85 Stanzas terrible reviews because of the unacceptably bad brakes. Has this been fixed for 86? Finally, I intend to use this car 100% for business driving in 1985, and deduct to the limit, which is legal but may annoy the IRS, I've heard. What are people's experiences with this? Please send replies to me and I will post a summary to the net. Wm. Randolph Franklin, UC Berkeley, Arpanet: wrf@ernie.Berkeley.EDU USPS: Computer Science Div., 543 Evans, University of California, Berkeley CA, 94720, USA 415-642-9955