Like small SUV’s, the small towns of the South have a bit of a split personality. On one side of the brain are the transients. They generally don’t care who you want to marry, whether you own a firearm or not. Or what political party you favor. They are here for the (few) jobs and the cheap real estate.
The you have the Bible belt ‘conservative’ with a big old silver confederate belt buckle in the middle. The ‘Good Old Boys’ liked things just fine before their town became known and sure as heck don’t want anything to change now. Their ideology is right wing, family focused, and you can take it or leave it.
They are genuinely nice to you.. so long as you’re not too weird.
But if you’re too much of a drag on business, weirdo, the door does swing both ways. Much the same way as the door ended up swinging both ways for this Chevy Tracker.
Rent: The Tracker was to Chevy what an unemployed transient is to the ‘traditional’ south. A challenge to assimilate. But a welcome addition if it finds it’s niche. Unfortunately the Tracker stood out in a traditional Chevy showroom in 2002 about as well as a gay pride parade did back then in Cumming, Georgia.
Dealers hated the thing. It was small and expensive in a market where customers still wanted ‘big’ along with a volume discount to boot. By the late 90’s, the Tracker’s sales had nosedived more than three quarters from their Geo peak and never found a second wind.
If I rented this vehicle it would be $175 a week. That sounds good in theory. But I wonder if I can do better.
Lease: Financing this vehicle may be a more secure investment. A $700 down payment and $65 a week for 24 months may add up to less than a long-term rental status. But then again you have a solitary owner with a financial stake in the vehicle instead of multiple bodies hammering away at the powertrain.
Sell: A ZR2 model with 4WD and 105k would go for around $4500. Maybe even $5000 if I find the right buyer in the mountains of North Georgia or Tennessee. Small SUV’s tend to do very well in that region and based on my Autotrader results, there doesn’t seem to be many out there to choose from.
However there’s a reason for that.
Deport: A 4WD compact SUV is pure gold in Costa Rica along with a few other Central American countries. Tariffs are stiff. But a small, well kept Tracker with all the options and reasonable mileage would still sell for around double the price it gets in the states.
Then there is another recent purchase to consider. I just happened to find a 1st generation Toyota RAV4 with 90k miles the other day. It’s also a clean compact SUV. So why not take the family on a ‘selling’ vacation? I still can speak Spanglish quite well after all these years and nothing would be better for the Lang Gang than fleeing from this endless gray winter.
So what should it be? Rent it to some good old boys and their progeny. Finance it to someone who will hopefully turn out to be a saintly soul behind the wheel. Sell it for the quick buck. Or take it out to a place that plays limbo with the equator.
What says you?
Damn. If it had a clutch, I’d fly in with cash.
Is it really practical to sell a car in Latin America if you don’t have an operation set up for that?
The first car I ever owned was a Toyota Corolla FX16 that I sold to a guy in that business. He collected a bunch of cars and shipped them to Costa Rica in containers to sell on lots he (or his partner, I forget) managed. He bought my car for $2500 and told he he’d sell it in Costa Rica for $10K, after paying $2500 in import taxes and $2500 in shipping expenses. Not sure how truthful he was with his numbers (this was in 1993) but still interesting.
Sell. I’ve often thought about picking up one of these cheap just for a winter beater (4×4) and all but I can’t justify that expense right now. I’ve heard that comparatively speaking they were decent little trucklets, not Wrangler or Samurai unstopable but pretty good compared to some of the competition.
My wife drives a 2001 Suzuki XL-7 4X4, the seven-seater variant of this. It handles wonderfully, is fun to drive, somewhat peppy with the 2.7 V6 (which is also ultra-quiet), and has been dead reliable for the three years that we’ve owned it. There are no shakes or rattles, the build quality is fantastic, and it feels nearly as solid as a new car. The gas mileage isn’t that great for such a small vehicle with only about 175 hp (it only gets about 450 kilometers per 60 litre tank), though I suppose the BOF design made it a little heavy. I can’t believe more of these weren’t sold, but I’m guessing that the Ford Escape stole its thunder a decade ago with the more powerful V6, superior handling, and better packaging.
I’ve recently inherited a 2002 Tracker 4×4 V6.
I would compare its handling characteristics to that terrible, uneasy feeling you get when closing your eyes while balancing on one of those workout balls. It does have decent pep when pressured but the thing is just not fit for duty as a highway cruiser here in New Jersey. I plan on roughing it through the winter and then move onto something more fun/economical/safe/cool/lower CG.
Sounds like something is wrong with it. My (mechanically similar) Sidekick was always dead stable up to its maximum speed (about 95mph) and handled just fine on country roads. It didn’t corner like a sportscar, but it never felt unstable or uncontrollable.
Just for my information, how would you get a pair of decade old CUV’s down to Costa Rica? The roads are crap, no railways exist, so I’m assuming it’s 40ft container time. Now I know container rates are dirt cheap at the moment, but even so, wouldn’t the shipping cost take a large bite out of any profit?
Not at all. It’s the tariffs and other related duties that knock importers for a loop.
IDK. If you’re paying full tariffs to import into developing countries, it’s because you haven’t paid the correct people the correct fees.
Import tariffs are that high huh? Interesting. I’ve dabbled with idea of importing 15+ year old Japanese cars into BC and it’s the shipping cost which is the biggest killer.
Third world countries love their import tariffs. Most of South and Central America, many Asian countries. Or take Russia (and now all former USSR republics), which charges 2 Euro per cubic cm of the engine capacity – if the car is not brand new. The brand new ones are around 30% of their invoice price in customs charges/fees/taxes.
And it does not matter how much (or little) you paid for the car.
I really don’t know what you should do with it. I guess sell it? No idea how they fare for reliability.
However, a woman where I work shows up to work in either a red 2-door Tracker, or her boyfriend’s BMW x5 depending on the day. I need to ask her how weird it is to switch from a bottom of the rung Tracker to an x5 on a regular basis. That is all.
5 grand for a 10 year old Geo Tracker? 10 grand in Costa Rica? Jesus Christ used car prices have gone crazy.
Sell. These things are difficult to find parts for and if you can find them, they’re quite expensive.
Deport for sure. It seems like a good option.
Could turn out to be a pretty expensive vacation or a round trip for the vehicle if you have your facts wrong. My guess is that would only work well when you are sure of what you are doing and have enough volume to make it worth while.
How do these compare to the Sidekick/Tracker predecessor? I remember that at the time it seemed like all they had done was rounded off the corners and jacked up the price a few grand. Any substansive improvements to justify the increased price?
I had a first gen 1996 sidekick. I’ve had two of the newer model, a 1999 tracker, and a 2002 vitara, all 2dr converts, with 4 wheel drive. The second gen is a drastically more refined car to the first, and with the 5 speed, we would get 29 mpg average, but the first gen got a few more mpg. The auto hubs and softer ride was appreciated, but i still preferred the first gen for the interior layout and materials. The turning circle is still amazing and the off road ability was great. Super to maintain and sort out, as its just a suzy, but they were not a highway cruiser, but the 4 doors I’m thinking would be better. However, the v6 mileage sucks, especially with auto shifter, but as far as the newer gen is concerned, the seats were the low point and would give me an ache, unless you had the adjustable lumbar as in some of the 4 drs.
My wife drove an ’02 Tracker 4-dr ZR2 for 50k miles and close to 3 years. It was super reliable. Not a single problem the whole time. Very easy to park and good visibility to boot. Too bad it sucked fuel (21 mpg highway, on a good day), was a bit slow, and made for a rough, loud highway ride. She really didn’t need 4X4 capability, so she traded it on a Pontiac Vibe and was much happier overall. She says she still misses the ZR2, but she can’t even say why.
My BIL had a 90 something Tracker with a 3 speed auto and something like 5.10 diffs. It rode rough. but compared well to a baby jeep of the same vintage. If I wasn’t so invested in old BMWs, I would be into Suzukis.
I test drove an automatic when I bought my 94. I can’t imagine being willing to own it with one. The damned thing was hunting between gears just driving down a straight flat road.
Far as I know, they all had the 5.10 gears. I know mine does. 4wd/5 speed. Low range first gear, it will creep along so slowly I could easily jump out, run around it, and jump back in (not that I ever tried). It actually made a decent commute vehicle in slow and go traffic. It would pull cleanly from idle in 2nd gear, so I’d just roll along while all the other fools would rush up to the car ahead, slam on the brakes, rinse/repeat.