a VW Passat, forgot the exact year (think it was 1981 or 82) - this style
5 cylinders; 2.2 liters; 4+E (Formel E) - max. speed somewhere around 230 kmh downhill (VR tires required)

- 28 mpg or so at ~75mph steady (which I didn't stick to all that often

) - it was some sort of re-import from Belgium (I don't recall the details anymore; did lower the price

) and when I got it, the new motor had 8000 km on it (rest of the car was more like 120,000 km at the time; seller said something had blown up

nevermind the entire exhaust needed to be replaced a month later) - I loved that car, but I only got to own it for, like, 2.5 years before moving to the US

- I'd buy it again in a heartbeat; prone to rust easily, though
color was eggshell
I had seen the newspaper advertisement and discussed it briefly with my coworkers at lunch, being concerned whether it was too big of a car, when someone said "if you want a really good motor, that would be it" - wondering what that meant in the context of the first engine having blown up, I was less than convinced, though . . . which helped to negotiate the seller down; has-been husband wasn't all too gung-ho anyway, so having him mope about during the discussions lowered the price even more

hey, I needed every break I could, I was a poor graduate student then living on a half-orphan allowance from the German government
