Ok, things changed a little. The seizure mooted the need for a car for a while since I can't drive until late June anyway.
But then!
Minivan needed a new s-belt. Ok, no biggie. Did that and replaced the idler pullies. Couldn't get the tensioner pulley out, but it was ok.
SWMBO said she wasn't getting the heat to work right up front. Hmmm. Sounded like a servo for the air mixer. But the lack of heat at all to the rear sounded more like low coolant. Checked coolant. Low. Hmmm. Topped it off. A couple days later check again. Hmmm. Topped off again. Poked around. Looked like some fluid near the water pump. Wasn't a big leak, but definitely a leak. Started looking at parts, and figuring out the procedure to extract the pump (not too horrible). Then today it apparently let go suddenly while swmbo was running the kids around.
Well, crap. Nobody knew a good mechanic as they all did their own wrenching. So, off to the stealership on the tow truck. $1000 and we should be back on the road. :(
Anyway, if we had another car I could have had the van towed home and dealt with it at my leisure.
Need something for the kids to drive probably before I get something else for myself. SWMBO wants something with higher clearance than the old Camry. When I filtered on prices up to $8000 and miles under 100k Ford Escapes were popping up quite a bit. Higher miles brought up Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, etc.
Are the Escapes decent? Anything about the 2008-12 vintages to watch for?