Snow Season is HERE- You Can Buy These 4 Ridiculously CHEAP AWD Cars Right Now!

Cars are expensive and snow is coming. So in this video, we are checking out four super cheap all-wheel drive cars from a couple of different price points. Yeah, so we are gonna first start at $1,000, then up to five, then 10 and 15. So that way, no matter what your budget is, we can find you something interesting that you can drive around in the snow. And we are starting with the cheapest of the lot, an all-wheel drive car for under $1,000. So Brendan, when it comes to cheap cars that power all four wheels, it doesn't get much cheaper than the Jaguar X-Type. Yeah, these cars have depreciated heavily, especially in this form, because this one has not had much love in its ownership. And it shows, right? And generally, any car that you can get for $1,000, I don't care what brand it's from, it is going to have something wrong with it and gonna be a little bit rough. So you're gonna have to pad that budget to account for repairs. Let's be honest, guys. In 2023, $1,000 is the new 500 bucks. We are looking at the cheapest of the cheap. Now let's talk about the X-Type. This car was produced by Jaguar in the early 2000s, developed under the Ford era, and it shares this platform with what, Brendan? Yeah, this shares the platform of the European-sold Ford Mondeo. And it's kind of an interesting vehicle because, or at least it's a little more interesting than, say, the Ford Taurus, the other Ford products that were on sale at the same time, because this had a little more of a European flair to it and gave you the possibility of all-wheel drive and a stick shift if you got the base engine. Yeah, so 2.5 liter V6, 194 horsepower or thereabouts. Here's the thing about the Jaguar X-Type. It got a lot of flack for being Ford-related. Now there really isn't that much carryover from individual components. A lot of this vehicle is Jaguar-specific, but because of that Ford connection, these cars are generally fairly simple and fairly reliable. And most importantly, they came standard with all-wheel drive. Well, fairly reliable as opposed to a normal Jaguar, right? Well, yeah, compared to like some of the stuff from the 90s, the X-Type isn't that bad to own. Now, as Brendan mentioned, there were two different displacements of V6 here in the US. There was also the ultra-rare wagon version. Oh yes, those are cool. But what makes these cars cool is actually not so much this rather frumpy outside, it's the inside. Now here's the thing, the inside of the X-Type is actually a really nice place to be. We've got these big, comfortable leather seats. We got this beautiful wood dash, albeit with some cracks in it. The fantastic green Jaguar gauges and lots and lots of old-fashioned buttons, which age super well. Look, I know it may have been related to the Ford, but it actually feels really nice in here, albeit pretty grimy. Yeah, this one's not been well cared for, that's for sure. But I'm sitting here in the back seat behind you. I will say I have actually a pretty decent amount of leg space back here. I mean, I have room to grow. If I wanted to be like a six foot tall person, I could. And I've got my own armrest with some cup holders. And of course, it wouldn't be a Jaguar without an ashtray. Yeah, you got it, Brendan. Well, enough showing some stuff on the inside. Let's go take it for a spin. Brendan, I have to admit, I have such a soft spot for the Jaguar X-Type. You know, I do too, actually. When I was in college, a guy that I went to class with rolled up in one of these, and I thought he was like the coolest dude ever. My dad had one of these brand new, believe it or not, in the early 2000s. I remember picking it up with him as a little kid. It was bright red, manual transmission. I thought it was the coolest car. And then of course, folks like Jeremy Clarkson reminded everybody it was a Mondeo, but apparently, Brendan, according to Wikipedia, only 19% of the car is shared with the Mondeo. Wow, that's pretty impressive, actually. And I will say, Jaguar was handed this platform to turn it into a Jaguar at the time, and I think they did a pretty good job. The exterior, I mean, this one is a little rough, but- A little rough, Brendan. But most of these, I think, have aged really well, and they look properly like a Jaguar did at the time with those individual round headlights. I really like the styling on these. And the fact that you can get it with a manual transmission, that makes it super cool. And I have to say, as absolutely destroyed as this one is on the outside, the five-speed manual still feels awesome. The brakes feel good, the suspension's tight. Here, we'll give it a quick squirt down the track. Not super fast, about 200 horsepower. It goes okay. Yeah, it's relatively quick. I mean, factor in that you also get all-wheel drive with this, and it's gonna make the car fairly heavy even for a small car like this. So it's kind of a bummer that you couldn't get the three-liter with the manual transmission, but I think it's a good car. Yeah, and actually really good steering, super progressive, really communicative. And look, the great thing about the Ford connection is you don't get old Jaguar reliability, you get old Ford reliability. And you can shop at the Ford dealer for parts. At least some parts, 19% of parts. Yeah. All right, well, let's check out the $5,000 option. All right, so for our $5,000 option, I thought we should bring an Audi. I mean, if we're doing all-wheel drive cars, Audi, I think, is a pretty good choice, especially because you can get it with Quattro. Yeah, and we're looking at a D5 generation of the Audi A4, one of my favorite, actually, generations of the A4. It's the right size, it's got the right features on the inside, and it's got the right design, the classic, understated Audi look. And I love them. They were built from 95 through about 2001. So what's the engine on this one, Brendan? Yeah, so I agree with you. I think that the styling on this has really aged pretty well. And this one has, it's through the emblem there, the 2.8 liter V6 with 190 horsepower and a little over 200 pound feet of torque. Now, you could get the S4, which added turbos to this and made it a lot more powerful, but these NA V6s aren't bad. The twin turbos can be a little on the problematic side, although they're super fun. These aren't too bad as far as reliability goes. Now, the vast majority of these you'll find in the US are gonna be either the four-cylinder turbo or this five-valve V6, a 30-valve engine, which is pretty advanced. This, of course, was developed under the era of Ferdinand Piëch. And actually, this particular one is in pretty good shape, an O1, so it's a facelifted version with 130,000 miles. They're just the really perfect design, super elegant, and the inside is even better. Now, I really do love these old Audis, Tommy. The seats in them are actually really darn comfortable. This manual is super nice to hold. It kind of reminds me of like a GTI stick shift. And then you've got a lot of interesting features like the little cup holder that always breaks. And of course, this one is... Oh, hey, look at that. It actually... Oh, geez. Yeah, these aren't known to be the most robust cup holders, but they're kind of a cool piece of engineering. And then, of course, you do have the infamous six-way heated seats in here. And yeah, it's just a very basic, timeless design. But how's the back, Tommy? It's a little tight back here, Brendan, but it's a really compact car by modern-day standards, pretty well-equipped. We also have HomeLink, as you mentioned. We've got this beautiful leather-wrapped steering wheel, which looks great. You also talked about the manual. You can get them in both auto or manual. This is a nice little ride. Brendan, this thing just feels right. I agree. And what a lot of people don't realize is that this generation of A4 is essentially also a Volkswagen Passat. So if you were to get the Volkswagen Passat, underneath, they use the same quattro all-wheel drive system. They share the drivetrains, or similar drivetrains, and the interior is also pretty nice. So you have a couple of different options there if you can't find one of these Audis. Yeah, but you don't get the beautiful wood across the dash or that cool little quattro badge looking up at you. Now, you gotta be careful with these, right? Because a lot of them were front-wheel drive. You could get them with front-wheel drive. You gotta make sure you get the quattro version. And personally, I do like this 2.8. It's nice and smooth, kind of larger displacement engine compared to some of the smaller four-cylinder turbos. Not that those aren't good either, but yeah, it's just a comfortable car. Yeah, and the S4s aren't super reliable, but they are a hoot to drive, Tommy, with those twin turbos feeding into the V6. But let's see what it does here on the test track, the non-turbo version, and it's pretty good. Not too bad. And it does feel super smooth, honestly, in its delivery. I like it a lot. And look, I know it's not a Toyota, and unfortunately, we don't have any Toyotas on this list because they're pretty hard to get cheap, let's be honest. But it feels really tight. So even with 130,000 miles, we're not getting any squeaks, no rattles, and this car could easily be had for 5K or less, and it's a really good option. And I think this is the best generation of Audi A4 that you can get, in my opinion. But maybe we should take a look at a $10,000 vehicle. Yeah, let's step up the budget a little bit. Yeah. And now for something a little bit more Swedish, Brendan, the first generation of the Volvo XC60. This is one of my favorite hidden gem SUVs. And even though it's based on the Land Rover Freelander, which is not a very loved vehicle, I think that these are overlooked quite often, and they shouldn't be. Well, they're a beautiful design, kind of understated, a little odd with maybe the running light here on the inside, but these were made from like 2009 through 2017 in the first generation, that's the model years. Very luxurious on the inside. You know, they were a little bit of a family hauler, mom mobile, if you looked at it in certain lights. But they're also an incredible value based on how much luxury you get and comfort. Well, and not only the luxury and comfort that you get, it's the power too, because hiding under the hood, this being the T6 means that it came with their turbo inline six cylinder engine. And this thing put out 281 horsepower, and I think it was over 300 pound feet of torque. And later versions of this even got bumped up to as high as 324 horsepower. This is a super wacky design too, because it's a transverse mounted six cylinder, which is so weird. And of course, all wheel drive, I do believe this one's a Halidex all wheel drive system, but let's check out the inside, cause there's a lot to talk about. Now this is my favorite era of Volvo interior design, because it got some modern, almost Ikea like simplicity here, but a lot of quality. I love this contrasting elephant skin, brown dash on the tan leather, and the floating console was pretty mind blowing back when this car was new in 2010. And they got this funky little key that you have to stick into the dashboard and then push the start button, which was super, super weird. And you got this weird dual screen set up with the antiquated navigation system and the funny little man and the heated seats. This is a nice interior, Brendan. Yeah, and even in the back seat, this is actually pretty darn comfortable. I have my own personal air vent here on the B pillars. I do have a nice big armrest that folds down and then flips open to reveal the cup holders. I have a pretty decent amount of headspace and yeah, I just, it's pretty comfy back here. I could see taking a road trip in this thing because these seats are nice and squishy. How about this Volvo control to actually control some of the screens here. Pretty bizarre. Or is there a TV back there, Brendan? No TV that I can see, at least. I think this was for like controlling the nav, if I remember right. It's been a while since I've driven one of these. Oops, someone forgot their house keys. Oh no. Bummer. Well, guys, let's get out in the road and see what this thing drives like. One more thing about these Volvos is they have the most comfortable seats. I think of maybe any car in the history of the automobile. Yeah, I think you might be right. These are pretty darn comfortable. I mean, maybe not like a Lincoln Town Car comfortable, but. They're better because they're supportive, Ian. That's true, they are supportive. Give them the headrest to go. Oh yeah. Pretty good headrest, huh? They're pretty soft and squishy. I think this is kind of my favorite generation of Volvo. This is before they changed things up and their seats just kind of aren't as comfortable as they used to be like this. And this is kind of the last gasp of the true Volvos in my book. And these cars drive like you're driving a slab of granite. Really solid feeling steering and brakes and interior quality is really good. And we're gonna see how that acceleration out of that strangely mounted six cylinder is. Yeah, I'm kind of looking forward to seeing your reaction to how quick these are. Here we go. Wait till that turbo kicks in. Oh yeah, pretty good. Yeah, it's not too bad. And this one I think maybe is a little tired. It's got 134,000 miles on it. But if you can get a good one of these, you know, you're gonna be spending great around 10K, maybe a little bit more in this market. Good all-wheel drive systems, very safe cars too, you know. Let's be honest, a lot of folks, you know, are using these cars to carry their families around and these are certainly some of the most safe for the price point. Absolutely, yeah. And you just can't get over, I mean, how nice and comfortable the interior is. This is just such a great road trip vehicle. I love it, it's great. So maybe we should look at a really expensive, well, 15K, our most expensive for the day. Let's do it. And for our most expensive vehicle today, Tommy, we are looking at none other than the Mercedes E-Class. And this is the W212, which came out in 2010, sold through 2016. This particular is a 2013, but in wagon form with all-wheel drive. This has gotta be the ultimate winter car in my opinion. Well, that's what makes this one so cool is that 99% of them that you see on US roads are the sedan. This one is the wagon. Now, obviously it'd be awesome to have the AMG with that massive 6.2 liter V8, but for 15 grand, you should be able to get a pretty nice 4MATIC E-Class wagon. Yeah, and this one's the 350, I believe, right? With the 3.5 liter V6. Right. And I mean, these are no slouch. They're still putting out over 300 horsepower to all four wheels through that Mercedes 4MATIC all-wheel drive system. But I think these are pretty good engines generally, right? Yeah, I mean, look, Brendan, these really are, in some ways, enthusiast cars we've chosen. Yes. If you wanna, you know, stay more reliable, Toyota, Honda, Nissan. Of course. Right, but we wanna showcase some cars that are affordable and fun and all-wheel drive. And certainly this car is not gonna be a Honda, but it shouldn't be that bad. Well, and apparently we're doing all European cars today, too. It's not on purpose. Yeah, it's not on purpose, but here at the auction, you just don't always have a choice of cars to pick through. So let's check out the inside, because there's some really cool stuff as we poke our heads in. Now, as you step inside this E-Class wagon, even though it's going on 10 years old, it still looks pretty good in here. I mean, the button pads and some of the controls are maybe a little dated, but the wood and the dash material, and especially the gauges with that digital center part are really fantastic. And I love this flat-bottom steering wheel with the perforation on the edge of this car. Has some AMG goodies on it, even though it's not a full-fledged AMG. And Brendan, how's the backseat? Yeah, Tommy, I don't think I can sit back here, but it is kind of nice. It comes with an extra set of studded snow tires in this one. Oh, yeah. Dealer's Auto Auction of the Rockies is selling a snow-ready car here. Very, very cool. All right, well, let's take it for a spin and see if it drives as good as it looks. Now, Brendan, I have a feeling, I don't have the sticker on this one, but based on the option that this car has, I would kind of guess that this was probably north of 70 grand when it was new. It wouldn't surprise me. I mean, the seatbelt just tugged on itself a little bit as soon as I buckled it. Did you get that too? A little safety tug, make sure you're fully buckled, yeah. I mean, these cars are really nice to drive, super comfortable, really quiet on the inside as well, and just a very smooth ride. Yeah, I will say, I know we just got done telling everybody that those Volvo seats are the most comfortable ever, and I will say these are pretty darn nice too, actually. I mean, for a 2013 Mercedes, which I generally, unless you're looking at the S-Class, don't think of Mercedes seats as the most comfortable in the world, but these are pretty nice. Yeah, these cars were very, very premium, and this was really, in my opinion, when the E-Class started getting super crazy expensive. It's got pretty good power as well. Yeah, I mean, this is just kind of like, what, the base engine that we got here in the U.S., yeah, but it's still plenty peppy going down the track. I mean, look, what makes this car cool is the wagon. Yeah. And if you wanted an AMG wagon, I mean, you'd be spending 30, 40 grand still. Right. And this, you can pick up probably 15, 20K for a really, really nice one. Get all-wheel drive, you get all the same wagon coolness, but save a ton of money. Absolutely, I think it's a good find. Folks, let us know what you think of our enthusiast all-wheel drive budget finds. Yeah, I know we kind of went off the rails here with doing all European stuff, but someone's gonna tell us that we should have picked a Toyota, I'm sure. I'm sure it is. I'm sure they will. But folks, we wanted to look a little off the beaten path, and let us know what you think. A huge thank you to Dealer's Auto Auction of the Rockies for making this series possible. This has been Tommy. And Brendan. We'll see you on another episode. Take care.