As for a second ride, all depends on what you want to drive and, most important, how much you have to spend. At any rate, I'd stay away from anything made in Europe. The cars are OK until they need maintenance or repair and then sticker shock becomes a huge issue, along with potential long waits for parts if they have to come across the pond. Most GM vehicles in all honesty, are not that good (all bias aside). They have SO many common problems and failures compared to other makes and the electrical and electronic systems are a joke, going by what we see at work. Chrysler products are hit and miss, depending on year and model. Some are excellent, others not so much. The Daimler years are iffy for example. Never buy any Mopar with a 2.7L, 3.7L or 4.7L. With those engines it's not a matter of IF they'll have a catastrophic failure, it's more a matter of WHEN. Stay away also from any car with a dual-clutch auto trans. Herky-jerky and failure prone (no matter the make) and when the fail, there's not really much fixing "in the field". Same goes for cars with CVT trans. Most Ford's are good (love my '08 Mustang summer DD) for the most part. The newer Fiesta not so much (DSG trans again). The Dart seems OK, provided it has the 2.4L and manual trans. the 6 speed auto is,,,,,,,,,,,the dreaded DSG (which are an automatically shifted manual trans with an automatic clutch or clutches). the dual wet clutch ones are much better than the single dry clutch versions (like the Fiesta and Focus have) which are complete JUNK. If you don't mind Asian, I've noticed Subaru's are darn good cars surprisingly enough. Older ones only need head gaskets(start leaking oil) and timing belt every 100,000 miles (neither of which are that big a job on the flat 4) but other wise, they are fairly trouble free unless grossly neglected. That's just a short overview from what we see at the shop everyday, day in, day out, never ending, one after the other.............aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm OK now
As with any car, rust can be an issue depending on where you live and some rust worse than others. Chargers like to rot the 1/4's out, and RAM trucks LOVE to rot the box sides out in about 4 or 5 years, Silverado's even sooner than that, Chevy Equinox's have the vanishing lower front fender and rear wheel opening disease, Nissans' have a proclivity to have the front floor pans disappear into the time/space portal. Well, that's enough babbling.
Wonder why that Oregon place doesn't know if the ring gear is included or not? I've never seen a Mopar converter (aside from some newer vehicles that is) that didn't have the ring gear welded on. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
