Since I moved very close to work a few months ago, I only drive 1,500 miles a year between home and work. A newer car is nice but expensive for such short distances. So the decision was made to let the 2006 Saab 9-5 go and find a new owner. Well, the Saab is gone and I was looking for a replacement. Used Saabs in good condition are difficult to find in Northern Michigan so I was checking out a few other brands. I have been researching some older European brands like Volvo, Mercedes and BMW for a while and the Mercedes W124 seemed to be a very reliable model with lots of character and a good reputation for quality.

I found a locally advertised 1990 300TE Wagon with 143,500 miles which appeared to be in great condition. Used mostly in summer only, there isn’t any trace of rust at all. Maintenance records were all there and a Saturday morning test ride in Petoskey got me hooked on the car.

It is something very different from a newer Saab. It’s more of a slower, gentle kind of motoring. The interior is in excellent shape and takes you 20 years back in time. But in a good way. Technology advanced greatly in the last 20 years but it is nice to find distributor caps and rotors under the hood again. The 3.0 liter inline 6-cylinder is not very powerful (175hp) but it gets the job done and should easily last another 100-150 thousand miles with the proper maintenance.

I have looked at a few used cars and there is not much you can get for $5,000 these days. Most are older, smelly, higher-miles cars lacking any kind of character and an older car like this was the right choice for me at this time. But who knows how long this one will last. :)

A few more pictures can be found here: Link

Here is trip report in northern Ontario: link

Here is my new Suzuki V-Strom DL650. I picked it up last Friday and rode 500 miles / 800 km this weekend. Great weather for a ride to Harbor Springs/Cross Village on Saturday and the Leelanau peninsula on Sunday.

More pictures here: link

There are a few more pictures of my new home in this album: Link

I decided to take a short road trip in Northern Ontario. Cabin fever hit early and I didn’t feel like sitting inside the house anymore after the Christmas break. The trip took me along Highway 17 through Wawa and I stayed the night in White River. I have been in Wawa several times but never made it beyond that town.

The lowest temperature on this trip was -14F / -25C which was just a bit north of White River. A car engine really doesn’t like to be started in these temperatures but the Saab started without a problem after a little bit of hesitation.

Highway 11 is part of the Trans-Canada Highway and I always wanted to see this northern road in Ontario. Many towns in this area like Hearst and Kapuskasing are mainly francophone which I didn’t expect in Northern Ontario.

Cochrane is an interesting town because it has train service to Toronto and Moosonee on James Bay. Riding the Polar Bear Express is still on my list of things to do. Cochrane is also the birthplace of Tim Horton, a hockey player who founded the well-known doughnut and coffee shop chain.

The trip was a total of about 1,100 miles / 1.770 km. Not bad for a 3-day trip, eh? This was only a smaller part of Ontario and the size of this province and country still amazes me every time. There were many other interesting towns on the way like Timmins and Chapleau but I won’t bore you with the details and let the pictures do the talking. If you are interested to read more about Highway 11, check out this website: http://www.highway11.ca

The photo album can be found here: Link


North of White River


Trans-Canada Highway


Snow magnet