Mid Week Match-Up: A Christmas Miracle

It is Wednesday, so that means time for the mid week match-up, a feature so awesome that it has its own cheer squad and band.   Today is Canadian Christmas, so what better than to help out someone in the wild north find a new car.  From reader Christian S:

I have just discovered that I am in need of a new-to-me ride. My current beast is a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder wagon with a rusted out frame that won’t make it through another winter here in Montreal, Canada (salut les amis!) Seeing as it is days before Christmas and I am broke like every other bicycle mechanic I need help finding an un-killable motor and transmission combo with no electrical issues mounted in a Euro/Nippon-aise package for C-H-E-A-P. I have a budget of $3000. Requirements: Fits 4 people, must be 4x4  (no AWD isn’t the same thing). With enough ground clearance to fit my 6’2”, 190lbs body lying down under the lowest part. Reason for that last one is that the “path” to the family “cottage” tears the bottom off of every vehicle because of the granite boulders that the road is made of.  That’ll be the reason for the 4x4 along with the fact that in the spring the road floods with more than 20” of standing water. Can ya help a guy out when he’s down on his luck? Ideally it’ll be somewhere close because I have exactly 14 calendar days before the plates are no good and I get pulled over again.

Sorry, It's Canadian Christmas: 2004 Acura EL Touring Sedan

For years I embarrassed myself by calling and wishing my Canadian friends (and family) a happy Independence Day or happy Thanksgiving on the wrong day of the year.  They would apologize profusely and explain that they were at work, and that Canadian Thanksgiving and Freedom Day were on a different day from the American calendar.  Imagine my surprise!  This year, however, I did some research, and found out that the Canadian calendar flips from back-to-front and doesn't even have 12 months in the year!  And even more shocking is that Christmas is celebrated on Dec 30th each year.  Anyway -- Sorry, It's Christmas, and have this 2004 Acura EL Touring Sedan offered for $5,000CAD ($3,613 USD) in Toronto, ON via Kijiji.ca.