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I'm looking at buying a station wagon in the $9-12k range and there seems to be a few imported Caldina wagons with decent kms on the market. Is there anything that needs to be watched out for with these cars? Or do you recommend a diffrerent wagon in that price bracket?

The Caldina has been a very good model. The 2.0 litre model has the Toyota D4 engine which can give problems with carbon build-up but the 1.8 is fairlu bullet-proof, being the same basic running gear as the Corolla.
Another wagon to consider might be the Mazda6 (or import model Atenza), which also enjoys a good reputation for reliability.