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Automotive News & Views Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous
15043 messages, Last post on Nov 09, 2009 at 12:31 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: guss (May 15, 2008 2:50 am) Somebody just asked this in the Answers thingy majig. I think it all depends. If he's running a Trailblazer, he's probably getting 17 mpg at best. What's the Miata going to get? 25? 27? So, yeah, unless he drives the Miata 20k miles per year that he would have put on his Trailblazer, its probably not worth it. But if someone gets ... I dunno ... a Yaris to offset a Hummer ... it would take quite a bit less driving to offset the costs.
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Replying to: qbrozen (May 15, 2008 7:29 am) Just for kicks, I ran the numbers on my uncle's savings since he bought his '03 Corolla, 6 years ago (got it Memorial Day weekend, 2002). He's put about 150,000 miles on it, mostly highway, and it's probably averaged about 36 mpg. In contrast, his '97 Silverado would get about 18. Over the course of 150,000 miles, the Corolla would've used about 4167 gallons, whereas the truck would've used about 8333. If you assume $4.00 per gallon in gas, which is where it will be soon, that's about a $16,700 savings, although that's not an accurate assumption, since gas was under $1.50 per gallon as recently as early 2004. So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it saved him about $10K in gas. It ended up costing something like $15K, out the door. And I'm guessing that insurance might've run another $600 per year, for 6 years, which comes out to $3600. Registration is $128 every two years. So, I guess you can look at it as my uncle paid $19K and saved $10K in fuel, for a new loss of $9K. More importantly though, that Corolla helped his truck last longer. Had he never bought it, I'm sure he would've run that Silverado into the ground by now, and it may have broken down and left him stranded a few times (it did that, anyway  ) He'd probably be into another truck by now, and have it fairly well miled up. Overall, I guess it was a good decision. As it stands, he has a truck that's still serviceable, and a Corolla with some life left in it, so he won't have to buy anything else anytime soon.
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| with an additional car is the maintenance, insurance and registration. The Miata as an additional car would have cost me about $750 per year. My Escape gets 20mpg, the Miata was 28, so that would mean I had to drive the Miata about 15k miles per year for it to pay off. Gas mileage alone is not the reason to buy a fun car though, but it helps when you are trying to convince the wife we will be saving money. | |
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Since you are sorta the CCBA resident Volvo expert, what do you think of this: link title I know it's not as fast as a R, but I am not looking for fast. If I can swap my car close to even up , I can pick up a few mpg at little cost and get into a nicer ride . The big drawback is lack of sunroof, and higher maintenance cost.
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Replying to: andre1969 (May 15, 2008 10:05 am) Then there are the non-quantifiable advantages of having an extra car, etc.. |
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Replying to: guss (May 15, 2008 10:26 am) The base engine won't thrill you, but you do drive an Escape, so it might not bother you, either. I guess you could do worse for the money. I certainly wouldn't expect the 31mpg the ad claims, however. I think 27-28 might be about as good as it gets. If it were me, I'd want to go up a bit. an '04 and up 2.5T (the '03 2.5T was only available with AWD). You sacrifice very little in mileage (maybe 1-2 mpg), you gain an immense amount of fun and drivability, and the 2.5T is a really durable engine. I guess the big questions are: how many miles on your Escape? What mileage do you get in it? edit: I just looked it up. 2.4 is rated at 22/31 and the 2.5T is 22/30. And its maybe worth $500 more. I think that's a no brainer, personally. |
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I was surfing around for a coworker (that one with the Xterra) and came upon this Celica GT Low miles, but 7 years older than yours. I think it makes yours look like a heckuva deal. 
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Replying to: qbrozen (May 14, 2008 12:12 pm) I have a friend with a roughly 10 y.o. Accord. It's "OK". Does seem to have a rough ride, & I don't feel all that safe in it. Makes my 8 y.o. 5-series seem like a Bank Vault in comparison, with 10 times nicer interior, ride, Handling, etc..... |
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Replying to: qbrozen (May 14, 2008 12:18 pm) The worst thing is a stuck (closed) tub drain. And the house is on a slab, so they can't get to it from the basement. I have a feeling that could turn into something major. One thing I'm learning--the plumbing cos. that come out & give you "flat-rate" estimates--you'd think that could be good, but the prices are so insane, you could hire a crew of plumbers for 2 solid days by the hour & it might cost less. I still can't believe they quote these kind of prices, or get them? 2 faucets installed would be $1500 +????? Even if I owned one of the 1.3 mil. McMansions in my neighborhood, I'd hope I'd have enough sense not to do that......(Maybe most of the contractors in my town try to price everything for the 1.3 mil. McMansion set--duh)?
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Replying to: woodyww (May 15, 2008 12:24 pm) The truth be told, the original kitchen was 30 years old and way past due for an upgrade. And my wife is so happy that she doesn't bat an eye when I buy "upgrades" for any vehicles in the fleet...
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