Your Next New Car (1 Viewer)

[tyler payne]

The history of my cars:

1993 - Sophomore in high school bought a 1976 Chevy Monte Carlo. This car had been fitted with a 400 V-8. The Miles on it were 80,000, but I think it had only 5,000 on the V-8 engine. Big car, pretty fast, horrible on gas. I was putting about $25 a week in gas, at a time when gas was probably about $1.70 or so.

1994 - A guy wanted the engine from my Monte for one of his work trucks. Traded me a 1957 Chevy 4-Door for my Monte Carlo. The 57 was pretty strong mechanically (brakes need to be switched out), but it need a lot of cosmetic work inside and out. The odometer did not work so I don't know the mileage.

1994 - Met a guy who wanted to build a Hot Rod. Traded me a 1969 GTO Judge for my 57 Chevy. The Goat had a 350 with a 6-pack. Super fast car, fun to drive. Body was in good shape. Paint was faded, but no dents or cancer. In early 1995 it was stolen, used in a robbery, and was later found set on fire. You have no idea how pissed I was.

1995 - Used the insurance money from the GTO to buy my parents car from them before I went to college. They had a 1988 Dodge Raider. This was the two door version of the Montero that was imported for Dodge the first couple of years it was made. 4 cylinder SUV decent power, pretty good on gas. Got it with 50,000 miles kept it till 2000, when the clutch started to give out on it.

2000 - In 1994 my Mom got a job in Las Vegas Nevada. She bought herself a program car to take with her. It was a 1993 Ford Tempo. She bought it with 5,000 miles on it. My mom retired and moved back to New Mexico in 2000. This is when the clutch on the Raider started to go. My mom and me traded cars as she wanted something with four wheel drive for the winter months of northern New Mexico. The winters don't get to bad, but as my parents lived in a rural area with some undeveloped roads, there are some days out of the year that if you do not have 4 wheel drive, you could get stuck not being able to leave your house. I got the Tempo with 58,000 miles on it. Kept it till 2009. My friends would give me crap about driving the Tempo, but it was a pretty dependable car. Had to replace the starter, radiator, and harmonic balancer, but in all, other than routine maintenance, I put about $1,800 in repairs in that car.

2009 - About 2 months ago I went to get my oil in the Tempo changed and they refused to work on it because it was developing a crack in the engine. So at sixteen years old and 94,000 miles it was time to get rid of the Tempo. (Yes you read that right. In the 8 1/2 years I had the Tempo, I only put 37,000 miles on it. The benefit of working close to home. Or it could be that when my friends went out, we always took their cars, because they did not want to be seen in a Tempo.) So I traded in the Tempo for a new 2009 Honda Civic. I got $500.00 for the Tempo and was grateful for getting that much. I really like the Civic. I got the LX, and it has some pretty good pep in its step. Good on gas, and because I never go anywhere, other than work, after two months my Civic has 525 miles on it. I put an average of 3,500 miles a year on my cars, so I plan on keeping this one for the next 8-12 years. The next time I buy a car, it will be because I want one not need one.

tyler


Edited by tyler payne - 7/11/2009 at 12:59 pm GMT
Edited by tyler payne - 7/11/2009 at 01:00 pm GMT

 

[drobbins]

Wow that GTO thing must still tear you up. I had a early 90s Tempo also. It was a good car and I wanted to keep it a long time. However the fronts of the buttons on the dash started falling off around 80,000.

 

[tyler payne]

That's funny you should say that about the buttons. The plate that held the buttons for the heater and air conditioning on my Tempo fell off, so when you pushed in one button, four other ones would pop out completely. I spent a few minutes each day looking for the buttons on the floor.

 

[drobbins]

I tried to Superglue them back on, but couldn't find anything that held. Eventually that is why I traded it in. Having a dent on the outside I could have delta with, but buttons falling off the dash is something that I had to look at the whole time.

 

[Scott Strang]

Cars do last longer than they used to. That makes their outlandish price tags easier to take.

If we strike it rich, a special ordered Lambo lp560-4.

Otherwise probably a GMC Acadia. We're getting to adopt a new born so I want something large and heavy. I.E. if we have an accident I prefer to win the argument.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I know I will never buy another domestic car. Ever. I bought both a Chevy Cavalier and a Pontiac Sunfire new and the Cavalier died after 4 years at 120,000 miles or there about and the Pontiac didn't even make it to 100k and gave up in less than 3 years. My current car is a 2000 Toyota Celica GTS which not only has 224,000 miles on it, it has had to have no major repair work, doesn't burn oil and still gets 33+mpg highway.

I'm going to drive my current one until the wheels fall off but my next car, whenever that is, will be a Toyota, Honda or Nissan.


Edited by Clinton McClure - 7/12/2009 at 04:17 pm GMT

 

[Francois Caron]

At that rate, it will take domestic car manufacturers at least ten years to regain public confidence, because that's how long their cars must last so that they can be seen as being as competitive as the foreign car manufacturers.

If not, you might as well bulldoze the entire state of Michigan to the ground because they won't have any reason to exist as a state anymore, now that their core industry no longer exists. Just like domestic television manufacturers.

 

[gene c]

Before you bulldoze Michigan, lets not forget that Ford is still (barely) hanging in there. They haven't declared bankruptcy or asked for any of our money yet. And I would think that the auto industry is a bit more important to our economy than the tv industry was.

As for my next new car, I really don't buy new anyway. I save up and pay cash for a good 3-5 year old model. I know, that doesn't help the auto industry any but it sure helps my bank account alot. I've been eyeing the Ford Five Hundred and Escape lately as well as a couple of others. But I'm still a year or two away.

 

[mattCR]

Ford has a car I'd love to own, but it isn't marketed inside the US, despite the fact it sells like hotcakes in Europe. If I could lay my hands on a Ford Ka 2009, I'd be all about it.

 

[drobbins]

My 2002 Ford ZX2 (escort) had 169,000 miles on it when I sold it last year. It still ran strong and did not burn oil or have any other issues. The only reason I sold it was the opportunity to buy a 2004 Grand AM with 15,000 miles for $5,000.00.

 

[Francois Caron]

Matt, here's another example of a car by an American manufacturer not available in North America. The Ford Fiesta.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francois Caron

At that rate, it will take domestic car manufacturers at least ten years to regain public confidence, because that's how long their cars must last so that they can be seen as being as competitive as the foreign car manufacturers.

I've read some articles stating that the domestic automakers now have reliability / quality close to (or equal) that of the imports. But even so, as you say, it takes a five to ten years to bear that out.

I think the US makers have a lost an entire generation in the US; my sense is that the 30 - 45 year old group collectively doesn't buy American cars. Those who do are retiring soon and won't be buying many cars. Their hope is to convince the "millenials" to buy US or to do something so amazing that people like me will be swayed back. Or to hope that the Japanese as a whole screw up big time.

 

[nodemgr]

Don't think I will buy a new car next time. The cars I like seem to be in demand and usually are pulling a premium vs. other models, so I will choose slightly used.