Your Next New Car

In a British car magazine about 15 years ago a journalist was test driving a restored 500 Abarth and said it was "like driving a bucket-full of spiders!" He had to bring the revs up to 4000 and pop the clutch to get it going from a stand-still otherwise he would kill the engine. He said he felt silly driving such a car around town but was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. It was a hand full. It must have been the SS!

Gene, this is the Fiat 500 I'm talking about.

My SUV is 11 years old. I got a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0L as a graduation present early May. 154,000 miles on it. It has no real problems (Just a few flukes, a small exhaust leak and the radio display doesn't light up are the worst of them). I can see 10 more years before the engine goes out, probably 5 before the tranny goes out. Overall good SUV. And I will probably get a used car, unless I have a really well paid just in 5-10 years. :P

Francois,
I know Fiat pulled out of the US market circa 1984 - did they pull out in Canada at the same time? 

Furglisher double post.  The new forum software appears to give an error message - "try again later" - but still posts after a delay. 

Edited by Dennis Nicholls - 7/6/2009 at 03:43 pm GMT

I believe so. In fact, the cars had a nasty habit of rusting in front of your very eyes. I doubt very much the same thing would happen again.

I believe so. In fact, the cars had a nasty habit of rusting in front of your very eyes. I doubt very much the same thing would happen again.

My son's introduced me to Top Gear. It's one of my favorite shows now.

Fiat's response to their cars quickly succumbing to rust was "Buy another one!"
I knew that. I just brought up the old one for fun. I think Fiat would fare much better in North America today than it did in the '70's. If they could over-come the reputation of poor reliability and rust-proofing. Always fun cars to drive, though.

My wife has a 2000 Toyota Sienna with about 68,000 miles on it, it'll keep running for years. It's paid off.

I have a 2008 Eclipse GT with about 13,000 miles on it, it'll keep running for years, plus I LOVE this car and will not sell it, at least, not until I can get my Aston Martin. No other car I test drove gave me that "cockpit" feel when behind the wheel. Add to that I got a 5 year 0% interest loan there's no reason at all to pay it off.

So, that being said, no new cars until my daughter turns 18, so for at least 5 years.

When I was shopping I test drove an Eclipse and loved it. I would  have bought it, but the 26mpg the dealer told me talked me out of it. What kind of millage are you getting? I drive 500 miles per week to and from work, so the 34 mpg Ion sold me.

One of the very last things I consider when buying a car is mpg, first and foremost is what will make me happy, what I like, style, fit and feel. I have the 3.8L V6 6-speed and average roughly 21mpg, all city driving, almost no freeway.

Speaking of gas mileage, here's another Top Gear Tip. Pay close attention to the results.

Once in another thread, I questioned how environmentally friendly the Prius is, and I was almost lynched for blasphemy. I think the clincher in that video is the "at that particular speed" and I doubt that many drive at that speed. I did look at a used Prius, but I did not test drive it. On the interstate on the way to work sometimes the 75-85 mph traffic slows down to 65-70 mph. In the past the cause was usually either a cop or a U-Haul truck. More and more lately it is now a Prius. I assume that they can go faster, but choose not to in order to get better mpg. I believe that most cars get their best mpg at 55-60mph. So if we all slowed down we would use less gas, but how fun is that?

I am not given to believing everything that David E. Kelley puts into his scripts, but one episode of Boston Legal did get me thinking about this, when one of the lawyers argued that hybrids aren't as green as everyone thinks once you factor in the environmental impact of the manufacture of the batteries, in particular the nickel that goes into them.

Anyway, we have a 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer, which is probably good for another 3 years or so -- humidity here, as well as stop-start city driving, is hard on most cars.  In any case, that danged "Certificate of Entitlement" is only good for 10 years (i.e. until 2015), and there is no point extending on a modest car like a Lancer.

I would love to get an Evolution, but the missus is bound to veto that, she already thinks the Lancer is too bumpy a rid.  Maybe something boring (but comfortable) like a Camry next.

Quote:
What speed is "at that speed"? That's a humorous clip, but devoid of real information. No small car gets 17 mpg driven at anything reasonable. My 4-cy 1993 Escort got 38-42 mpg at highway speeds (65-75). My Accord V6 gets 30-32 mpg at highway speeds. The Prius is rated at 42 mpg at "Highway" driving. Their results are nonsensical.

Considering the test was performed on the the Top Gear test track, the Prius MIGHT be able to go as high as 60 mph based on drobbins' highway experience. But this track also has some interesting curves designed to torture a car's performance, notably the Hammerhead. So the Prius was most likely driven flat out to get it up to speed, while the M3 leisurely followed right behind it.

But the final result is still valid: it's not what you drive, but how you drive it. If a Prius is so underperforming that you need to "step on it" to get it to move at all, you'll definitely be driving it to the point where you'll be wasting more gas than you'll save. The M3 only needs a light touch to get it moving at all, meaning it'll be less aggressive on gas consumption.

Here's another Top Gear gas consumption video. This one is hilarious!

Quote:
While factually valid -- driving affects mileage -- it's an intentionally misleading and disingenuous comparison. No one gets 17 mpg from a Prius, especially on the highway. You have to go out of your way to find a driving style that results in that poor of mileage from any modern sedan, highway or no, let alone the most efficient hybrid on the roads.

I enjoy Top Gear, but that clip is bad TV.

If you want accurate test results, watch Fifth Gear.

This, we agree on

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

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.

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.

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.

 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. 

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

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.

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.

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.  

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.