The Car is Dead

YAY for a brand new car! Toyota Matrix ftw! Seriously, my car rocks!

Hey, my husband sells Porsches, if you're interested.

Pffffttt....get a Prius.....lmao.......hey you can't beat that gas mileage!!

Go here for new car crash test ratings. I do this every time I get a new car.
http://www.iihs.org/

Also, haggle haggle haggle... do tons of research, look up interest rates, and determine exactly how much you want to spend. Dealers still make a profit even if you only pay MSRP. Don't let them get away with any of their lame tactics! (As you can guess, car salesmen HATE me.)

Sunkissed27f said:

Pffffttt....get a Prius.....lmao.......hey you can't beat that gas mileage!!

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That's only true if the better balance of your driving is under 45mph. If you do a lot of highway driving you'll be using the regular gasoline engine, and the battery and extra gadgetry makes the car heavier than usual, so you actually get worse gas mileage than the - what's it built on? - Corrolla, I think. Whatever the comparable car is.

But not changing your oil will kill even a bullet-proof Honda or Toyota. For shame.

So, whatcha gonna get to replace it?

ETA - ah, I see I was late with my question. Happy shopping!

Sorry to hear about your 'fun little tricked-out honda civic'

Hugs all round

Ever thought of a wheelbarrow, or something a little less motor run?

JoNightshade said:

Haha, where I live? It'd take me 4 hours to get to the grocery store. A day or two to get to work.

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Not so convenient then. Hope you and your husband come to a mutual agreement or compromise on the new car and if your stuck, you can always rent a helicopter instead. Not sure about the rates, but I'd be delighted to come to your rescue, if if it ever crossed your mind.

My Paseo about died this weekend too. We went car shopping....I just can't bring myself to a $300 car payment after none for almost 2 years. Not to mention anything else would be double in gas. Maybe I should start taking one of my horses to work...

Congrats on the new car. My mom loves her Prius.

Perks said:

That's only true if the better balance of your driving is under 45mph. If you do a lot of highway driving you'll be using the regular gasoline engine, and the battery and extra gadgetry makes the car heavier than usual, so you actually get worse gas mileage than the - what's it built on? - Corrolla, I think. Whatever the comparable car is.

But not changing your oil will kill even a bullet-proof Honda or Toyota. For shame.

So, whatcha gonna get to replace it?

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We use our company Prius to drive to over 23 states.
I have drove from North Alabama to Mid-Florida on a tank of gas.
If that sounds impossible, it's not.
Either way I have gotten no less than 35 miles to the gallon. I generally get between 45-50 or more (75mpg) when I drive in town a little more or less on the interstate. AND...when I ran out of gas (don't laugh) I was able to use the battery back up to drive the 2 miles to a gas station, before it finally died.

So, yes a hybrid though awful in looks, does stand up to it's performance rate. I have read nothing, but good reviews on the hybrids. Yes, there are a few bad ones, but that usually isn't about it's over all performance.

Shop on the internet first. I found my van online, with a list price of $11k, so I headed off to the dealership to see it in person. The salesguy tried to tell me list price on it was $13k, but I whipped out my printout of the van online and got it for $11k.

Generally, they can bring the price down for a car if you pay for it out right, that does eliminate the interest, though they will usually find a way to work it in there that you pay more than you should.
Always go in there acting like you DON'T need the car....being very casual (salesmen smell need)...and NEVER tell them what you DO have. E.g., you have $25k...you REALLY only have $20K, this way if after taxes it comes to 24k or what not you will have paid for it and had money left over for the tag, etc.
Our Prius we bought outright for the company and it was around $20k, after we haggled him down from $28k.
We buy at least 1 new car every 3 months...I have learned some very interesting skills.

You have to haggle like crazy, and visit many dealerships. Find what you want first, narrow it down to two models.

See if you can find any 2006 models still on the lots, they will drop the price by a third or more, just watch out for 'lot rot'.

I bought a 2004 Impala in January of 2005 because I wrecked my beloved Olds Intrigue (sob!)

I paid 18 grand for it, list price was 29 thou and change. It's all leather, upgraded engine, sports package, luxury package, onstar, everything.

The highway gas milage on the Impalas is pretty remarkable, I drove from Austin, TX to Las Vegas and only filled up twice. I still had almost a half a tank when I got to Vegas.

It took two days to seal the deal.

Get a second opinion/estimate on your old car. The price for engine changes at regular mechanics can be almost double that of the specialty places and replacement with a low mileage used engine can be very reasonable. This is especially true if you live in a major urban area where competition keeps the prices in line. What year is the Civic, how many miles?

Terry

If changing the oil is a problem, get one of these - no gasoline motor, no oil to change - not cheap (to buy), but it sure is fast (Siddow, has your hubbie seen one of these?):

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Bah! Having to regularly change your oil is nohting more than a conspiracy brought on by the car companies and Big Oil just to sell more oil.

JoNightshade said:

Actually, this IS the specialist place. I trust the mechanic. Anyway the car is toast. We've had it in before for other problems and we just don't want to spend any more money on it. It's a 1996 or 97 and it's got... um, LOTS of miles. We got it cheap and we decided just to drive it into the ground and then get a new car. It's gone down faster than we anticipated, but this was still the plan.

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Actually, by my way of thinking, even getting a new engine is still cheaper in the long run then getting a new car. New car payments are outrageous these days.

ETA: OMG! You're going to clean out your savings? Egad! Just buy the engine.

benbradley said:

If changing the oil is a problem, get one of these - no gasoline motor, no oil to change - not cheap (to buy), but it sure is fast (Siddow, has your hubbie seen one of these?):

http://www.teslamotors.com/

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heh heh...there was a guy at the dealership party last week who came in with some vehicle that cost $450,000. Man, there was some nice cars at that event. Octoberfest festival for their best customers. Sweet!

JoNightshade said:

RIP, my fun little tricked-out honda civic.

Last night we went to the grocery store, parked in the 15-minute space, and when we came back out it wouldn't start. We spent like an hour getting it towed to the car place. Our mechanic calls me this morning and informs me it's gonna cost half what the car is worth to repair it. Oh and then he yelled at me for not having changed my oil in... forever.

So we're gonna donate it I guess. This is our only car so this morning I'm setting out on foot to the nearest car rental place.

AND THEN WE'RE GETTING A NEW CAR!!! Like, BRAND NEW! WOO HOO!

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LOL Congratulations, and I'm sorry all at the same time....?

Something similar happened to me. I woke up and walked out the driveway to where my Civic should have been parked, and it was GONE! This was 6 years ago, but it still hurts.


The repo man came and took it away. Yea, that's right.

Wow, just saw you're getting a new car. Way2go!