Ding Dong

[beetiger]

...the car is dead. Apparently the warning light about the oil was actually trying to tell me something. The engine has seized entirely, making it more or less useless. Even with a used engine, the cost of replacing it would probably be $3K or so, which with a blue book value of perhaps $2500 isn't really worth it.

Sorry Julia.

I'm trying to decide if I can actually convince myslef to take better care of the car I've been thinking of buying myself for a while, since the Prius is likely to be pickier than average, or if I'd really be better off buying something used and cheap but sufficient to get me to work safely. I can technically afford the new car, but it's unclear whether I should go that route.

Sympathy and car-buying suggestions encouraged. Any comments on what I should have done with my other car distinctly not encouraged.

Comments

[jenett]

Much sympathy.

Re: ideas: I adore my Saturn, not least because they generally have excellent maintainance records, and because dealing with the maintainance has so far (had my Creature 2.5 years so far) been extremely painless. (She also starts well in the winter, drives well (with anti-lock brakes and traction control) in winter, and a bunch of other good things.

I will, however, refrain from burbling further unless you're interested in more details. :) Creature is a 2000 SL2, which they've just phased out in favor of the Ion, I think it is.

[mike-kenshin.livejournal.com]

I had a 1992 SL2 (while I was out on the West Coast), and absolutely loved it. Saturns are good cars.

I now have a Honda Civic, and she's been absolutely fantastic *knocks on wood* for all the abuse that I've put her through over the last 2 years (750 mi every week).

But V, your car had done its time here, and gave all she was worth. It's time to let her rest.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

The last six months or so with it had been pretty bad, indeed, and I think even without this, the maintenance bills for it were starting to skyrocket. I know 110K miles isn't really that much for a car these days, but you are right, I've gotten good value from the car since I bought it used in early '99.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Much sympathy. It's a lie that some people like to spread that 110K milse isn't a lot these days. For any car, one can expect a biggish repair ca. 50K, a big-ticket repair ca. 75K, and a big-ticket repair/crippling breakdown every 10K miles after 100K. There are some exceptions to the rule, but I sure haven't met them personally.

I would like to chime in with the joys of Saturn. The things that sold me on my 2001 little station wagon were 1) CHEAP INSURANCE -- dings and dents and scratches are *really* easy to fix on Saturns, as they have these nifty interchangeable polymer panels, 2) fabulous mileage -- I get about 27mpg around town, and up to 38mpg on the highway, 3) recyclable parts -- many of the innards are made of recycled materials and/or can be recycled when removed, and 4) no smarmy salespeople and having to bargain... I walked in, picked my customizations, signed things, and walked out.

[genders.livejournal.com]

My sympathy for your loss.

My mechanic recommend the Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic for girls who aren't too picky about routing maintenance...

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed. My current car, the dead one, is a Camry. I don't really need the extra sixe, though -- I think if I buy Toyota again I'll be getting either a Corolla or a Prius.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Corolla. Preferably driven by a little old lady.

If you want to be half-assed about maintenance, get a ridiculously common breed of car so that you can always find parts in the wild, and get a cheap car so you don't cry too much when it dies.

[aynjel.livejournal.com]

*hughughug* My Hyundai did sort of the same thing back in college.

I love my Honda. And they're pretty reliable and the Civics aren't terribly expensive if you wanted to go that route.

[freeko.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Sympathy hugs! I'm reasonably happy with my Toyota Camry, though it's never been the 'jump with joy for driving' sort of car for me. I enjoyed having a Ford Probe with a V6 engine for a while, but well, that got rather totalled in an accident so I went with a slightly bigger but much safer car.

Pondering my next purchase too. My next purchase will have a DVD GPS navigation system, darnit. I hate getting lost.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

WHen I was originally thinking about buying a Prius, I was definitely craving the GPS. I'm not sure I feel right "rewarding" myself with that, given the circumstances and my work situation. Then again, as quite a few of the people here know, getting lost is one of my natural talents. :P

[sapphire-d.livejournal.com]

I rather like my Hyundai Elantra, but if you're still driving ungodly amounts from work and home and all of that every day, I'd go for the Hyundai Accent or one of the little shoebox cars that are meant for delivery and get good gas mileage. The delivery Accents at work scare me, they have a lot of power (comparatively) and are cute little puttputtzoom cars. :)

[orleans.livejournal.com]

Much sympathy for the auto. ... As for recommendations, since you don't seem to be a person who likes tinkering around with engines, at least from your post above, I'd recommend a Toyota Tercel (if going used), or a Toyota Echo with the new car. They are inexpensive, robust, and need minimal maintenance. However, with an older used car like a Tercel from the mid 90s, I would recommend a stickshift, as the possibility of automatic transmission failure is always a problem with older cars.

[cloverr.livejournal.com]

As I've said before, you definately have my car-sympathies. I think we feel very similarly about automobiles and the cursed necessity of driving them. Sigh. I just ran up my Visa another 460$ yesterday with car maintenance--70,000 mile transmission maintenance, serpentine belt changed, a tire replaced, and some other dinky stuff that needed to be done and helped run up the total. Gee, you know what though?--the diagnostic the Saturn mechanic ran didn't really show up anything about the electrical system or looking like the car had any serious work done to it recently. Sigh.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

We bought a Ford Focus (hatchback four door) right before Christmas. Went from owning a Jeep TJ to that.

I love that car now... it's really not the same winter drive, but I like the feel of it quite a bit. Just wish they made them in 4 wheel drive, but that's me being picky. Heh.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

My 1995 Jetta 3 GL hit 150000 miles last week. My family has always had Volkswagons, mostly Jettas, and they've been very good to us, usually crapping out aroun 200,000.

-Pumette

The other tack:

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

I saw a book once that suggested the exact opposite tack - Buy junkers at dirt-cheap prices by waving cash in people's face(Like, half what they want, in $50 bills), and do NO maintenance on them, at all, other than gas. Buy two, and keep one available as a spare. Sell your corpses in the paper or to junkyards.

The author claimed it was actually cheaper than most other methods of owning a car, as long as you did NO maintenance at all. No experience here to agree or deny with on that count, though.

The Prius seems neat - I haven't seen that they require significantly more maintenance than regular cars, though.