Road car advice?

here: http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ctd/3350580706.html

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-KTurner
Stomp down on the exhilarator and hold on to the wheel.

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Houdini91
a nice/fun/cool car ... have to drive something I don't like.

Dude, life isn't that polarized, don't worry so much about it. If it was, there wouldn't be this forum of "old guys with responsibilites throwing cars at trees".

Tim.

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TronDD

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Houdini91
a nice/fun/cool car ... have to drive something I don't like.

Dude, life isn't that polarized, don't worry so much about it. If it was, there wouldn't be this forum of "old guys with responsibilites throwing cars at trees".

Tim.

I know. But that's what thems guys were making it seem like. And I'd like to throw cars at trees too. But priorities and such. I'd rather ask for advice from people who sort of know what they're talking about and get a different point of view and all that.




And also, heard good things about ZX2's. My friend has one. Paid $200 for it like 3 years ago and hasn't let him down yet.

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Something about something....dirt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2012 03:16PM by Houdini91.

These guys are giving you good advice. You're assuming their suggestions of a cheap, reliable, maintainable car means it will be boring (doesn't have to be) and that having a fun, cool, not boring car is now or never (also doesn't have to be).

My advice is to get a car you can afford to pay for outright and that has a fanbase. Cars with a following have a lot of info online and people to ask for advice. Any problem that can happen, someone has solved and often there is a guru near by that can help you fix yours if you can't do it yourself.

My daily is a MK3 TDI Jetta. The TDIs have a following, lots of info online, local gurus who are mechanics that enjoy working on the car and have a reputation to maintain in the community. I do as much of the work as I can on my own with the info online, and if I need/want a mechanic, there is a local guru who I know won't screw me. The motor will last forever (can't say the same for the body), it's a blast to drive with a lot of upgrade parts available as money allows, extreamly utilitarian, and gets close to 50mpg. I drive it to work, and race it in rallyX so the old sedan doesn't have to be just a boring responsibility mobile.

Tim.

You know, Grant's advice of a Saturn SL2 5 speed ain't bad. My wife had one (a 94) as her first car (well first in her name), and I ended up running it for a year or two as a local commuter car.

First, the bad: The ABS was flaky, (disconnect it, non-ABS cars had drum rears), it did have an appetite for oil (most Saturns do, some accountant at GM saved $0.05 an engine on cheap ass rings or something), and underneath the plastic, the rockers rusts under the rear doors and the driver's side subframe rusts (I had to MIG in some supports for the LF control arm).

95 is the best of them, IMHO, last of the first body style, later style interior with regular seatbelts instead of the motorized things (the 94 had an airbag AND motor belts...two options that needed deleting).

They're reasonably quick, will go 100, and sip fuel. And they're pretty damn easy to work on.

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Roger Matthews has a high spec Rabbit rally car and a supercharged Jetta rally car, a big crew cab pickup and 24 foot enclosed trailer. His daily driver for the 15 mile mountain drive commute to work is a $400 Saturn.

I have a rule I made up a few years ago. I've broken it a few times but never by much. A daily driver must get >20 MPG, be common enough to be able to easily find parts locally (junkyards), be less that $50 per month in insurance, be less than $1000 to purchase (that's the one I break, but never more than $200), and be easy to work on.
I have probably made 2X what I have spent on daily drivers.
Typically it's been a Subaru Impreza for ~$1000 that I sell for $2000 a little later. I drove a Saturn for a few years but it was a loaner from my family. It's the family beater car for whoever has the greatest need at the time.

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Grant Hughes

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TronDD
These guys are giving you good advice. You're assuming their suggestions of a cheap, reliable, maintainable car means it will be boring (doesn't have to be) and that having a fun, cool, not boring car is now or never (also doesn't have to be).

My advice is to get a car you can afford to pay for outright and that has a fanbase. Cars with a following have a lot of info online and people to ask for advice. Any problem that can happen, someone has solved and often there is a guru near by that can help you fix yours if you can't do it yourself.

My daily is a MK3 TDI Jetta. The TDIs have a following, lots of info online, local gurus who are mechanics that enjoy working on the car and have a reputation to maintain in the community. I do as much of the work as I can on my own with the info online, and if I need/want a mechanic, there is a local guru who I know won't screw me. The motor will last forever (can't say the same for the body), it's a blast to drive with a lot of upgrade parts available as money allows, extreamly utilitarian, and gets close to 50mpg. I drive it to work, and race it in rallyX so the old sedan doesn't have to be just a boring responsibility mobile.

Tim.

I usually do assume that, yeah. Ignorance at work. That's good advice. I'm still shopping around and have some money saved and I'm getting a check from insurance, so I'll be able to buy one outright. I've found some along the lines of what you're talking about. Like a Honda Prelude or 300ZX or something. Should be pretty reliable (the ZX is an '86 so...maybe), should be easier to find parts for, cheap to maintain, good on gas, and cheap insurance.

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fiasco
You know, Grant's advice of a Saturn SL2 5 speed ain't bad. My wife had one (a 94) as her first car (well first in her name), and I ended up running it for a year or two as a local commuter car.

First, the bad: The ABS was flaky, (disconnect it, non-ABS cars had drum rears), it did have an appetite for oil (most Saturns do, some accountant at GM saved $0.05 an engine on cheap ass rings or something), and underneath the plastic, the rockers rusts under the rear doors and the driver's side subframe rusts (I had to MIG in some supports for the LF control arm).

95 is the best of them, IMHO, last of the first body style, later style interior with regular seatbelts instead of the motorized things (the 94 had an airbag AND motor belts...two options that needed deleting).

They're reasonably quick, will go 100, and sip fuel. And they're pretty damn easy to work on.

My mechanic uncle suggested one as well.There's one for sale near me too, but he said that they're cheap and plastic and might fall apart. But I'll at least test it out and find one similar and test that one too. It doesn't have to be fast. It's not a race car and I'm not a race car driver.

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NoCoast
Roger Matthews has a high spec Rabbit rally car and a supercharged Jetta rally car, a big crew cab pickup and 24 foot enclosed trailer. His daily driver for the 15 mile mountain drive commute to work is a $400 Saturn.

I have a rule I made up a few years ago. I've broken it a few times but never by much. A daily driver must get >20 MPG, be common enough to be able to easily find parts locally (junkyards), be less that $50 per month in insurance, be less than $1000 to purchase (that's the one I break, but never more than $200), and be easy to work on.
I have probably made 2X what I have spent on daily drivers.
Typically it's been a Subaru Impreza for ~$1000 that I sell for $2000 a little later. I drove a Saturn for a few years but it was a loaner from my family. It's the family beater car for whoever has the greatest need at the time.

Sounds like he has his shit together.

I think I'll make up a game plan like yours with a few modifications. The cars I'm considering already meet most of your criteria, but the only stuff in JY's around here are old pickup trucks and Buicks, Oldsmobiles, etc. I'm giving myself a budget of about $200 a month for (new) car related stuff, excluding gas. So that leaves insurance, payments (if any), parts, and whatever else. I'm still paying $400 a month for my Taurus that I totaled so I can hurry up and get that shit payed off and stop worrying about it, so that's like $600 a month for car shit. Plus other bills and rent. And then I save a little and waste the rest.

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Something about something....dirt.

when you can find one whose owner isn't jacked up on (insert your least-favorite mind altering substance here), a honda civic is probably the answer - they're like a similar era VW, but without all that pesky german engineering.

unfortunately, it seems that most owners of these cars have been imbibing in some pretty heavy shit, so they're asking $2k for a 15-20 year old car with 200k miles, big honkin' dents and rust spots, and plenty of 'tuning'...

Prelude, while maybe more fun to drive, is much more rare in the 'yard IME, and suffers the same ownership issues as the civic.

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

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Houdini91
I'm still paying $400 a month for my Taurus that I totaled so I can hurry up and get that shit payed off and stop worrying about it, so that's like $600 a month for car shit. Plus other bills and rent. And then I save a little and waste the rest.

You do know that they will send any payment for the totalled Taurus settlement directly to the bank and NOT to you right?
If said settlement is LESS than what you still owe on the car, you will have to pay that difference to the bank.
If said settlement is MORE than what you still owe, you will get some money back.

On average it takes approximately 2.5-3 years of car payments to get to a point where you will NOT get fucked if the car is totaled.
Very seldomly does a totaling benefit the person who's car was totaled.
You might want to start thinking about what you are going to do if you do NOT get any money from the insurance company and still are stuck with that $400 per month car payment.
Three months of that car payment would have paid for ANY of the daily drivers I have had in the past 10 years.
Just FYI.

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast

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Houdini91
I'm still paying $400 a month for my Taurus that I totaled so I can hurry up and get that shit payed off and stop worrying about it, so that's like $600 a month for car shit. Plus other bills and rent. And then I save a little and waste the rest.

You do know that they will send any payment for the totalled Taurus settlement directly to the bank and NOT to you right?
If said settlement is LESS than what you still owe on the car, you will have to pay that difference to the bank.
If said settlement is MORE than what you still owe, you will get some money back.

On average it takes approximately 2.5-3 years of car payments to get to a point where you will NOT get fucked if the car is totaled.
Very seldomly does a totaling benefit the person who's car was totaled.
You might want to start thinking about what you are going to do if you do NOT get any money from the insurance company and still are stuck with that $400 per month car payment.
Three months of that car payment would have paid for ANY of the daily drivers I have had in the past 10 years.
Just FYI.

Dude, you're harshing his mellow, mang.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

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KTurner
here: http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ctd/3350580706.html

John Huebbe has one of those. He co-drives the Beatle.

And as to a Camry, mine's a 5 spd V6 car. It get's 25 mpg and is comfortable.

There is also this. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/1999-toyota-camry/

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It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge

TANSTAAFL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2012 08:48PM by Vorpal_Rally.

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KTurner
here: http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ctd/3350580706.html

SWMBO bought one of those new, great little car, the only thing I had to fix was the
serpentine belt, put about 60K city miles on it and sold/gave it to my mother, who
was sick of driving the '94 Continental. She traded it in last year, having done nothing
but drive it and basic maintenance for 30K miles...

My daily is a little bit out there, it's a '73 Capri, with a 345hp 302, not exactly an
economy car, but gets 22+mpg depending on how many idiots in motorhomes I have
to pass on route 109 from home to town... Here's a pic from last years Olympus...



The real question is... Can you maintain something that can make you smile every
time you buckle in??

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SteveL
This is the point in the killing spree when you really should turn the gun on yourself

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SteveL

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KTurner
here: http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ctd/3350580706.html

SWMBO bought one of those new, great little car, the only thing I had to fix was the
serpentine belt, put about 60K city miles on it and sold/gave it to my mother, who
was sick of driving the '94 Continental. She traded it in last year, having done nothing
but drive it and basic maintenance for 30K miles...

My daily is a little bit out there, it's a '73 Capri, with a 345hp 302, not exactly an
economy car, but gets 22+mpg depending on how many idiots in motorhomes I have
to pass on route 109 from home to town... Here's a pic from last years Olympus...



The real question is... Can you maintain something that can make you smile every
time you buckle in??

If a person cannot keep a simple Capri going they may as well shoot themselves..

Even the plain ol 2.0 Pinto with a tad more compression, say 10.5 or so and some "amusing" cam and a DGMS would be a real pleasure to drive...

Maybe a Type 9 5 speed for the lower revs while cruising 75....

But oh noez, points! carbs!!!

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Well umm, no more serious than I was in high school...

Damn, I wanted one of these and do one of those DOHC V8 swaps....

It ain't no Miata or Volvo....it's $$$ to play with that car...

I'm a lot happier with my straight GANGSTA 242 Volvo Turbo!

"My daily is a little bit out there, it's a '73 Capri, with a 345hp 302"

BWWWWAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHA

My day is made better knowing this car exists and is a daily driver, thanks for that. Carry on.

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Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...