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Friday, April 10, 2015

Car Shopping



My lovely wife's car died and we'll have to replace it soon after we get home. I don't want the veggie van to be our daily driver anymore. The plan is to use it more like an RV and tow vehicle for our boats. That way we can get a few more years out of it.

I had been thinking of getting another diesel, maybe even another old Mercedes to convert to veggie. Sadly, I think my veggie burning days are coming to an end. Good quality WVO is getting hard to get. So that puts me in the general car market. I haven't bought a real car in years. My most recent vehicle purchase was a decommissioned ambulance.

A small pickup truck would be nice, but they don't really make small pickups anymore. The newer pickups out there don't excite me. Whatever happened to little ½ ton manual shift pickups that could get 35 mpg?

Oh yeah, my lovely wife is perfectly happy driving a stick, so that opens up things a bit.

I'm wondering if we should just settle for a little econo banger car, but we really hate to settle.

Should we get an older used vehicle and avoid payments? Perhaps we should suck it up and buy a new or newer car with some sort of warranty?

Any ideas out there? Something with decent mileage and a bit of character?

. . . an no Mr Flying Tortoise, we don't want a mule team.

-Sixbears
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11 comments:

  1. Gorges SmytheApril 10, 2015 at 3:05 AM

    Perhaps something old enough to escape the EMP worries? (That would be OLD!)

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    1. Andolphus GreyApril 10, 2015 at 5:50 PM

      It would be old enough to cause plenty of day to day worries. Can't have everything.

      Delete
  2. MomladyApril 10, 2015 at 7:37 AM

    I'm thinking of buying a new truck. My 2003 van is still in good shape but I need a four-wheel drive truck to haul stuff. I'll use the van for in town errands. I take care of my vehicles and hope to get more than the 250,000 miles I now have on the van. New is expensive but, at least I won't be buying someone else's problems.

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    1. Andolphus GreyApril 10, 2015 at 5:53 PM

      New sometimes is cheaper in the very long run. Last new car I bought, many years ago, I drove for over 10 years and a lot of miles.

      Delete
  3. Hermit's Baby SisApril 10, 2015 at 8:26 AM

    My 1999 Toyota 4-Runner has 225,000 miles and still going strong. Bought it as a lease return with 15K miles on it, and bought the extended warranty. Only thing ever gone out was the A/C, and it was still under warranty. I think theoldedr, smaller ones are hard to find now, but I still love mine!

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    1. Andolphus GreyApril 10, 2015 at 5:55 PM

      Those little Toyotas are amazing. One problem is that everyone knows how good they are and even old ones get top dollar.

      Delete
  4. John D. WheelerApril 10, 2015 at 10:26 AM

    My suggestion would be to go ahead and get a small pickup... since they don't make them anymore, it would necessarily be used. My past two vehicles I have got new, but between the two of them I have gotten 25 years out of them. If you're not keeping a vehicle for at least a decade, it's not worth buying new.

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    1. Andolphus GreyApril 10, 2015 at 5:57 PM

      I would keep a new vehicle for a long long time so new is not quite out of the question. I'm still open to the right used truck at the right price.

      Delete
  5. Dizzy-DickApril 10, 2015 at 4:30 PM

    I think you need an old hearse to go along with the ambulance conversion.

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    1. Andolphus GreyApril 10, 2015 at 5:58 PM

      Neat! A musician friend of mine had one. Great for loading amps and instruments. Only problem for him is that he couldn't pick up girls in it. Creeped them out.

      Delete
  6. The Flying TortoiseApril 11, 2015 at 4:50 PM

    Haha Sixbears, the thought hadn't occurred to me but...

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