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I miss old Sam.
According to her wiki, she worked in finance for many years before getting involved in raising horses and opening an art museum.
Other than the DUI's, she seem to be a pretty dull person.
She also apparently ran someone down, with no charges being filed, and has never actually served any time for her transgressions. I am sure someone of low socio-economic status would be treated just the same. What a great legacy, Sam is very proud no doubt. And don't raise her taxes! It'll trickle down, just wait, any day now, it's coming.
Around here, I find lots and lots of people who should not be able to afford expensive SUVs or luxury cars, driving them. One wonders how they do it. Clearly, they're not the folks who can really afford them. Escalades are very popular with a very young segment of the population. Mercedes with another, and so on. Unless they are pharmaceutical representatives, I don't see how they can afford them, even on a stretch.
Way back when, Gates spent a fortune trying to import a Porsche 959 - easily one of the coolest Porsches ever and one of the most advanced cars built, so maybe there's some form of gearhead under his nerdy facade. He didn't have to stretch anyway :shades: As he lives about 2 miles from me, I've always kept my eye out for an Lexus SC, haven't spotted it yet.
There's a lot of easy credit and undeclared income out there for some to stretch with...
How the Fed Fueled an Explosion in Subprime Auto Loans (Yahoo)
I knew some people back in the late 1990's that were paying around 20% interest on used cars. One of them had a used 1995 Monte Carlo Z34 that he only paid around $10K for, but his payment was still in excess of $300, for 60 mos. And one of my friends had a 1998 Tracker with 47 payments of $323, and a 48th of around $5600!
I also had a friend who initially got a new Neon coupe...some "designer" model like an Espresso or something. But then after a few days they decided to not let the deal go through, made him give the car back, but let him buy an S-10. I think it was only around $15,000, but I know his payment was in excess of $300 per month, as well.
So, with those monthly payments as a reference point, it was pretty easy to talk myself into buying my old 2000 Intrepid, a car that was $22,389 out the door, but with 0.9% APR, was only $2K down and $347.66 for 60 months.
I think that 0.9% spoiled me, though.
I think that 0.9% spoiled me, though.
GM loaned me $25K at 0% back in 2002 when I got my Saturn L300. Can't beat free money (so to speak).
We're paying 3.9% on the wife's CX-7; seems like highway robbery in comparison.
I could have gotten a lower rate on the Ram when I bought it, but I was planning on using my HELOC and then paying that down fast. However, there was a $500 incentive if I financed through the dealer, which ended up being with Chase Financial. So, I took that, made a few extra-big payments along with the regular ones, and had it paid off after a few months.
I've driven, bought and sold plenty of 'em. They have torque steer, and if you excite that Northstar, it'll jerk the wheel out of your hand.
Nice touch though, with the Packard slogan...
With traction control, ABS, and all the computer crap in cars that does everything for you, is RWD even that much of a hindrance anymore in bad weather?
We didn't have much of a winter here in the DC area, but I did get a chance to take my 2012 Ram out in some slick weather. Despite being RWD and having a light rear end and a lot of power, it was almost impossible to get that sucker to spin our. I'd imagine a RWD car, with better weight balance, would be even better.
Well, he said the car was acting really funny, and wanted to know if he could come by and pick me up, and drive me around and see if I had an opinion on what it was. So, he came by, and we went out driving. What was going on was that he was hearing some grumbling sound, from the abs or traction control or whatever, trying to keep his butt from wiping out. He was driving that Grand Marquis a LOT faster in those slick conditions than he would have driven that old Cutlass.
Oh, and that ABS and traction control didn't keep him from getting that car stuck in my yard once. Come to think of it, he got his next car, an '04 Crown Vic, stuck in my yard as well when it was snowy/icy/ Now he has an '09 Grand Marquis, but he hasn't christened that one in my yard yet!
With the '04 Crown Vic, I think he was parked in the driveway, but there was fresh snow on the ground, and he managed to get stuck.
I've gotten my '85 Silverado stuck in the driveway once or twice when it's icy. But with something that old, no posi-traction, and a light rear-end, you almost expect it from that.