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Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)
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I miss mine, I loved that van. Stupid reason for getting rid of it too, should have just hung on to it. I drove that van through Denali Park all the way to Kantishna. Yup, I enjoyed having that!
As gas gets close to $4.00 a gallon here in California, my short runs around town in the CR-V are saving us from being so dependent on those folks is white robes and funny hats. :P
Mark156
You state...
"As gas gets close to $4.00 a gallon here in California, my short runs around town in the CR-V are saving us from being so dependent on those folks is white robes and funny hats."
How in the world is your CR-V saving you from being so dependent on foreign oil producing nations if you drive a 40+ foot long, 50,000 pound RV?????? What kind of gas mileage does that beast get, maybe 5 MPG?
Your gas guzzling RV contributes substantially more to our dependence on foreign oil than you save by your "short runs around town" in the CRV.
I'm perplexed how you could be so proud of your fuel-efficient SUV purchase, yet you waste ENORMOUS amounts of fuel towing that SUV around the country with your Monaco Dynasty Exxon Valdez Special Edition motorhome.
Mark was talking about his CR-V - not about his motorhome.
Your rant is about Mark's lifestyle choices - not about his comment. This is not the forum for geo-political rants.
You're referring to the KKK, perhaps?
I can't improve on mattgg1's observations (LOL). Personally, I don't understand buying a $350K gas guzzling RV at all, even if one can afford it, unless you have a rock band, & then it's maybe the most sensible solution to transport.
Am I correct that Willie Nelson had his tour bus converted to run on used vegetable oil? Willie's a very smart guy, it seems like.
If the "stuff" really hits the fan in the Middle East, & there's a really crazy gas shortage & high prices, people won't be able to give huge RV's away. But if you have enough $$bucks, maybe that doesn't matter.....
I think there will always be a market for RVs no matter what. We have an ultralite travel trailer, our truck gets about 13-14 mpg pulling it. Will we stop using it if fuel hits $4/gallon, nah, might stay a little closer to home though. Its all in what your sanity is worth I guess, for us its worth a lot!
My Motor-Coach is 42ft. long and weighs about 44,000 lbs. My second tank of fuel gave me about 8.5 mpg's. The beast gets excellent mileage when parked!!! :P
The motorhome is only moved from one location to another and the CR-V, with it's excellent gas mileage, gets me around to tourists spots and sight-seeing.
Don't be so perplexed... motorhome life is not so 'inefficient'... we have a very small space to heat and cool which saves utilities compared to a home. And, I don't see it as wasting enormous amounts of fuel. I have the new 'clean air diesel' which eliminates about 90% of the pollutants.
I have a solar panel to generate energy to charge my batteries which is saving fuel. The new motorhomes are 21 century!
Mark156
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I think people should stop having children.
Enjoy your motor home, I hope to soon put a camper unit on my new Frontier. Happy camping!
Boy, you can say THAT again! :-/
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I'm just past a year on the Subie and I feel itchy.
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
I *think* I could if it was a car I really liked. I was at 2 years with the Titan and with Zippy, loved them both. Hindsight, I wouldn't have gotten rid of either of them, just paid Zippy off and bought the Titan out of the lease.
I wish I could have another Titan, but its just not practical for our family really. I need to think fuel economy (well, better than a truck or SUV) and room.......read: MINIVAN!! Which is really ok with me, I don't mind driving a mom car, lol. I loved my Windstar, but dang, 2 transmissions in 3 months was just pushing my patience. The Quest I really wish I had kept, I liked it a lot and it worked great for us. Ah well.......Hindsight...... :sick:
Have you forgotten how expensive the Titan was about to get, and how often it was broken?
OK - I'm in. Of course I already have four so I don't imagine that's what you had in mind. :P
Meanwhile, buying two year old cars every couple of years isn't a bad strategy at all. Much cheaper than leasing and accomplishes a lot of the same goals - more car for less money.
I've got a friend who is definitely NOT a CCB but what he does is buys his cars new (lately it's always an Outback wagon) and dumps it at about 50K. Used to just trade it in but last time he had two friends (I was one of them) all set to buy it instead. Since this guy is really anal about things I know everything has been maintained and he'll tell me anything that he thought was coming up.
I missed the last one. The other guy jumped first. We'll see next time around. At this point my 00 Accord is virtually a free car so it's hard to pull the trigger on that.
Now the van is another story. Just replaced an 02 Ody with an 04. I got an upgrade from an LX to an EX and 90K fewer miles. I could see doing that again in a couple of years.
LOL, probably. I told hubby this morning I wanted another Titan.......his reply was "you want a what? Divorce?" LOL, his answer is NO WAY to a Titan. Truthfully it wouldn't work for us anyway, but I did like it.
Drove the Odyssey first, an LX, no EX-L's on the lot. LOVED IT, wow, what an awesome van. Came back and took the Sienna out, hubby drove first, when we switched I knew almost immediatly that would not work. I couldn't get comfortable, the dead pedal was in the wrong spot and my bad knee was screaming in protest! The driving position was all wrong for me, hubby agreed he didn't like it either. Got back to the lot and sat in the Odyssey again, yup, like a glove.
It fits the bill, good gas mileage: rated 19/27 for the EX-L, roomy, great driving position, smooth and quiet.
Now I just have to be patient, it'll come in due time. LOL, who am I kidding?? Wasn't memorial day the latest date I heard??
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
Oh darn, I'm going to be busy that day, lol, have a horse show to attend!
I haven't bought a car since 12/05 (mine) or 12/04 (wife's van). Should have both for a while yet, especially since college payments start in 2 years, and having 2 paid off cars (mine already is, 7 months on the Ody!) is a nice companion to that.
I will get my fix trolling the lower echelon when it is time to get my son a car. he can get a permit in June :surprise:
I may just get something now to teach him on. I won't let a valet drive my car (it's a stick), so the idea of turning a new driver loose on it isn't sitting well. A 10 YO Saturn on Sentra sounds like a much better idea...
Only other way I would get a new car is if one started acting up. The better bet for that is the van. If it starts developing more nagging injuries, I might consider taking advantage of that famous Honda resale value! Would probably lease the next family truckster though...
Actually, when I got my car, I almost leased a Jetta 2.0T instead. Liked that car, but didn't want to pay the freight to buy it outright. But the biggest reason to lease? I wouldn't have cared about teaching my son to drive on it, and about the time he was on to his own car, the lease would be up!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
You have an Accord stick? I would think that would be a good choice to share with a new driver. Good size, 16X HP enough to get out of trouble but not enough to go looking for it, easy enough to drive, forgiving handling...it is a lot easier to drive an maneuver than a not-so-mini-van.
Of course, if you just want to go car shopping, picking up a used Focus might be a way to keep him out of your car :P
Even worse? It took forever for me to get the seat set just right, and since he is 4"+ shorter than me, every time he drives it it will get all screwed up!
Besides, I hate to let anyone drive my car.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I don't usually have these battles with myself. Maybe I secretly like the Durango......nah, that can't be, lol. :sick:
both of my parents "remembered" how to drive a stick with my high school car (and went on to get another stick), and my bro and sis both learned on that car (and a few other people did too). That clutch was replaced for $400 at 105k.
The seat height thing I can understand. A member of my family always has a cow when one specific other family member drives the car because they are about 6-7" apart in height. If the shorter one leaves the seat up, the taller one cant get in and crams knees against the wheel. There is nothing like being home for the holidays :P.
It's partly buying new-ish expensive european cars that causes me to hold to them for so long; after a few years the depreciation can get so steep I figure I might as well keep what is still usually a very nice car, & nicer than a lot of new cars I go out & test drive.
Of course none of this keeps me from obsessing constantly about the other cars I "might" or "could" buy.....
A new vehicle, one you can maintain from the start, does make a LITTLE sense, doesn't it? (I know, I know, I am the devil!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
*Maybe* Akangel should figure out what she REALLY wants, AND can afford (seems obvious, duh). It HAS to be both. AND reliable, meaning probably Japanese, notwithstanding the Titan experience.
Odyssey? Pilot? It would seem like AWD or 4WD makes sense in AK. And there are great deals on Pilots now (I think?). And usually Honda has some great year-end lease deals or discounts. *Usually* buying a new Honda is not such a crazy idea.
Just my own wacky 2cents.....
A big problem is I don't *know* what I really *want*, what seems like a good idea one day doesn't the next. I really like the Odyssey and the Pilot, BUT, hubby doesn't fit in the Pilot, lol, so I'd be driving all the time, a big no no with me. I don't *need* 4WD, we have 2 4x4 trucks if I need it, front wheel drive with traction control works great.
So, until I figure it out I'll keep driving the Durango and try to figure out what makes sense. Course if gas prices hit $4/gal I'll be making a very pretty flower pot out of the Durango.......lol. :sick:
You can't beat the AWD and the navigation has a calculator built in... perfect for manually checking your mileage! LOL!
I'm currently on a 2,000 mile trip on in the Monaco Dynasty pulling the CR-V. My last two tanks on the Dynasty were 7.0 and 6.1... the hills in Arizona towards Flagstaff really cut into mpg's. I was trying to run 65 - 70 mph so I better stick to 60 mpg. That's when I got 8.5 mpg on my second tank. :P
I've realized something about you Jolie... you were blessed with good looks, a good figure, a good husband and beautiful children... but "hindsight" was skipped when it was dished out! LOL... :P :P :P
Mark156
Yep. Wopu;d have loved to hand off my Accord to my daughter but wasn't ready to lose a clutch. ("congratulations Mr. Fezo - it's a clutch!")
Helped her with a 99 Camry which she's happy with.
We did look at it briefly, but again, hubby doesn't fit, lol, he really is a problem sometimes! I've threatened to cut his legs off at the knees!
I think I'm just going to hang on to the Durango for now, its not a bad little truck. The quicker I pay it off the more likely I am to keep it. It'd be beyond wonderful to not have a car payment for a change!
I have tried to put the best spin possible on picking up an extra 10 mpg over my Escape and their is just no way to justify it for fuel consumption alone. Factor in repairs and maybe you could , but in 15 months I have not laid out a dime for repairs.
Hopefully, the Durangos suspension issues will be cleared up and you won't even need the warranty again. I think ball joints and the suspension were the biggest problems on the 1st generation.
Knowing that, I also vote to keep it. How bad can the Durango be? And not having car payments, assuming you have either a reliable car, or at least one under warranty, can be a Wonderful thing.
I'm not sure the Odyssey would even give me that much, I had the Durango out yesterday and found a nice flat stretch of road, set the cruise, then watched the instant economy computer it has. At 58 mph I can get 23 mpg, 65 mph yields 21 mpg, and 75 mph gives me 19 mpg, not too bad for a flying brick! I've found the average economy computer in this truck is only off .3 mpg, that's pretty darn good, my Ram's was always off 3-5 mpg.
I talked to another lady who has a 2003 Durango, I asked her about the ride and so forth. Before I even got much out she said SHOCKS!! Then I explained about the steering and she immediatly said rack and pinion. She just had both done and said the difference was amazing! She's had her's for 4 years (since it was new) she said its been a great truck, she loves it.
So, it'll go in June 4th for all that stuff. Believe it or not the shocks are even covered under the Chrysler MaxCare ESC that I have on the truck. Pretty much everything is covered for 5 years or until the truck reaches 122k miles.
How about one more trade and this time, get something you really want and perhaps something different from usual suspects? How about a european or some quirky japanese brand?
Maybe there's something out there that may keep you interested for a relatively long time? You may take a small hit on durango but if you are not happy with it, then whats the point?
Any financial sense in keeping it has probably already gone out of the window with numerous past trades.. so one more will be a drop in the bucket right?
Ok.. I will shut up now!
You're kidding, right?
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It was/is a bit of a hard transition from a brand new truck to one that's nearly 7 years old. It does have its good points though, I don't have to worry about someone scratching it, the dog jumped on the fender the other day (something she never does) and I didn't freak out. Yeah, it scratched it, but I shrugged it off, no big deal.
I did have a truck that held my interest, in fact, if I'd had my way I would still have it. I loved my Titan, it was a super fun truck to drive, I loved everything about it, but it loved its mechanic more. Had it been reliable I would still have it, problem was with all of the issues it had hubby wasn't willing to fund its addiction to the service department after the warranty was up.
Unfortunatly it takes a lot to hold my interest for very long, I get bored with a vehicle pretty quickly as a general rule. Although the Titan was an exception to the rule, as was Zippy.
Maybe next summer I'll do something crazy like lease a Charger or something.
Seriously, pay it off and have no payments for awhile and bank the money. Down the road you'll be glad y'all did this. Trust me on one thing, no car or house payments are a wonderful thing as the price of everything else goes up and up. Bite the bullet for awhile and wait at least 2 more years to buy, or at least until the warranty is over.
I truly understand your passion for cars, I have it too! But with 3 college aged kids, we bought cars that we could afford outright and we're satisfied.
I'd really rather have another car, a TSX comes to mind, but I could afford the Civic, so that's what I bought. I know I'm not a member of this club, but am trying to be the voice of reason for you.
Just my opinion here.
The Sandman
Seriously, pay it off and have no payments for awhile and bank the money. Down the road you'll be glad y'all did this. Trust me on one thing, no car or house payments are a wonderful thing as the price of everything else goes up and up. Bite the bullet for awhile and wait at least 2 more years to buy, or at least until the warranty is over.
I truly understand your passion for cars, I have it too! But with 3 college aged kids, we bought cars that we could afford outright and we're satisfied.
I'd really rather have another car, a TSX comes to mind, but I could afford the Civic, so that's what I bought. I know I'm not a member of this club, but am trying to be the voice of reason for you.
Just my opinion here.
You're right. Its not a bad SUV, gas mileage kinda sucks, but its not much worse than a minivan would be. I would like to keep it 2 years until the ESC is up then buy a new something. *sigh* 2 months down, 22 to go....... :sick:
I'm pretty certain if the summer goes well and we don't have any major problems out logging that I can have it paid off by April. Course things never go as planned, but I'm sure I'll have it at least close to paid off if not paid off by then.
My next mission after that will be to pay off the travel trailer and get rid of the darn thing, least we didn't do the LOOONNNGGGG term financing like most people seem to do on those things.
Why get rid of the travel trailer?? The trailer could keep you distracted while camping... (no thoughts of a new vehicle). :P
Oops... the Honda CR-V battery is dead. :sick: I'm supposed to pull fuse #34 (I think) when towing but I didn't. I've towed for 2,500 miles with it and no problems.
Today, I didn't start it as much when stopped and I drove with my lights on... so, maybe having the parking lights on ran the battery down. I'm at a KOA tonight and I think the manager will give me a boost if it doesn't start itself in the morning.
Mark156
Heck, the bill for that oil's going to cost more than the car! :surprise:
If anyone but you said that I don't think I'd believe it! :P
Better to own seven $100 dollar cars than one $700 car. Though it does help if they are all the same model and year....
Oh, did I leave out the part about getting a BIGGER one?? Ours is pretty small, its an ultra lite, we bought it because it was the most the Titan could pull. Now it looks pretty silly behind the dually. So, we are kicking around the idea of a new one, but have to pay ours off first and sell it.