A tongue-in-cheek about how long I've held off on buying a new(er) Mazda.
I bought my 1993 Mazda MX6 (2.0L 5spd) in 5/2001 with ~80k miles for $5200. A few years later the Mazda3 came out with a cool looking hatchback that got great reviews on the fun factor. I always figured that would be my next vehicle to replace the MX6 coupe - something with a bit more storage room (surfboards! - which surpirsingly fit quite well in MX6) and fun to drive.
I started looking seriously into buying a used 3 hatch last year. I wanted to spend no more than $10-12k. Unfortunately they are popular cars and have kept their value, plus when you try to find a 5spd hatch it cuts your pool of vehicles by ~75%! Nothing seemed worth the price.
My MX6 still runs strong and gets great mpg, which is why I was never in a rush to replace it. As I've been taking more weekend trips with camping gear/etc, the last 2-3 years, I looked into picking up a CUV in the meantime, since I'd still have my car with high mpg and then something with more room for trips. Paid cash ($6200) for a '05 Saturn Vue with 80k miles last summer.
Wanting to keep a fun to drive car has me looking for Mazda3 hatches again, as the MX6 is finally on its last legs (not the engine, though) with 340k miles now. The hatches I want are still priced more than I want to spend, especially seeing as how I don't *need* that car! I've been thinking I may get rid of the MX6 while I can still get some $$ out of it, and just drive the Vue for a while and really wait for those 3 hatches to come down (now I would prefer an '08-'09 b/c they refreshed it and added more standard safety features).
Thought about jumping into a CX-5, as that would be one vehicle to cover me on both ends - storage space plus mpg (6spd manual FWD). Hate the though of spending $21k on a vehicle, though. I figured if the Vue is worth ~$5k and I was willing to spend up to $12k on a 3, the CX-5 would be a better value - this realization made me rethink whether I even need two cars right now. I currently live where I can bike to work also! Which means the cars get filthy from lack of driving during the week too - another strike against something new(er).
So, I'm keeping my $$ in the bank and driving the same MX6 and Vue for a while more. Currently 31, have owned 3 cars since 15, still driving 2 of them, just sold my first car only last year.
NOT new car pics:
A post for the sensible BITOGers and also a hope for a rally to keep me from buying something I don't need just yet!
I bought my 1993 Mazda MX6 (2.0L 5spd) in 5/2001 with ~80k miles for $5200. A few years later the Mazda3 came out with a cool looking hatchback that got great reviews on the fun factor. I always figured that would be my next vehicle to replace the MX6 coupe - something with a bit more storage room (surfboards! - which surpirsingly fit quite well in MX6) and fun to drive.
I started looking seriously into buying a used 3 hatch last year. I wanted to spend no more than $10-12k. Unfortunately they are popular cars and have kept their value, plus when you try to find a 5spd hatch it cuts your pool of vehicles by ~75%! Nothing seemed worth the price.
My MX6 still runs strong and gets great mpg, which is why I was never in a rush to replace it. As I've been taking more weekend trips with camping gear/etc, the last 2-3 years, I looked into picking up a CUV in the meantime, since I'd still have my car with high mpg and then something with more room for trips. Paid cash ($6200) for a '05 Saturn Vue with 80k miles last summer.
Wanting to keep a fun to drive car has me looking for Mazda3 hatches again, as the MX6 is finally on its last legs (not the engine, though) with 340k miles now. The hatches I want are still priced more than I want to spend, especially seeing as how I don't *need* that car! I've been thinking I may get rid of the MX6 while I can still get some $$ out of it, and just drive the Vue for a while and really wait for those 3 hatches to come down (now I would prefer an '08-'09 b/c they refreshed it and added more standard safety features).
Thought about jumping into a CX-5, as that would be one vehicle to cover me on both ends - storage space plus mpg (6spd manual FWD). Hate the though of spending $21k on a vehicle, though. I figured if the Vue is worth ~$5k and I was willing to spend up to $12k on a 3, the CX-5 would be a better value - this realization made me rethink whether I even need two cars right now. I currently live where I can bike to work also! Which means the cars get filthy from lack of driving during the week too - another strike against something new(er).
So, I'm keeping my $$ in the bank and driving the same MX6 and Vue for a while more. Currently 31, have owned 3 cars since 15, still driving 2 of them, just sold my first car only last year.
NOT new car pics:
A post for the sensible BITOGers and also a hope for a rally to keep me from buying something I don't need just yet!
