New-Car purchase considerations, all of them.

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In order:

How long to keep? 5 years, 10 years? Get rid of before 100kmiles, or run until the wheels fall off? IOW what is the length of time for ownership?

Intended usage? Will it be the family mobile; or just a commuter; or weekend warrior? Will I be mad when it gets scratched? Dinged? IOW how will I feel as the vehicle gets wear and tear?

Online support group? No way I would own my VW TDi w/o tdiclub.com. Those guys know everything there is to know about VW TDi diesel engines. If I were to buy another vehicle, and plan on keeping for decades, I'd want to make sure I could find a good rabid community for support. IOW, how will I deal when it breaks?

How much effort am I willing to put in, versus what I get out? My VW needs more work than the typical Honda/Toyota. For me, the increased mpg's wins, along with the long cruising range (typically over 700miles/tank). Which is another point: what little features make it worthwhile? What little drawbacks will drive me nuts?

I think the others hit on the cost per mile, total cost to own, etc.
 
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.
 
Can I afford to pay cash for the car? If I can't, then I'm not going to be dumb enough to finance it, or worse yet get fleeced by a lease.
 
I look for a good quality car with a long list of aftermarket suppliers. I usually find myself uprgading tires, wheels, brakes and suspensions. Sometimes I even wait for the OEM to wear out first. Toyota makes a pretty good V6.
 
I keep telling myself, "the Mazda isn't done yet (340k miles), I don't really need a new(er) one. Lets wait a few more months and prices will continue to drop on the '07-09 Mazda3s I'm looking for..."

I have a hard time spending money (that I do have), on something that I want, but don't necessarily need right now (also have an '05 Vue). Waiting to see about a promotion next month...
 
I guess for me to buy new, it has to make financial sense. Something like a manufacturer rebate to equal the new price to a 2-3 year old used example.
That's what got us into the Tracker. I almost jumped at the last of the Cobalts too but the Neon had lots of life at that point.
I have a hard time losing more than $2k/year in depreciation(over the life of the vehicle) as well so I don't think we'll ever buy a new SUV again.
 
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: dave1251
Very simple. Will I like it or not!


Yup.

For me I also have to consider how comfortable I am driving it. That is huge for me( no pun intended )as I am 6" 3" and weigh 300+lbs. The vehicle also needs to be able to meet my towing and bad weather( winter )needs.

In these days MPG is also a big factor. Enough so that I bought an economical( MPG )4cyl small suv and sold the gas hog full sized HEMI Ram. Hated seeing it go but with gas near $4 and just going to rise 24-25 MPG beats the heck out of 10-12 MPG.


Near $4? I do not know the prices for NH, but it is still $4 in many parts of California. It is a little better here at 3.52 a gallon.
 
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.

The USA does not produce the majority of the pollution, China does. The sky over Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong make Los Angeles, California look like paradise. No river in the USA matches the Yellow River in China for water pollution. If you think gas in equals smog out, please sit behind an air cooled VW Beetle, and a modern gas hog.

Anyway, here is a tip with long term ownership. Every car is going to need replacement parts someday, always remember that when dealing with European cars, parts almost always cost 2x as much and 2x harder to find when compared with American and Japanese cars. Sometimes the price difference is even worse than that.
 
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.


Don't throw too many stones inside of your 4.3L Astro, those things have a lot of glass.
grin.gif
 
I couldn't care less about maintenance costs are what not, most important is that a vehicle is engineered well, and well built.

Porsche, MB, that's about it for me. I find other cars very interesting but not to the point of wanting to plunk down money on them.
 
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.


Don't throw too many stones inside of your 4.3L Astro, those things have a lot of glass.
grin.gif



did I not also say: as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.

The USA does not produce the majority of the pollution, China does. The sky over Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong make Los Angeles, California look like paradise. No river in the USA matches the Yellow River in China for water pollution. If you think gas in equals smog out, please sit behind an air cooled VW Beetle, and a modern gas hog.

Anyway, here is a tip with long term ownership. Every car is going to need replacement parts someday, always remember that when dealing with European cars, parts almost always cost 2x as much and 2x harder to find when compared with American and Japanese cars. Sometimes the price difference is even worse than that.


Ok, so put pollution aside, using 25% of global resources on 5% of population is not a sustainable model to follow/copy. By the way, this is not an "England is better than the USA" rant. We're all from the same place, planet earth, and right now, we are the only species destroying our own home. Use of resources is a key part of that. Ideally, I wanna go hybrid, not just 4 cyl!
 
Is it fun to drive and will I have a smile on my face after driving it.

Owned a Civic for four years and while it made me happy at the gas pump, I have to say I stopped enjoying it around the 2nd year of owning it.
 
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Originally Posted By: stro_cruiser
My 2c, and please dont be taking this personally anyone:

coming from England and seeing huge, over-sized vehicles that many do not need apart from satisfying their own ego with the V8s & V6's everywhere, the one consideration that needs to be in the top 3 for all American is this:

FUEL ECONOMY

This country has less than 5 percent of the global population and uses 25 percent of the worlds resources making approx 30 percent of the global pollution!!!

this is a failed model of living that china and India now want!?

as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.


Don't throw too many stones inside of your 4.3L Astro, those things have a lot of glass.
grin.gif



did I not also say: as soon as I can afford to im going 4cyl, prob before the end of the year.


Which won't make much of a difference compared to the Astro in the grand scheme of things. In fact, if the van still works, replacing it with a new vehicle made from limited resources is probably worse for the environment.
 
1989 Astro? I recall dad's '87 had info for the 2.5L version. You could swap in a 4 cylinder into that I bet! Maybe a much later Ecotech would bolt up, I think even the 4 cylinders (for RWD applications) used the same bolt pattern; if not, well, GM has been using the same basic 700R4 for eons, so I'm sure something would swap in and bolt up easily enough.

That's a lot of steel that wouldn't have to be melted down anytime too soon to make a smaller car.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
1989 Astro? I recall dad's '87 had info for the 2.5L version. You could swap in a 4 cylinder into that I bet! Maybe a much later Ecotech would bolt up, I think even the 4 cylinders (for RWD applications) used the same bolt pattern; if not, well, GM has been using the same basic 700R4 for eons, so I'm sure something would swap in and bolt up easily enough.

That's a lot of steel that wouldn't have to be melted down anytime too soon to make a smaller car.


Sure. The Pontiac Solstice used an Ecotec in an RWD application, that would be very interesting.
 
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