Park your SUV, buy a beater

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ptownhorn

1,000+ Posts
I bought a 1998 Saturn SL2, sedan for $1,400. It had 170k miles. I've put 7k miles on it w/ no troubles. It's four door, automatic, all four power windows work, automatic, cruise control, cd player, air conditioner works. It's ugly as hell, but I'm not picking up chicks driving down I-35 at 6:30 am

I'm averaging about 35.5 mpg. I drive it 60 mph on the highway. Some coworkers will fly by me but I usually catch up to them at the light right in front of work. The gas light comes on about 395 miles and I fill up at around 410 miles. $45-$48

I have liability insurance. I get a two car discount and it costs less to fully cover my Denali and liability on the saturn than it would just to full coverage the Denali.

My Denali sits in the garage. I take it out on weekends/ dates/ going out w/ friends

Something to think about buying with your tax return. You wont pick up any *** with this car though :)
 
A couple years ago, LHF68 and I decided to get out of debt. When we really sat down and looked at it, we were paying 1200 bucks a month for car payments and insurance.

1200 bucks. That's the difference between us being about to own a 150K house and an almost 300K house! Just to drive a flashy car!

Anyway, we sold the cars and bought a 2001 VW jetta TDI. It's got 179K miles on it and gets 40+ miles per gallon.

It's ugly. It has weird ghetto electrical issues-- like the trunk won't open right now. But it gets great gas milage and was 5500 bucks. It's never had major engine repair. We've made two repairs in the two years we've had it: a 350 repair and a major break system repair.

I guess I just got to a place in life where I don't care what kind of car someone has. I don't car what kind of car I have for that matter. I see someone driving a nice car and all I think is, yeah-- they're in debt.

Looks like gas prices are going even higher. Park the truck and get a beater, folks!
 
So, let's do the math on this to see the break-even point where it is the better economical investment:

Ptownhorn, how far do you drive in a week? Or how often do you fill up?

Here's my breakdown:
Because of my work commute, it costs me ~$75/week to fill up and I drive about 350 miles in a week. So I roughly spend $40 more per week than you.

It would take me 35 weeks ($1400/$40) of driving before reaching the break-even point, or the point where the $1400 is worth it.

If you are driving less than 50-60 miles per day, it will take longer to break-even. I'm assuming the Denali gets roughly the same gas mileage as a tahoe.

Probably a solid investment if you keep up with it for longer than six months, with no major repairs. That and I'm sure the self satisfaction is nice every time you fill up.
 
I broke it down. My car is halfway there as far as paying for itself comparing gas prices from the saturn to the Denali. Not to mention the tires. My low profile tires on the Denali will probably be about $250 a peace compared to $30 on the Saturn when it comes time to replace them.

Love my Denali, but as far as driving A to B, with A being my home and B being work, it just makes sense to drive the Saturn.

Am I getting *** in the saturn? Helll no. At 6:30 am on I-35, Im not looking that cool in the Denali either :)
 
i did this math 8 months ago and found it is cheaper to own BOTH my low mileage sedan AND a brand new smartcar than to own JUST my sedan.

subtraction by addition. i ordered my smartcar the next day. it arrives Q3.

same model as you--smart car for driving to work, real car for going out / carrying more than 2 passengers. gonna be great.
 
I wish I still had my old Geo Metro. It got 50+ mpg. Yeah it was 3 cylinders and 1 liter engine, but the mileage was crazy.
Now I have a 2001 Honda Civic. I drive 41 miles each way on FM 1431 between north Austin and Marble Falls every day. By shifitng into neutral and coasting down the hills, and not running the a/c, I can get about 42 mpg. I fill up at the Wallmart in Marble Falls which usually has the lowest price gas I can find. I have the tires at 45 psi, use 30 wt oil, change the oil every 5000 miles, keep the air filter clean, and drive with windows up as much as possible. Turning on the a/c is a mileage killer. If I get stuck at a red light, I turn the engine off. The car has 124,000 miles and probably could use a tune up, which would give me even better mileage.
If I still had the Metro, I bet I could get 60+ mpg by coasting and not running the a/c.
If General Motors was smart , they would immediately dust off the plans for the Metro, update the design a bit, and get teh car back onteh market pronto.
 
big fat, did you know it's illegal to coast with your car in neutral. Saw it the other day because I do the same thing on big hills.
 
Denali vs. Saturn

1) Which is easier to park?

2) When you park it next to cars, do you worry that some idiot (boludo) is going to open his/her car door and ding your Saturn?

3) Do you worry about someone keying your Saturn?

4) Do you worry about spilling anything in your Saturn?


I drove a 1987 Hyundai for quite a few years. I understand the benefits of driving a Saturn.

hookem.gif
 
Our newest vehicle is a 2000 minivan, which we bought new. After that, it's a 1993. But we own our house outright and cover the bills.

It's the way to go.
 
I'm lucky to live 5 miles from work so I bike. Now I bike as many places as I can, even with my kids. We own a 2000 Toyota minivan and a 2000 toyota echo both paid for. It allows us some freedom to spend more time with family, but there's still a lot more we could/should be doing...
 
Part of this has to do with how much gas costs v. a car payment.

It is great to have a fuel efficient car and drive it most of the time.

frat, I advocate the Honda Fit over the Smart. It gets only slightly worse gas milage, but you can carry 4 people when you need to, AND there is TONS of storage room in them. That means some of the trips you bring out the big car for, you can use the Fit. FWIW. That is just my take. And no I have never owned a Honda, and don't have a particularly bias towards them.

Ok, I posted this elsewhere, but will talk about it here. I drive a Mazda 3 Wagon. I had to replace a wrecked VW Passat, that was not (and I don't think could) have been repaired correctly. So we traded it in on the Mazda 3. We have loved it and get good gasmileage. Right now it is the wife and I and one baby. We fit into it for a one week family vacation driving from Central Texas, to the Florida Panhandle. Saved a good bit of gas over something larger. That being said, it was pretty maxed out on space. We plan on having a couple of other kids and when they get here, we can't fit in the 3 anymore. (around town yes, I mean on long trips)
That being said my wife has a 98 Mercury Mountaineer that needs to be replaced soon. My wife won't go in for a minivan, even though I would love one) She does like the Saturn Outlook which does get better gas mileage than any other 3 row crossover and equals that of minivans. The issue there is of course we would have to incur a car payment.
The wife's car is paid for. We are paying $350 a month on the 3, even though the car payment is about $100 less than that. We got it on a 4 year note, @ 3.9%. Because of over payments we should pay the 4 year note off in about 2 1/2 years. That is the only debt (besides the house payment) that we have.
Now, my parents are getting rid of their 2003 Suburban and we think they are going to give it to us. For the amount we would save in any size car payment, we will more than make up for that even with added fuel costs. The fuel difference in cost with gas @ $3.85, driving 15,000 miles a year, is about $1200. That is not much to keep from having a car payment.
Also, the thing about older cars is that they aren't as safe. Having a kid makes the desire for safety to move up even more in a car.
Now we will do what others here are saying. We live 1 mile from my work. I will probably be taking the Suburban to work until we have the second kid (and third) so that we will be mininizing the driving we do in it, and the wife will drive the 3 more.
All that to say, throwing away money on a car payment is greater for many people, including us, versus paying a bit more in fuel costs.
 
Denali vs. Saturn

1) Which is easier to park? SATURN

2) When you park it next to cars, do you worry that some idiot (boludo) is going to open his/her car door and ding your Saturn? NOPE

3) Do you worry about someone keying your Saturn? NOPE

4) Do you worry about spilling anything in your Saturn? EMPTY SODA CANS ON FLOOR. HAVE NEVER CLEANED IT.

most people don't have $1400 sitting around. But if you do and you are upside down in a big truck/suv, you really should consider buying a ****** car. I don't understand why, but I can fully cover my Denali and put liability on my car cheaper than i can put full coverage on the Denali.
 
My brother has two '80s Mercedes in mint shape, a 2005 Jeep Wrangler 4.0, and and a '97 Saturn SL2.

He drives the Saturn everywhere because it gets 28mpg in town & 35mpg on the highway. Even better than his MB 300 Turbo Diesel.

He used to have a nice '80s VW Rabbit Turbo Diesel that got 48mpg...until a Ford F150 plowed into it.

He also used to have several '60s VW Bugs that all got 29-32 mpg city/highway.

Mrs. Sco's 2006 Pontiac G6 GT gets 36mpg on the highway, 26mpg in town....running the A/C.

All of those beat the 17mpg (highway) 14mpg (city) that my '67 Mailbu 283 V8 got when it was new.

Even my 2000 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 seems to be relatively economical at 17-18mpg city and 22mpg highway.

My grandmaw's 1958 Olds 88 got 9mpg burning premium leaded, on both city and highway.

My new '73 Malibu 307 wagon got 11mpg both city & highway.

So the average modern car is doin' pretty damn good in my book. And you don't need to have the valves ground and rings replaced every 60,000 miles. Maintenance was even worse for most pre-war cars.
 
My rickshaw kicks ***. Although the price of rice has skyrocketed, so Ming eats up a lot of my savings.

Wait, should this go on the Mandarin racism thread?
 
Turning off the a/c doesn't make a big difference in cars these days, especially if you have to roll the windows down and increase drag.

Filling up your tires way past recommended PSI makes your car unsafe but may give you a 1-2 mpg boost.

The air filter may or may not make a big difference and rarely does anyone think about their fuel filter, but your car may run richer using more gas if you have that bad boy clogged and it'll eventually ruin your gas pump.
 
U-

i think we talked about the fit vs smart on a thread a few months ago. i see the benefit of the fit, but chose the smart b/c of parking and a few other things.

they are close to interchangeable though
 
Buying a second car for commuting is cool but the ROI can be a long time depending on your situation.

Im surprised that ins on both cars is cheaper than for one but i guess that makes sense since you don't commute in the expensive car. But you also spent the 1400 and the annual registration and inspection is another 100. For some, it would take a long time to get that money back in gas savings. Of course there are other advantages to having a beater. I have a 12 yr old Explorer as a second vehicle. gas mileage sucks but i don't worry abouit scratching it or hauling crap around.
 
They call it a two car discount. I don't know how it's cheaper but it is.

Everything about the Saturn is cheaper. Washing it. They charge you $4 more at full service to wash an SUV. They charge you more for a truck/suv when doing oil changes. The tires on the Saturn will probably be 30-40 bucks a peace but the Denali will be hundreds a peace.

Tags were $40-$60 bucks for the Saturn. In Kansas, you pay by the blue book value of your car. The Denali was $350. They have personal property tax here

Piece - sorry, at work, have to sneek posts.
 
I couldn't be more happy with our new Nissan Rouge. 27 mpg on the high way and it is basically a truck. We got 6k of the price because it was all dented up in a hail storm. I cared the first couple of weeks...I'm over it now. $380 a month but we're planning on having it paid off by the end of the year.

We bought this because we have a baby on the way in the next two weeks and we had been down to one car. That was awesome, but now my wife isn't going to work and the office isn't very close to the house.
 
My next car with be anything that I can pay cash for and get at least 30 miles a gallon. I like my Yukon, and I own it free and clear so it doesn't really make sense to get rid of it, and it gets 17 miles a gallon so it's staying until I drive it into the ground and kill it. I've put 140k miles on it in 3.5 years, so perhaps I should have bought a beater some time ago.

As I'm now unemployed I don't have to drive it anywhere for the time being, but the price of gas will definately effect how far from home I work and my next vehicle choice.

My brother bought the beater and did that but it exploded on him before he could hit the break even, though I don't k now if he still has it or if he sold it for scrap and ended up coming out ahead.
 
Me and the Mrs. traded in our Sequoia for a year older minivan. I also got rid of my car when I recieved a new company car (07 Camry) and gas card. Now we have no car payments and as a household pay very little in gas. My wife will go through a tank every 2 weeks. I will use my car for simple errands or shopping trips on my way home from work.
 
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