the_mad_poster's Journal: Bye Bye Mustang

I am seriously considering trading it in on the purchase of an econobox such as a Corolla, Civic, or Lancer. It would be less money per month on the loan, less on insurance, and less on gas. :(

Fucking republicans.

econoboxes rule

[bechthros]

Just recently got a used Honda Accord, little less that 200,000 on it. Like you say, good price, cheap insurance, and GREAT mileage. I have to fill up about once a week. Even with gas prices on the constant increase, I'm still able to go to church 2 counties away and drive all over the Jax area (which is fucking large) to shop and club.

My poor old Dad doesn't have it so good. He's still got his old Ford Explorer (with no AC, and no AC in Florida is not a good thing). He's paying over $50 for a tank of

If you go for the Honda

[iminplaya]

go back about 33 years and find a Honda 600 Sedan. The coupe looks cooler, but only seats two. This is from the pre-civic era. It is tiny(smaller than a mini), with a two cylinder air cooled engine. In fact I believe it's an appropriately modified motorcycle engine with a similarly attached transmission and differential, so when you change the oil, you're changing the gearbox and the differential oil also. It will carry four people with room for a couple of fanny packs behind the back seats. Uses 12 inch ti

Re:If you go for the Honda

[subgeek]

why not go all out and get an isetta [bmwworld.com]? it runs on a modified single cylinder 300cc motorcycle engine. plus the door is the front.

Re:If you go for the Honda

[iminplaya]

Heh, cool.
Also from the site: Sales of the 600 [bmwworld.com] were, however, aided by the energy crisis of 1956-57.
I had no idea they've been pulling this crap for so long. Turns out it was the Suez war in this one. I guess all this oil crisis bull [bbc.co.uk] is to get our minds off the war for a while. Man... this distraction business is so easy. All the while, there is so little effort to create alternatives. And the war goes on... [webfitz.com]

Ooh - a Mustang!

[Allen Zadr]

The '05 V6 (like I drive) get's 26MPG (and I don't drive extremely conservatively), and can be had for less than 20Grand (even better with Employee pricing).

It's not 35MPG, but it's not 16 like the older 'stangs either.

Re:Ooh - a Mustang!

[the_mad_poster]

I generally get about 22 mpg average with my gas-guzzler V8, but I use 20 mpg for comparisons just to make my Mustang look worse then it really is while comparison shopping. It dips as far down as about 15 mpg when I'm really spanking it.

The problem with a V6 is that it just doesn't have my desired level of power. I like pony cars for being pony cars, Mustang especially, but I also like powerful cars for being powerful cars.

I'm considering another option though. If I can tough it out for about four more mon

Re:Ooh - a Mustang!

[iminplaya]

...I also like powerful cars for being powerful cars.

Save [guinnessworldrecords.com] your pennies [koenigsegg.com] :-) A perfect complemet to the Honda [luk-korbmacher.de]. You're lookin' at almost a cool mil. You may want to tap directly into a refinery.

That sucks

[Talinom]

Pony cars rock. While I own a 1991 Camaro (NOT a tiny car at all) I lust mightily after the new Mustangs.

My car has been living in the shop lately. Replaced the EGR valve, need to get the temperature sending unit for the dashboard gauge replaced, and it overheated today due to (probably) a seized thermostat or a dead water pump. No joy. :(

My dad used to have two mid 1960's Mustangs about 25 years ago. Some asshole punks stole the one he had finished completely restoring and burned it to the ground. Th

Have the best of both worlds.

[SiliconJesus]

Buy a civic and keep the Mustang. My brand new 2005 "VP" Civic only cost me $11,500 after a little dickering. With a $2000 down payment, that makes my monthly payment $200 / month (and I'm sure it'll lower your insurance).

Feh.

[Deamos]

If I didn't have so much left on my car loan and not a prayer of getting it in a trade in, I'd of gotten rid of my X-Type already.

It's almost 20 miles each way to get to work and back and while I'm only filling up once a week, the fact that my car likes premium gas means my fillup up last night (only 3/4ths of a tank) was almost $40. If it had been empty it would have been closer to $45-50.

Perhaps I'll be lucky and my company will institute telecommuting.. But I'm not holding my breath.

What's the car FOR?

[Sloppy]

As a Prizm (Corolla clone) owner (and a Civic owner before that) I faced the question long, long ago: is my car a tool or a toy?

If the car is a toy -- a thing for enjoyment -- then it makes sense to get something that has exhilarating acceleration (which has almost no practical use, but sure feels good).

If the car is a tool, then it doesn't make any sense at all.

Of course, most of us are ambivalent: we want both. So then the question is just: how much extra is the toy worth? In my case, the kinetic