The Real Board

cardinal5150 wrote:I'll never own another Ford or GM product unless it's something no one else offers (like the Volt or Hybrid Tahoe). And I'll probably lease it because so far all my GM products have been shit, no desire to go through this again...

B-I-N-G-O, that's exactly why I drive an import.

since the '83 olds i've driven...

1983 Mercury Lynx 2dr hatchback, sold it after rear wheel wells almost completely rusted out, paid $500... sold it for $550
1984 VW Jetta paid $1600 almost everything electric progressively failed, even the manual crank sunroof
1988 Toyota Corolla sedan $1650, gift from dad in 1998, rear ended while driving with my wife to meet her parents and my parents at halls gashouse for their first introduction (bad omen?). after my wife picked up two cats from getting fixed, one of them urinated under the drivers seat on the way home and I couldn't get the smell out... Side-swiped by girl from Columbia City (reimbursed $2200) sold for $500 to brother. I believe it's still running.
1996 VW Jetta GLS, first car I financed by myself, drove it 4 years and traded it in on the Jeep I now drive.

2006 Honda Civic coupe. Excellent gas mileage.
Prior to that I had a 1993 Civic coupe, died in a flood at work in 2005, had 258,500 Miles (416,000 Kilometres)

ok here is my car experience. having been very financially conservative and cautious for the last 20 or so years..due to raising 3 kids without incoming child support..working 1 1/2 jobs a few of those years just to pay bills and eat all in the same month, and too much robbing peter to pay paul--no way i could have managed car payments and full coverage insurance. have been fortunate with used beaters....usually pay between 100 and 500 for one and only a couple didnt last at least a year. couldnt beat that with a stick and insurance was cheap. and the things one learns to do to a car so it doesnt need to go to a shop are amazing! always sold them for a little more than i gave..after i felt it was approaching the put in more than i gave for it stage.

i have a brother in law, more like a father when i was a teen and young woman. loved that man as the dear friend he was. when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1992 he went out and bought a new buick lesabre, thinking it would last his wife many years if he died. she drives very little--to and from craft shops and grocery stores. he did die about 5 years after he bought the car..nobody expected him to live that long and do so well up until the last few months.

three years ago his widow bought a new smaller car. she talked to me...sob sob she cant sell jerrys car to just anyone...and it ran great. so i bought it for 500.00. i have put breaks and tires on it, will get a battery this fall. i do love that old thing. it was lightly sideswiped a couple times in parking lot once and parked on a street once--scrapes not dents. doesnt look bad for its age and still runs fine. i am hoping it will last me another year--at that time i intend to pass it off to one of my kids and get myself something i really want LOL! i hate the idea of car payments but i suppose thats the route i will go...i am not feeding kids anymore

a couple years before i got it i had one exactly like it different color for a few years that also ran great and no problems.