Ok...well, I'm give a little hint, because I have a question and I figure some of the people here might be able to answer it. Has anyone here heard Flowmaster 40 Super or Flowmaster 70 Big Block II mufflers? I'm looking for something that has good flow characteristics (i.e. performance is my primary concern), but if possible I want to avoid being obnoxious to others.
mr sophisticated old benz is gonna shed the tweed jacket, eh? you practicing rolling the pack of camels into your v-neck?
I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but I'm curious... very curious.
Anyone have any advice for cleaning a windshield, interior? I had a small rock chip repaired almost a month ago now, and ever since then, my windshield has been super greasy on the inside. Windex just kinda smears it around.
Any products out there designed specifically for auto glass? Any tricks? I've tried just water and a bit of alcohol to cut the "grease", newspaper, various other wiping materials too.
Yeah, the ones I use are One Grand and Wurth, and they work really well. Honestly, I don't know about that Eagle glass cleaner, it's possible that it works well. I know there is one product Eagle makes (chrome and wire rim cleaner) that is great (well...great at cleaning exhaust tips, don't know about it's wheel cleaning, never had a chrome or wire wheel to use it on). I suppose it's worth a shot. I've got some Griot's Garage glass cleaner on it's way to me (Griot's standard shipping is slooooow...probably won't be here until end of the week). Just wanted to mix things up and see how it is.
BTW, a lot of glass cleaning is in the towel you use. Don't use regular paper towels. I like to use these 3M microfiber cloths for glass http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10198 which are in fact carried by Pep Boys and places like that.
My only good experiences so far have been with Wurth and One Grand glass cleaner.
My bad experiences have been with everything you can buy in a grocery store, and Stoner Invisible Glass. I've never tried the Eagle One.
mr sophisticated old benz is gonna shed the tweed jacket, eh? you practicing rolling the pack of camels into your v-neck?
I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but I'm curious... very curious.
You'll find out more when it's all done by November 19th (that's the have to be done by date). Work will start Oct 14. I'll tell you this much now: it's not a new/different car.
Yeah, the ones I use are One Grand and Wurth, and they work really well. Honestly, I don't know about that Eagle glass cleaner, it's possible that it works well. I know there is one product Eagle makes (chrome and wire rim cleaner) that is great (well...great at cleaning exhaust tips, don't know about it's wheel cleaning, never had a chrome or wire wheel to use it on). I suppose it's worth a shot. I've got some Griot's Garage glass cleaner on it's way to me (Griot's standard shipping is slooooow...probably won't be here until end of the week). Just wanted to mix things up and see how it is.
BTW, a lot of glass cleaning is in the towel you use. Don't use regular paper towels. I like to use these 3M microfiber cloths for glass http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10198 which are in fact carried by Pep Boys and places like that.
My only good experiences so far have been with Wurth and One Grand glass cleaner.
My bad experiences have been with everything you can buy in a grocery store, and Stoner Invisible Glass. I've never tried the Eagle One.
I figured you'd say that. I'm gonna stop at my typically very well-stocked Autozone on the way home. If they have the Eagle, I'll try it and let you know. Unlike paint, you can't hurt glass, so I'm willing to try.
Good call on the cloths, I have quite a few in my photo bag, maybe time to pick up a bigger one for windshields.
OK guys I did something really stupid over the weekend.
You see I drive a MONSTER year round right now as my fun car is waiting for me to have time to restore it.. The monster is a 94 chevy astro that I despise. I bought it in 2001 and have had it for 5 years, and it's not in that bad of shape considering I have owned it for 5 years (I'm what they call an agressive driver). I have been trying to decide if I want to make the needed repairs to it or take my restoration money and buy a newer used vehicle that doesn't need as many repairs right this minute, and that I won't detest as much as I do this van (I have ADD for crying out loud 5 years is way to long to own a vehicle). Well here is the stupid part.
I had to move furniture from mackinaw down to detroit over the weekend so instead of cleaning the monster out and taking the seats out of it I rented a truck. A 2007 5.3l V8 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab. A brand new truck with less than 2500 miles on it (when they gave it to me, now it has well over 3k on it), that gets 20mpg compared to the 13-16mpg my van with a smaller engine gets. So not only am I hating the looks of the van, I hate the gas guzzling, and I hate working on it..... Plus now I have a taste of a new vehicle again. Now I wouldn't buy a truck (I feel dirty enough having enjoyed driving this one the past few days (I am not a redneck, I am not a redneck, I am not a redneck, .....)) and I won't buy a new new car cause I just consider that a waste of money. But I want a new used car. Not wanting to spend tons of money but figuring bout 3k cash. I've been thinking bout a 98 or 99 chevy malibu. The main draw back is I won't have something big for being able to move stuff around in....
Anyone have an opinion on the malibu? Would I be better off trying to find a crew cab ranger or s10? Argh I hate car shopping when its for my own car, but I hate this MONSTER.
Negative. Truckzilla is still here.. now doing ~120 miles a day! :bash
I've almost gone full circle on the whole car front. After I relocated and got saddled w/ my new commute, I had my heart set on a nice new Mazda3 hatch. The idea was that the MZ3 would become my daily transport, w/ a slight flair for both utility (thanks hatch factor) and fun (thanks 'zoomzoom' factor). I'd decided I'd part w/ the truck, go for the 3 now and eventually find myself a broken down 2WD I4 powered truck for real utility use as a second vehicle. If I don't have to drive it in the snow, 2WD vs 4WD doesn't really matter.. nor does warranty support, creature comforts, etc etc.
Sadly nobody.. and I mean nobody seemed to want to give me a fair shake on my trade. I even tried to go it alone and listed it on autotrader. I got zero calls! It became pretty obvious that I was going to have to take a bath to the tune of $3-4k to part w/ it. Since $3-4k buys a lot of fuel, I decided to stick w/ it.
So here I am, a summer later still driving truckzilla.. and secretly kind of loving it!
My new obsession is obtaining a fairly used Mazda Miata. I looked up a guy I went to school w/ a while back when I was visiting Florida. He drives a Ranger, like myself.. but now has 3 early 90's Miatas as 'toys'. The first isn't actually his, but his GF's. She was looking for a daily driver and they finally settled on a '90 'iata for her. He ended up totally falling for the car and driving it more than she did. She finally put her foot down and said 'get your own!' ... so he did. Now he has 2 for himself. One is a '91 special edition weekend/auto-x car and the other is a project w/ a blown engine that he is midway through a rebuild on. All three were sub $5k investments..
Next thing I know I'm shooting the breeze w/ a friend's father one afternoon. He's a long time 'vert finatic and owns a very very mint 1980 MG-B. Turns out he got tired of driving a 25 year old british car. Between reliability issues and him having heart failure evertime someone would breath on it wrong, he went looking for something else. He ended up finding a '95 Miata locally w/ a couple "dings and dents" for $5500.
All this has me turned on to an early/mid 90's Miata in the worst way. I hope to land one in decent shape for something in the $4k-5k range. Needless to say I've been diverting all my play money from the 'camera fund' to the newly founded 'Miata fund'. About as impractical as can be and of questionable reliability.. but then who cares.. I've got truckzilla to fall back on.. or so goes the plan!
Ready for the kicker: one of the other motives behind the Miata drive is that I am looking to it to replace (yes, replace!) the bike! I am planning to sell it off next spring. Buh-bye B12!
new f150's are leasing for next to nothing, and even the big V8 4x4's get better gas mileage than the Ranger I had just last year.
if you buy a $3k car this year, you'll want/need a new one in about 3 years anyway. for just a bit more, you can be driving around worry-free in a brand new truck w/full warranty. If you're on of those people that hate leases because you have that stodgy "I want to own something", consider that when you buy a $3k shitbox (and for $3k, any truck you buy will most certainly be a shitbox) you'll be left with nothing in the time a lease would be over anyway.
One of the smartest things I ever did while I was working at Ford was prepay a lease on a truck for myself before I went back to school. Sure I had to give it back, but I hadn't been making any payments at all for 3 years.
F150.. V8.. Ranger.. I'm so your guy. I currently drive a 2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II. It is a 4x4 (hence the FX4 name) has the 4.0L V6 w/ a manual trans. The 'Level II' bit is a special 'off-road' package that adds quite a bit of weight by way of a heavier axle, special skid plates and the sort. The package also means very inneficient oversized all-terrain (not all-season) tires and low 'off-road' 4.10 gearing. In short it is basically the least efficient Ranger config available from the factory!
I keep a very meticulous fuel log and have a lifetime average of about 17-19 MPG. In my last 5 fillups I have averaged 21 MPG. I have a handy little spreadsheet that figures all this crap out for me automatically. I actually posted a screenshot of it the other day for someone on a Ranger related website..
I am active on at least two Ranger forums and I know of nearly no one getting substantially better mileage than this.. in fact most owners report far worse.
I would be shocked if you will find a full-size that will get that kind of mileage w/ a V8.. especially if it is a 4WD. But the real kicker against the full-size trucks in my case is the price. In '03 when I was shopping a stripped 4WD F150 would have started at least $5k more than my fully-loaded Ranger sold for. The Ranger is a helluva buy in that respect. And w/ so many of them out there and the ancient styling they do not hold their values for crap. You can get a Ranger for next-to-nothing.. new or used.
The upside of the F150 compared to the Ranger is that the F150 is a big(er) money-maker for Ford. The truck gets a lot more attention than the Ranger does because it is so much more profitable. Case in point is the fact that the stamp tooling for the inner-molding of the bed of my Ranger dates back to the original design in '84. It still has indents for fuel filler necks for two tanks.. an option that has not been available for nearly 20 years! Almost everything about the F150 is better supported by the factory. The only reason the Ranger got any attention whatsoever is the fact that the money-making Explorer was a platform mate.. and that stopped being true somewhere around 2003. The Explorer (except 'SportTrac') design was all new and the Ranger design was left to die a slow, painful death.
Ahh but see Erik my main consideration is a car (the malibu). The only reason I would even think of a truck is for the cargo area.
It's not so much the ownership thing and I don't expect the vehicle to have much resale value by the time I'm done with it (I know how I drive). I'm looking for fuel cost, and general reliability. I could easily fix the van up to be in good reliable shape again for less than 600 in parts (and that would be replacing alot of stuff at that cost) and a couple days of my time. Way cheaper than buying something else but then I still get bad gas and the same monster.
I figure for any of the vehicles I want I'm gonna be spending 200-300 a month for something new or even used if I finance, plus insurance. Leasing for me isn't a good option cause I like to drive alot and I put on ton's of miles avg 20-30k miles a year vs the 12k I see most leases coming with. So even if I do lease I won't be getting the rock bottom price cause that doesn't include enough miles for me.
Now you figure 225 month for 24 months works out to 5400.00. If I get a decent car that has a good body, high miles, and may need some mechanical work from time to time for say 3k, and I put in maybe 50 a month avg through the year in parts to fix things from time to time thats only 4200 total over a 24 month period. With a savings of 1200.
I know it's not a new car, and not the greatest car for only 3k, but its still better than alot of people drive, fairly reliable, and it works for me.
Anyone have an opinion on the malibu? Would I be better off trying to find a crew cab ranger or s10?
After reading DrIt's replies, I think I might have answered the wrong question before. Mali-blew vs Ranger or S10?! Uh, no question, I'd rather drive the pickup.. But then again, I DO!!
Rangers go for pennies on the dollar right now between the gas prices and old design that nobody wants. S10's are probably similar. Everyone wants a flashy new 'Colorado' or redesigned, 250 HP Taco/Frontier.. Even if they do suck!
yeah, dragon, i forgot to add the mileage disclaimer. leases work fantastic for people who can stay low on miles (very handy for us with motorcycles )
but you can see by the math that you did, sure comes out close, doesn't it?
Bubba - you apparently don't have many friends with the new generation F150. They truly are unbelievable in terms of efficiency - worlds better than the previous gens. More than one friend of mine has an Xcab, 4x4 F150, consistently gets 20mpg. Your ranger must be amazing, or your commute suits it perfectly because mine (exactly the same as yours) only got 19 or 20 on a very rare trip. Norm was 17.
All this has me turned on to an early/mid 90's Miata in the worst way. I hope to land one in decent shape for something in the $4k-5k range. Needless to say I've been diverting all my play money from the 'camera fund' to the newly founded 'Miata fund'. About as impractical as can be and of questionable reliability.. but then who cares.. I've got truckzilla to fall back on.. or so goes the plan!
One of the best purchases I've ever made... I knew almost nothing about Miatas at the time, I just needed a commute car in a hurry. I ended up lucky with the '95M.
I assume you've been looking at miata.net. Impractical, sure, but reliable if treated right! And spare parts are plentiful.
Bubba - you apparently don't have many friends with the new generation F150. They truly are unbelievable in terms of efficiency - worlds better than the previous gens. More than one friend of mine has an Xcab, 4x4 F150, consistently gets 20mpg. Your ranger must be amazing, or your commute suits it perfectly because mine (exactly the same as yours) only got 19 or 20 on a very rare trip. Norm was 17.
Nope.. I know of no one w/ a newer F150. So I'll have to take your word for it.
I am getting very good mileage by driving very slowly. I short-shift; every upshift is done before 2k RPM. I am in 5th before I even get to 40 MPH, regardless of the setting. And I never exceede 70 MPH, even on the super-slab. At 75 MPH my mileage starts to go to crap. If I could stomach 65 or slower, then I am sure I could improve things even more.
I'm not sure I could bring myself to buy a new F150 though.. they are slush-box only!
One of the best purchases I've ever made... I knew almost nothing about Miatas at the time, I just needed a commute car in a hurry. I ended up lucky with the '95M.
I assume you've been looking at miata.net. Impractical, sure, but reliable if treated right! And spare parts are plentiful.
Stop it! Seriously.. I'm getting enough of this 'best purchase I ever made' crap from my friends dad and the kid in Florida. Bastards! All of you!
I've practically taken up residence at miata.net. Trying to learn as much as I can before I go take the plunge. ... So far I've learned enough to know that I'll probably never be able to afford a '95 M! Nice car, and then some..
Again, I'll have to take your word for it on this one too. In my experience an automatic has NEVER been: more efficient, cheaper to buy, or cheaper to maintain. I can use a manual trans to control my shift points to improve my mileage. Afterall.. I'm doing it now and milking 20+ MPG out of my pickup right now! I'd love to see someone w/ a slush-box do the same.. There is nothing special or unique about my commute. It is the same super-slab driving that almost everyone else in America drives. About the only thing I've got going for me is that we are a little light on traffic up this way.
Bottom line: I'm not quite ready to sign everything over to these 'smarter than me' computers. (And this is coming from a Computer Engineer!)
And that 'bullet-proof' comment sounds curiously like famous last words!
Get a 2lt turbo diesel golf. I cant stop grinning every time i drive it. Goes like a cut snake. Just test drive it at the least...you will be very surprised with its torque/acceleration + its got a great set of picks on it.
Again, I'll have to take your word for it on this one too. In my experience an automatic has NEVER been: more efficient, cheaper to buy, or cheaper to maintain. I can use a manual trans to control my shift points to improve my mileage. Afterall.. I'm doing it now and milking 20+ MPG out of my pickup right now! I'd love to see someone w/ a slush-box do the same.. There is nothing special or unique about my commute. It is the same super-slab driving that almost everyone else in America drives. About the only thing I've got going for me is that we are a little light on traffic up this way.
Bottom line: I'm not quite ready to sign everything over to these 'smarter than me' computers. (And this is coming from a Computer Engineer!)
And that 'bullet-proof' comment sounds curiously like famous last words!
See, Bubba, auto's shine with the really big engines. Your experience is spot on, I wouldn't argue that having control over your engine is a good thing (you know what I drive). However, your experience is with cars and very light trucks. When you enter the realm of big trucks with big engines that typically are not working to their capacity, the new generation automatic transmissions really are more efficient. There is less rotating mass and moving parts - shifts are smoother and power is better conserved. Mind you, I said big engines that typically aren't pulling their max load, as in 99.9% of all full size pickups that are being driven with an empty bed. And thats why your 18 wheeler example you used earlier holds - those trucks are in fact hauling to capacity and need the direct contact of a manual tranny with 10-12 speeds to make it move (fun to drive btw, shifting 4 times before you've even made it through the intersection ).
I drove it like a stolen turbo go-kart on its very first tank around town & it saw 700 klms (435 miles) on a 60 lt tank (14.5 US gallon)
Whats the story mate ?
Supposedly, we should be getting more diesels in the future, from several companies. Part of the problem is that our diesel gas right now is basically garbage. By 2008, they are supposed to all have switched to a better grade of diesel, comparable to what people can get in Europe (I'm a it skeptical, I have a feeling the oil companies will get this delayed at least a year). Once this happens, car companies that offer diesels but didn't think it was worth their while to detune them to run on our junky diesel (i.e. BMW) will start bringing their diesels.
Comments
I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but I'm curious... very curious.
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Anyone have any advice for cleaning a windshield, interior? I had a small rock chip repaired almost a month ago now, and ever since then, my windshield has been super greasy on the inside. Windex just kinda smears it around.
Any products out there designed specifically for auto glass? Any tricks? I've tried just water and a bit of alcohol to cut the "grease", newspaper, various other wiping materials too.
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
or something I can pickup locally... Richard, I know you hate Eagle products, but how different can this be: http://www.eagleone.com/pages/products/product.asp?itemid=1087
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
BTW, a lot of glass cleaning is in the towel you use. Don't use regular paper towels. I like to use these 3M microfiber cloths for glass http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10198 which are in fact carried by Pep Boys and places like that.
My only good experiences so far have been with Wurth and One Grand glass cleaner.
My bad experiences have been with everything you can buy in a grocery store, and Stoner Invisible Glass. I've never tried the Eagle One.
You'll find out more when it's all done by November 19th (that's the have to be done by date). Work will start Oct 14. I'll tell you this much now: it's not a new/different car.
Good call on the cloths, I have quite a few in my photo bag, maybe time to pick up a bigger one for windshields.
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=11601
Hehe...yes, thats right, 10 bucks for one-tenth of a liter.
You see I drive a MONSTER year round right now as my fun car is waiting for me to have time to restore it.. The monster is a 94 chevy astro that I despise. I bought it in 2001 and have had it for 5 years, and it's not in that bad of shape considering I have owned it for 5 years (I'm what they call an agressive driver). I have been trying to decide if I want to make the needed repairs to it or take my restoration money and buy a newer used vehicle that doesn't need as many repairs right this minute, and that I won't detest as much as I do this van (I have ADD for crying out loud 5 years is way to long to own a vehicle). Well here is the stupid part.
I had to move furniture from mackinaw down to detroit over the weekend so instead of cleaning the monster out and taking the seats out of it I rented a truck. A 2007 5.3l V8 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab. A brand new truck with less than 2500 miles on it (when they gave it to me, now it has well over 3k on it), that gets 20mpg compared to the 13-16mpg my van with a smaller engine gets. So not only am I hating the looks of the van, I hate the gas guzzling, and I hate working on it..... Plus now I have a taste of a new vehicle again. Now I wouldn't buy a truck (I feel dirty enough having enjoyed driving this one the past few days (I am not a redneck, I am not a redneck, I am not a redneck, .....)) and I won't buy a new new car cause I just consider that a waste of money. But I want a new used car. Not wanting to spend tons of money but figuring bout 3k cash. I've been thinking bout a 98 or 99 chevy malibu. The main draw back is I won't have something big for being able to move stuff around in....
Anyone have an opinion on the malibu? Would I be better off trying to find a crew cab ranger or s10? Argh I hate car shopping when its for my own car, but I hate this MONSTER.
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
Icky, icky, icky.
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
I've almost gone full circle on the whole car front. After I relocated and got saddled w/ my new commute, I had my heart set on a nice new Mazda3 hatch. The idea was that the MZ3 would become my daily transport, w/ a slight flair for both utility (thanks hatch factor) and fun (thanks 'zoomzoom' factor). I'd decided I'd part w/ the truck, go for the 3 now and eventually find myself a broken down 2WD I4 powered truck for real utility use as a second vehicle. If I don't have to drive it in the snow, 2WD vs 4WD doesn't really matter.. nor does warranty support, creature comforts, etc etc.
Sadly nobody.. and I mean nobody seemed to want to give me a fair shake on my trade. I even tried to go it alone and listed it on autotrader. I got zero calls! It became pretty obvious that I was going to have to take a bath to the tune of $3-4k to part w/ it. Since $3-4k buys a lot of fuel, I decided to stick w/ it.
So here I am, a summer later still driving truckzilla.. and secretly kind of loving it!
My new obsession is obtaining a fairly used Mazda Miata. I looked up a guy I went to school w/ a while back when I was visiting Florida. He drives a Ranger, like myself.. but now has 3 early 90's Miatas as 'toys'. The first isn't actually his, but his GF's. She was looking for a daily driver and they finally settled on a '90 'iata for her. He ended up totally falling for the car and driving it more than she did. She finally put her foot down and said 'get your own!' ... so he did. Now he has 2 for himself. One is a '91 special edition weekend/auto-x car and the other is a project w/ a blown engine that he is midway through a rebuild on. All three were sub $5k investments..
Next thing I know I'm shooting the breeze w/ a friend's father one afternoon. He's a long time 'vert finatic and owns a very very mint 1980 MG-B. Turns out he got tired of driving a 25 year old british car. Between reliability issues and him having heart failure evertime someone would breath on it wrong, he went looking for something else. He ended up finding a '95 Miata locally w/ a couple "dings and dents" for $5500.
All this has me turned on to an early/mid 90's Miata in the worst way. I hope to land one in decent shape for something in the $4k-5k range. Needless to say I've been diverting all my play money from the 'camera fund' to the newly founded 'Miata fund'. About as impractical as can be and of questionable reliability.. but then who cares.. I've got truckzilla to fall back on.. or so goes the plan!
Ready for the kicker: one of the other motives behind the Miata drive is that I am looking to it to replace (yes, replace!) the bike! I am planning to sell it off next spring. Buh-bye B12!
if you buy a $3k car this year, you'll want/need a new one in about 3 years anyway. for just a bit more, you can be driving around worry-free in a brand new truck w/full warranty. If you're on of those people that hate leases because you have that stodgy "I want to own something", consider that when you buy a $3k shitbox (and for $3k, any truck you buy will most certainly be a shitbox) you'll be left with nothing in the time a lease would be over anyway.
One of the smartest things I ever did while I was working at Ford was prepay a lease on a truck for myself before I went back to school. Sure I had to give it back, but I hadn't been making any payments at all for 3 years.
handing off the soapbox...
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I keep a very meticulous fuel log and have a lifetime average of about 17-19 MPG. In my last 5 fillups I have averaged 21 MPG. I have a handy little spreadsheet that figures all this crap out for me automatically. I actually posted a screenshot of it the other day for someone on a Ranger related website..
I am active on at least two Ranger forums and I know of nearly no one getting substantially better mileage than this.. in fact most owners report far worse.
I would be shocked if you will find a full-size that will get that kind of mileage w/ a V8.. especially if it is a 4WD. But the real kicker against the full-size trucks in my case is the price. In '03 when I was shopping a stripped 4WD F150 would have started at least $5k more than my fully-loaded Ranger sold for. The Ranger is a helluva buy in that respect. And w/ so many of them out there and the ancient styling they do not hold their values for crap. You can get a Ranger for next-to-nothing.. new or used.
The upside of the F150 compared to the Ranger is that the F150 is a big(er) money-maker for Ford. The truck gets a lot more attention than the Ranger does because it is so much more profitable. Case in point is the fact that the stamp tooling for the inner-molding of the bed of my Ranger dates back to the original design in '84. It still has indents for fuel filler necks for two tanks.. an option that has not been available for nearly 20 years! Almost everything about the F150 is better supported by the factory. The only reason the Ranger got any attention whatsoever is the fact that the money-making Explorer was a platform mate.. and that stopped being true somewhere around 2003. The Explorer (except 'SportTrac') design was all new and the Ranger design was left to die a slow, painful death.
It's not so much the ownership thing and I don't expect the vehicle to have much resale value by the time I'm done with it (I know how I drive). I'm looking for fuel cost, and general reliability. I could easily fix the van up to be in good reliable shape again for less than 600 in parts (and that would be replacing alot of stuff at that cost) and a couple days of my time. Way cheaper than buying something else but then I still get bad gas and the same monster.
I figure for any of the vehicles I want I'm gonna be spending 200-300 a month for something new or even used if I finance, plus insurance. Leasing for me isn't a good option cause I like to drive alot and I put on ton's of miles avg 20-30k miles a year vs the 12k I see most leases coming with. So even if I do lease I won't be getting the rock bottom price cause that doesn't include enough miles for me.
Now you figure 225 month for 24 months works out to 5400.00. If I get a decent car that has a good body, high miles, and may need some mechanical work from time to time for say 3k, and I put in maybe 50 a month avg through the year in parts to fix things from time to time thats only 4200 total over a 24 month period. With a savings of 1200.
I know it's not a new car, and not the greatest car for only 3k, but its still better than alot of people drive, fairly reliable, and it works for me.
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
Rangers go for pennies on the dollar right now between the gas prices and old design that nobody wants. S10's are probably similar. Everyone wants a flashy new 'Colorado' or redesigned, 250 HP Taco/Frontier.. Even if they do suck!
but you can see by the math that you did, sure comes out close, doesn't it?
Bubba - you apparently don't have many friends with the new generation F150. They truly are unbelievable in terms of efficiency - worlds better than the previous gens. More than one friend of mine has an Xcab, 4x4 F150, consistently gets 20mpg. Your ranger must be amazing, or your commute suits it perfectly because mine (exactly the same as yours) only got 19 or 20 on a very rare trip. Norm was 17.
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I assume you've been looking at miata.net. Impractical, sure, but reliable if treated right! And spare parts are plentiful.
I am getting very good mileage by driving very slowly. I short-shift; every upshift is done before 2k RPM. I am in 5th before I even get to 40 MPH, regardless of the setting. And I never exceede 70 MPH, even on the super-slab. At 75 MPH my mileage starts to go to crap. If I could stomach 65 or slower, then I am sure I could improve things even more.
I'm not sure I could bring myself to buy a new F150 though.. they are slush-box only!
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I've practically taken up residence at miata.net. Trying to learn as much as I can before I go take the plunge. ... So far I've learned enough to know that I'll probably never be able to afford a '95 M!
Not to mention the 'fun' factor.
efficient: NO, how do you think the big new trucks do better on gas? they're smarter than than you!
cheaper: not really, the new automatics are bullet-proof
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Bottom line: I'm not quite ready to sign everything over to these 'smarter than me' computers. (And this is coming from a Computer Engineer!)
And that 'bullet-proof' comment sounds curiously like famous last words!
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
(gus, we don't get those here. "we" hate diesels)
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Serious
I drove it like a stolen turbo go-kart on its very first tank around town & it saw 700 klms (435 miles) on a 55 lt tank (14.5 US gallon)
Whats the story mate ?
Supposedly, we should be getting more diesels in the future, from several companies. Part of the problem is that our diesel gas right now is basically garbage. By 2008, they are supposed to all have switched to a better grade of diesel, comparable to what people can get in Europe (I'm a it skeptical, I have a feeling the oil companies will get this delayed at least a year). Once this happens, car companies that offer diesels but didn't think it was worth their while to detune them to run on our junky diesel (i.e. BMW) will start bringing their diesels.