| 2012.05.02 |
Yesterday was my first full day of driving the truck. By way of celebration, kiddo found a mud puddle in
her daddy’s back yard and explored the opportunity to the fullest.
Thankfully, he threw her in the shower before we picked her up.
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| 2012.05.01 |
Honestly, I'm having a hard time remembering that I have to actually dig the key out of my pocket to unlock
and actually START the truck.
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| 2012.04.30 |
The Mustang I sat in a week ago at the Ford dealership is parked outside my office with a temporary tag on it.
Link to this
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| 2012.04.30 |
The half-serious car search came to an abrupt end on Saturday.
We went to a dealership to look around and kill a little time with kiddo. We drove several cars, including
a Toyota Tacoma truck to humor kiddo. We were stunned at how well it drove, and, well, we'll pick it up today.
We seriously considered a 2011 Nissan Murano that was L-O-A-D-E-D. It even had butt-warmers for the back seats.
It drove deliciously. We tested a Mazda CX-something that was okay, but was very rigid. We even sat in a Mini
Cooper and a lovely Audi TT. But what actually won our hearts was a Toyota Tacoma pickup.
I know, right?? What geek drives a pick-up?
Well, I guess I do.
The truck itself rides rather well. The cloth interior is rather no-frills, save the CD player and the back-up
camera, which displays in the rear-view mirror. The truck is a V6 4WD with 22,000 miles -- a commercial
vehicle in its previous position. Key feature is the double cab — it’s got full-sized back doors and a short
bed, plus towing package. It even has a locking cover that goes over the bed. (It uses a KEY. How analog!)
My lovely car, which is a year old, becomes my bride's main transportation. Since she’s working from home now,
it’ll mostly stay in the garage — even over the winter. I’ll drive the pickup as our “city” car, and the nice
car stays nice (assuming I can teach my wife how to use the trash can in the back seat).
PLUS, it fits in our garage. We checked. Funny that the radio antenna hits the garage door — same thing happens
on the other car, which doesn’t sit as high.
Links:
Review: 2010 Toyota Tacoma
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| 2012.04.24 |
In the interest of fairness, I spent a little time "cruising" (get it??) the Chevrolet website
yesterday, looking at their camaros.
Have to say, Ford's web presence for the Mustang is far more impressive. I think Ford gets that
the visitor's ability to make selections and to be able to visualize the results
should translate into sales. I wonder if it really does?
Links:
2013 Ford Mustang
Chevy Camaro
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| 2012.04.22 |
We're in the market for another car. My wife's car is going away in favor of something with a lower payment. Since we already
have a "family car" in our VW, we wondered if this second car might be something a little more fun. We drooled over the
caramel-colored leather seats, went ga-ga over the retro dashboard gauges, and swooned to the throaty roar of the engine.
We're keeping our eyes open for other options, but don't count the new Mustang out quite yet.
Links:
2013 Ford Mustang
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| 2011.11.26 |
I replaced my good ol' car in September. I did it partly because a tornado which had come through a few months before did a fantastic
amount of damage to my trusty ride. Instead of using the money to fix up the old one, I traded it in on a hail-damaged (but repaired)
2011 model year Volkswagen.
Having a car payment again sorta rubs. But WOW is this car awesome!
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| 2010.10.28 |
$870 in routine maintenance repairs today. Thanks to the spreadsheet, I noted that one of the
parts that was replaced today had only been in service for two and a half years. Did that knowledge
help me earlier today? No. But it could be helpful later if something by the front wheels feels "loose"
again.
So, in celebration of the money I blew on a car that's only worth about $5500 now (thanks,
KBB), I thought I'd offer some completely useless facts about my car.- The car
has been in service for 3,454 days.
- Over it's operational life, it has been fueled 483 times.
- On average, I burn $3.24 in gas per day, spend $1,184.22 on gas for this car each year.
- I have
spent $11,193.30 on fuel for this car in total.
- My lover
believes I'm completely dorktastic for having calculated all of this.
- She's right.
- I have
had the oil changed 26 times.
- I've only ever taken this car to ONE place to get it cleaned, and
have done so 50 times.
- Including the work done today, I've spent $9,175.77 on maintenance; that's
41.4% of the original cost of the car.
- Spread over the life of the car, I spend an average of $969.65 on maintaining that car each year.
- When boiled down to an average per day, maintenance costs $2.66; when added to the $3.24 in gasoline,
it costs me an average of $5.90 to drive this car each day.
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| 2010.10.28 |
So I have reams and reams of data about my current car, as you've seen. What I don't have, however, is context; given that I will have had
the car for TEN YEARS next May, I may suspect that spending just under $1000 on maintenance each year is
pretty cheap for its age (and suggests a quality vehicle), but I don't know that it is. (Des Toupes,
a senior editor for MSN Money, advises "anybody with a car older than three years should be tucking aside $50 a month for repairs and maintenance."
Averaged out, I'm spending $80.)
Also unknown is at what point supporting the car becomes (or became) a bad deal. Austin C. Davis, who bills
himself as "The Honest Mechanic", opines, "I would replace your current vehicle if your average
yearly auto repair bills are more than ten percent of the price of the new car you would like." I'm well
under Davis' threshold.
Have thoughts on this? Please drop me a line!
Links:
Des Toupes, Keep your old clunker or buy a new car?
Austin C. Davis,
Should I Buy a New Car?
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