The Car Care Thread

[csmolko]

Yes I think taking it in would be best. Like I said, that was my experience with shuddering but yes....shuddering is soooo vague and can be any number of things. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

[batmom]

DD are investigating new cars. One of the one that's appealing to us is the Ford Escape Hybrid. Does anyone have any experience with it?

[csmolko]

batmom, I don't have much first-hand experience with the hybrid model but fiance's brother has a regular 2001 Escape, manual transmission. It is a lot of fun....I think the only problem he's had with it lately is his muffler fell off. Whoops.

[Brookie]

batmom said:

DD are investigating new cars. One of the one that's appealing to us is the Ford Escape Hybrid. Does anyone have any experience with it?

You will get great mileage with it. I invested a Ford "A" plan lease a couple of years ago on one, and it was $700/month. Not sure what the purchase prices are like. Good luck - they're great vehicles.

[grumpygirl]

brookie said:

batmom said:

DD are investigating new cars. One of the one that's appealing to us is the Ford Escape Hybrid. Does anyone have any experience with it?

You will get great mileage with it. I invested a Ford "A" plan lease a couple of years ago on one, and it was $700/month. Not sure what the purchase prices are like. Good luck - they're great vehicles.

Brookie, do you know what the city/highway mileage is on the Escape Hybrid?

[mariposalabrown]

I am about to throw in the towel and buy a freaking bus pass. Right now I am looking to buy my very first new car. I have okay credit, and a '99 Explorer that will bring in around $4,000. However, I can only pay about 250 a month for something. So, looking around, I can get a Toyota Corolla, and that's basically it. I looked at the 4-door Yaris and stuff, but I live in Texas, land of the oversized trucks, and I'm pretty sure that they would drive right over me on the freeway. I just read this entire thread, and have been looking at Edmunds and abillion car message boards, and I have HAD IT. I'm buying a lottery ticket today, and hopefully I will win and can just go buy teh Prius that I really want. Don't really need advice, just wanted to vent about how much I hate the cay buying process.

Ok, I do need advice. Anyone super happy with a new car that gets good gas mileage that comes in total under $17,000? That isn't a clown car?

[Ripley]

Oh mari, I feel your pain. It can be such a frustrating experience.

I bought my Honda Accord in 2004, and I love it. It does get good gas mileage, though I can't remember the price I paid. TTMR has been driving a Saturn for 8 years, and it's been a good reliable car as well.

[woodchipper]

I've got to put a plug in for going the used car route. If you do your homework and get the car checked out by a mechanic before you buy, they are a good deal. I bought a 4 year old subaru outback station wagon a few years ago for $12,000 with only 49,000 miles on it and its been a great car.

[Deleted]

I second the used car plug. I have always done very well with used cars and gotten more than my money's worth out of them. If you keep the maintenance up most cars can keep going up to 200,000 miles or more.

What I do is go into the dealerships and tell whatever salesman asks that I'm looking for a 6-cylinder that costs less than $2500 and has less than 100,000 miles. If they don't have that I leave and go to another dealer without letting them try to sell me anything else.

Eventually I always find what I'm looking for. It seems that there are cars that just sit on the lot for a while that aren't aggressively sold or sought after, but they are actually in good shape and a great deal. Also, don't worry so much about gas mileage. You'll be paying less for gas than you would a car payment every month.

If I can buy a car with 60,000 miles on it and drive another 80,000 and still going strong for only $2500, I'm sure you can get something really good for $4,000.

[csmolko]

I've always been a used car gal myself. However, I grew up around my dad who is currently re-building a 1975 Triumph TR-6 from boxes and boxes of parts, so I learned a little from him and he was always around to fix things so they didn't have to go to a mechanic. And now fiance's sister's boyfriend is good with cars and I can have discussions with him. If you have absolutely no car people in your life and don't know how to change your own oil, new with a warranty is going to be more feasible I would assume. But I think nowadays you can get those 'certified' used vehicles with warranties on them now...