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Old 07-08-2008, 08:19 PM   #24 (permalink)
jamesqf
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MazdaMatt View Post
I didn't realize that a new miata was actually a reasonably affordable car (20k msrp). However, for me, 20k is more than I spent on my ONLY car.
If you ask me, NO new car is affordable, no matter what it costs. You lose too much driving it off the dealer's lot. But wait a few years, and today's latest hot new car will be available used, at a fraction of the price. I paid about $8K for the 2000 Insight I've been driving for the last 5 years. Before that, I think about $3500 was the most I'd ever paid for a car. That was a CRX, which I drove for about 10 years. (And likely would be driving still, if it weren't for a bit of water flowing over the local freeway - going backwards down the road at about 60 mph is not good for your engine :-() I hauled a lot of stuff in that two-seater, everything from bales of insulation to an airplane engine to a 140 lb Akita.

Anyway, between the CRX and an '80s Toyota 4WD truck (they seem to run forever) I spent about a third the price of a new Miata, or about what your "socially acceptable" new two-seater would cost, and I could do about anything except ferry large numbers of passengers.
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