The beginnings of Eco modding. (What car should I get?)

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Fuel is still cheap.

Fuel isn't cheap. With the miles I do, if I got the fuel mileage my brother does in his Chevy Scottsdale I'd be paying some $800 per month in fuel. If I got 25mpg I'd be spending some $300 per month. At 50mpg I'll still be shelling out some $150 per month.

The last time I financed a car I spent $200 per month in payments. They say never to spend more than 20% on your vehicle expenses. If I make, say, $2,000 per month and pay $200 per month in fuel and $200 per month in payments, how am I supposed to pay for maintenance or insurance?

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

Safety is a concern of mine. Of course anything +Y2K has to be safer than the '85 VW that I'm driving right now.

But I live in a rural area where there's a small town with 25 to 30 mph speed limits. And the driving I do over the highway is usually during hours that I'm completely alone, not another single car on the highway. The main problem are deer, avalanches, mudslides, snow and ice with steep deadly revenes right off the edge of the road.

I need to sell my Superbeetle. How much did you get for yours? When I sold the Forest Green Superbeetle I asked $3000 and dropped the price for months until it finally went for $1450. I bought the beige Super for NADA mid-book less $50. That's currently $8600.

I support the choice of a Prius C because it's what you want; and you could mod it for the Gambler 500:

https://jalopnik.com/this-lifted-pri...eps-1825777000


Lift kit from Russia, LRR all-weather tires and a hitch mount boat-tail box. Camo green Plastidip. Driving lights on the front of the rear-view mirrors instead of that bar on the top. Bully bar and deer whistles.

edit:
Turns out there are three fascia: prefacelift, first (2015) and second facelift (2018).

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I need to sell my Superbeetle. How much did you get for yours? When I sold the Forest Green Superbeetle I asked $3000 and dropped the price for months until it finally went for $1450. I bought the beige Super for NADA mid-book less $50. That's currently $8600.

I support the choice of a Prius C because it's what you want; and you could mod it for the Gambler 500:

https://jalopnik.com/this-lifted-pri...eps-1825777000


Lift kit from Russia, LRR all-weather tires and a hitch mount boat-tail box. Camo green Plastidip. Driving lights on the front of the rear-view mirrors instead of that bar on the top. Bully bar and deer whistles.

edit:
Turns out there are three fascia: prefacelift, first (2015) and second facelift (2018).

Thanks! I sold my Super Beetle for $5,000. I had it in the paper for $7,500, and probably could have gotten more out of it than I did if I hadn't sold it to the first person who was interested and if I had tried to haggle him for more than his first offer.

Interesting Prius mods. I may still get a Prius C, who knows. But, I've come across some Gen 3 Prii that are in the price range I'm willing to pay and have the miles, years and condition I'm looking for.

[slowmover]

Fuel is subsidized. Thus, cheap. That you live too far and make too little isn’t to the point. As I wrote, you’re one of the ones trying to make subsidized fuel cover basic mistakes. That it isn’t working is a wake-up call.

And a Suburban isn’t a safe choice (high COG, live axle, excess overhang). The parameters are 4000-lb curb weight; 120” wheelbase, fully independent suspension. A Dodge Charger, IOW (its not by mistake it meets those). Size-wise, bigger than this doesn’t work for stability or crash protection as added margin. Less than this heightens risk.

I rented one ten years ago. A V6 model. Didn’t care about FE, per se. Still saw 27-MPG consistently on a 2000-mile trip from Salt Lake to Boise to Couer D’Alene and on to Seattle.

Long time in production. A fleet car. Both huge advantages.

Family sedan is the baseline vehicle the past century for good reason. No other type is better overall.

[freebeard]

I'll tell my son you say that. I snagged this picture of his Charger off his website:



He got it after a two-year lease by some Microsoftie who prolly never took it out of the garage. It's got all the Mercedes parts. It has a sensor that monitors the temperature of the front seat occupants and adjusts the air temp to suit.

When you see it parked next to a minivan, it's almost as tall. Seats 4 1/2.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Fuel is subsidized. Thus, cheap. That you live too far and make too little isn’t to the point. As I wrote, you’re one of the ones trying to make subsidized fuel cover basic mistakes. That it isn’t working is a wake-up call.

And a Suburban isn’t a safe choice (high COG, live axle, excess overhang). The parameters are 4000-lb curb weight; 120” wheelbase, fully independent suspension. A Dodge Charger, IOW (its not by mistake it meets those). Size-wise, bigger than this doesn’t work for stability or crash protection as added margin. Less than this heightens risk.

I rented one ten years ago. A V6 model. Didn’t care about FE, per se. Still saw 27-MPG consistently on a 2000-mile trip from Salt Lake to Boise to Couer D’Alene and on to Seattle.

Long time in production. A fleet car. Both huge advantages.

Family sedan is the baseline vehicle the past century for good reason. No other type is better overall.

Thanks for your posts. I don't mean to sound so hard, you are making a valid point. But as to which car is safer than the other, you have to have the total risk calculated from the total statistics in order to determine which is safer, This graph isn't to date but it illustrates the point:

The Suburban is by far the safest SUV out there. For protecting its occupants, the Suburban is much better than your average car. I'm not sure which years this graph is from. I was trying to find one made by the same guy/company that in those years the Suburban was better than any other car or SUV, except Minivans. Statistically if you want safety, get a minivan. You are much less likely to die in a minivan than any other form of personal transportation.

Unless you show the total statistics, saying the Charger is safest is just opinion based on some half facts. A car can have very good crash test ratings. But how likely are you to get into an accident in the first place? I have to travel over steep, snow covered, mountain passes and you're telling me that I need a RWD Charger?

I don't have to do what I do. But I wouldn't call it a mistake. For years I lived with only a bicycle, and could do that again if I had to. Now talk about a safety issue! The car I have works perfectly fine for what I do. The whole reason I want to go from a 1985 VW diesel to a 2014 Toyota Prius is for safety concerns. That car seems like it will work for me in every which way possible. And how much safer is a Charger over a Prius? Do you have the statistics?

[19bonestock88]

Why not try to find something like a later model diesel Passat or something? It’ll have space for the family, good mpg from the Diesel engine, and it’s FWD which is statistically safer (on snow) than a RWD anything...

Granted, a Prius or Volt would give better mileage overall, but then you’ve got to worry about batteries and such

[Ecky]

Perhaps getting slightly off topic, but when it comes to a bicycle vs Charger, lifestyle related diseases kill you just as dead, just more gradually. Most people die of lifestyle related problems. So really, although your chance of immediate death is probably higher on a bicycle, you're probably also more likely to live to 90+ if you ride one, making it overall a "safer" method of transportation.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

Why not try to find something like a later model diesel Passat or something? It’ll have space for the family, good mpg from the Diesel engine, and it’s FWD which is statistically safer (on snow) than a RWD anything...

Granted, a Prius or Volt would give better mileage overall, but then you’ve got to worry about batteries and such

Yes, I've contemplated that. I might try pricing those again. It just seems there are a couple strikes against such a vehicle. One, the VW emissions has me worried that the Government might issue a recall that improves emissions (good thing) at the expense of fuel mileage (bad thing).

Also the Prius has a good track record, despite the extra cost of an occasional traction battery, whereas a newer VW diesel would actually be less reliable.

[19bonestock88]

I’ll agree that other than it’s traction battery which could maybe fail the Prius is rock solid and reliable and gives great mileage, especially modded...

You could check out an 11-16 Subaru Impreza... my ex’s 2015 base model with the Lineartronic CVT got mid-upper 30s with her driving, and on two lane roads with just DWL, I could coax it over 40mpg, according to its FCD... and it went like an Abrams tank in the snow, despite us never having bought snow tread tires