best new car for money and mpg's

[joesgot4]

just broke my mpg record in my 2006 malibu(at least 225 mile on a trip) drove about 90% interstate at 55mph and filled up when i arrived home and got a whopping(for my malibu)
47.45833 mpg!wow! old record was about 44mpg! the reason i want a new car is i drive so far and so much i dont want to many miles on my vehicle when i'm 1000 miles from home and i dont want to go through the fix it every week phase!

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by joesgot4

...i dont want to go through the fix it every week phase!

So buy a Honda. Then you get to fix something maybe once every 100K miles, if you're unlucky.

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by joesgot4

just broke my mpg record in my 2006 malibu(at least 225 mile on a trip) drove about 90% interstate at 55mph and filled up when i arrived home and got a whopping(for my malibu)
47.45833 mpg!wow! old record was about 44mpg! the reason i want a new car is i drive so far and so much i dont want to many miles on my vehicle when i'm 1000 miles from home and i dont want to go through the fix it every week phase!

Yeah, you said that before, but it doesn't make any sense to me. If you won't buy a car with 10-20k miles on it, are you going to dump your new car when it gets 10-20k on it? That might be within 20 weeks, the way you drive. The depreciation the first year makes a used car a deal that can't be refused, if you care about getting a good deal.

If you won't drive any car with 10-20k on it because you're afraid that it will be in the shop all the time (a notion which seems unfounded to me), then you have to apply the same logic to the next new car you get.

Getting a used car saves you enough money to pay for gas for 2-4 years (depending on the car).

[Arminius]

One more thing: I give all my cars (Ford, Mercury, Mazda, Honda) away to relatives once they get between 250,000-300,000 miles on them. They are never in the "fix it every week phase," or I will give them away.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by joesgot4

i'm not very mechnically inclined as far as cars go!

That still doesn't make the new car the more sensible nor even necessarily the more reliable choice. You can buy a whole lot of fuel and reliability off of just a few months worth difference between new car payments and no car payments.

New car =

• Monthly payment including interest penalty.
• More depreciation.
• More insurance.
• Better mpg.*
• NO Long Term Maintenance items due in the near future.
• and POSSIBLY fewer unexpected mechanical problems.
  Though, every model has the occasional lemon!

Current car =

• No monthly payment & no interest.
• Less depreciation
• Less insurance
• Same mpg.*
• Long Term Maintenance items coming due
• and CONCEIVABLY more unexpected mechanical problems.
  If their haven't been problems in the first 70k
  and the car has received regular maintenance
  and hasn't been hot-rodded,
  there's little if any reason to assume unexpected mechanical problems in the next 70k!

* Same vs better mpg. If you do 1,000 per week thats 52k per year. Assume new car is EPA rated 50 mpg highway. Assume same 28% improvement over EPA highway you're getting now, means 64 mpg. 52,000 miles / 41 mpg * $3/gallon ~= $3,805 per year in fuel. 52,000 / 64 mpg * $3/gallon = $2,437
Assuming you have an independent (not dealership) mechanic you trust -
Keep the 2006 Malibu LS with 70,000 miles.

Do any scheduled maintenance you've put off or ignored.

• R&R Coolant?
• R&R belts & hoses?
• R&R transmission fluid & filter
• Check your owner manual's scheduled maintenance section for
  ...

Tell your mechanic, you're going to be taking those frequent 1,000 trips during the course of the next year and you DON"T WANT TO HAVE ANY PROBLEMS ON THE ROAD. Pay him/her an hour or twos worth of labor to inspect the Malibu for any developing problems with a definite eye toward PREVENTATIVE replacement / maintenance. eg.

• Water pump expected to fail between 80-120 miles? = replace it now.
• Pull alternator to inspect and possibly replace brushes.
• OEM battery not giving any problems yet, but it is four years old? Maybe you should replace it now.
• ...

Get a printed list of everything that still needs an eye kept on it. eg.

• CV Joint Boots are weather checked but not cracked or leaking.
• Front brake pads are 40% worn.
• Rear brake pads are 40% worn.
• ...

Have the same mechanic do all of your oil changes!!!
Leave a copy of the Keep An Eye On It List on the dash at every oil change.

If you don't already have one, get a Scanguage II and occasionally monitor each possible gauge type including X-gauges specific to your car - so you know what normal. Once you've got an idea what is normal for each gauge, report any changes to your mechanic in case it suggests something new to keep an eye on.

At return home from each trip, use the Scangauge to scan for pending codes that haven't yet triggered the Check engine light. If there are any pending codes, let your mechanic know and see if he has any advice. (eg. "Might not be anything - not worth trouble shooting now, but could be an A or a B going bad, watch for X or Y.)

[joesgot4]

you make a very compelling point about keeping my car! thanks for all the maintenance advice! will keep my car before i buy a used car cause i dont know what was done to it when someone else owned it! my car is driven very very easy! you dont get 40mpgs out of a malibu automatic and not drive it easy! thanks again! only thing i need to do right now is tranmission fluid and filter! my mechanic told me to wait another oil chage before he changed the fluid and filter!

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by joesgot4

you make a very compelling point about keeping my car! thanks for all the maintenance advice!

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by joesgot4

will keep my car before i buy a used car cause i dont know what was done to it when someone else owned it! my car is driven very very easy! you dont get 40mpgs out of a malibu automatic and not drive it easy! thanks again!

So true.

Originally Posted by joesgot4

only thing i need to do right now is tranmission fluid and filter! my mechanic told me to wait another oil chage before he changed the fluid and filter!

Even if you don't pay him to inspect it, be sure you bring it to his attention that there will be lots of longish trips and you don't want trouble on the road. He'll look at the car differently if he's not assuming that you'll be close by when xyz finally gets bad enough to have a symptom (noise, vibration, ...).

"It could last another 20,000 miles. And even if it does go bad, he'll still be able limp it along for another 300-500 miles until I've got open shop time and the parts show up" turns into "It could go bad as soon as the next 1,000 miles and he might not make it back home if he's 500 miles away."

Getting an extra measure of reliability costs, but not nearly as much as a new car.

Hopefully, I haven't belabored this point too much.
Anyway, I'll shut up now.

[Arminius]

My wife and I also prefer buying new cars. However, we drive them into the ground.

Still, my honest answer is that the best thing to do is buy a used car, even if I don't take my own advice. (My present car is the only used car I have purchased in the past 20 years.)

[cfg83]

joesgot4 -

Originally Posted by joesgot4

just broke my mpg record in my 2006 malibu(at least 225 mile on a trip) drove about 90% interstate at 55mph and filled up when i arrived home and got a whopping(for my malibu)
47.45833 mpg!wow! old record was about 44mpg! the reason i want a new car is i drive so far and so much i dont want to many miles on my vehicle when i'm 1000 miles from home and i dont want to go through the fix it every week phase!

I think I understand. I'm happy with my 175K mile Saturn for commuting at home because I am close to mechanics I trust. But, I'm not confident enough to take it on road trips. On the road I would be at the mercy of mechanics I don't *know*.

You know your car on a day-to-day basis more than me. It's a tough call to know when you need to pull the plug and get a new car. If you get stuck on the road, how much will it hurt your job standing?

Here is my current equation for comparing old and new cars :

A (low) new car payment of $200 per month * 12 months = $2400 per year

If, for example, I pay up to $2000 in *unscheduled* repairs ($300 so far this year), I still make a $400 profit over owning a new car. This equation doesn't take into account the additional benefits of lower car insurance and DMV renewal fees. If I add those into the equation, it's a triple play for the defense of my wallet.


CarloSW2

[bwilson4web]

You might try to get a copy of the April 2009, Consumer Reports for "Most bang for the buck." Their methodology (pp. 18-19):

"combining good performance and reliability with a low owner cost over the first five years"
"nine vehicle categories"
"A low price doesn't necessarily make a car a good value."
"overall road-test scores"
"five-year owner-cost estimates"
"predicted reliability ratings"
"more than 300 vehicles ... tested"

So let's take a look at their results in ascending cost:

• $325 - Toyota Prius - family car
• $330 - Volkswagon Rabbit - hatchbacks/wagons
• $330 - Mini Cooper - sporty cars
• $340 - Honda Civic - small car
• $380 - Toyota RAV4 - small SUVs
• $440 - Honda Odessey - minivans
• $440 - Toyota Avalon - upscale car
• $500 - Hyundai Santa Fe - midsized SUVs
• $525 - Honda Ridgeline - pickup trucks

I too enjoy a used car, especially after the 3/36000 warranty expires when the first big price reduction occurs. I bought my 2003 Prius with 49,300 miles and it has more than 118,000 miles over 3 years later. It has been and remains a good car.

Ultimately it is a decision each must make weighting the price-performance tradeoffs.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson