Buying a car - You guys have recommendations?

[PaleMelanesian]

Hybrids are also holding their value. You can't find 2 or 3-year old Priuses for any lower than new.

[dremd]

So about a wash on resale then. Many 2~3 year old TDI's have sold for over new price, overall they definitely loose value though

However do bear in mind that the Prius will be cleaner and quieter. No argument there. Not sure how concerned you are about emissions/ air Quality.

[hvatum]

Originally Posted by dremd

So about a wash on resale then. Many 2~3 year old TDI's have sold for over new price, overall they definitely loose value though

However do bear in mind that the Prius will be cleaner and quieter. No argument there. Not sure how concerned you are about emissions/ air Quality.

The quieter point is a plus, from the data I can find it looks like the TDI comes out slightly ahead on highway mileage, but again diesel is more expensive so that's a wash most likely.

Originally Posted by Arminius

I can't find a Prius for less that 12k in my area on cars.com

Yeah. The one I had found was pretty sketchy, private owner who had smoked (listing said he didn't!) that alone is a big minus because my mother has serious asthma problems and she could then never come on long car trips with me. Also it didn't consistently turn on. Hit the on button, and pretty much nothing happens (minor response from the LEDs). Press it a few more times and it comes on. I'm not sure whats up with that car

All the other cheaper Prius's are salvage cars or first generation models. One of them is an 06 for $10K with LOTS of extras, but the whole front end was burned off in a fire or something. Might actually be interesting to someone here who's up to molding their own body anyway for better drag. Way too much work for me though.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e=&cardist=100

Also the TDI I'm looking at has lots of extras like heated seats and the like, which are always nice. I'm going to check it out tomorrow if my friend can give me a ride.

[Nerys]

actually the aveo is awesome. I was impressed with it. UNTIL I measured the mpg :-) hehe let me just say the LISTED mpg is not even remotely close to what you will actually get. One of the rocket launches I went to was in arizona I flew out and rented an aveo. I was amazed I fit and it was a very fun car to drive. quite nice. 38mpg. DREAM ON.

My commute to the field each day was over 45 miles each way 90% highway. Literally 0.2 miles from hotel to I10 on ramp. last 8 miles small roads but empty and few stops.

I filled it up 5 times that week never ONES did the mpg calculations BUDGE from 25mpg. It was SCARY how "rock solid" the mpg was at 25mpg. I tried doing 75mph on the highway. I dried crusing at 55mph on the highway. JUST ME or ME and passenger and all our cargo. Made no difference ALWAYS spot on 25mpg.

Nice car but if you want economy do not even give it a second thought :-)

[brucepick]

FWIW I looked up the Saturn Astra, mentioned way back in this thread.

City: 24 Highway: 30 – 32

Not so good. Somewhere I read that the gearing is mostly optimized for Euro city driving, so it's spinning pretty fast at highway speeds.

Looked up at cars.com.

[bennelson]

Also, remember to check out
www.fueleconomy.gov/

It lists all the official fuel economies!

[hvatum]

Thanks for all the help!

I've gotten a 2001 Jetta TDI for $6,000. Pretty good deal I think.

Now it's time to see what kind of mileage it gets.

[dremd]

Assuming it is in good condition that is a rather good deal.

Details? Pics?

[Nerys]

Well the higher cost of diesel is not really a wash. Remember the Prius is going to cost at minimum TWICE the cost of a comparable age TDI. How long will it take the higher price of the diesel to offset the 6-9 thousand dollar greater cost of the Prius? My guess is longer than you will have the car :-) so TDI still wins

Plus if you add just say 2 gallons of some alternative fuel each fill up (biodiesel waste oil kerosene etc..) you just erased the higher cost of the diesel and will never have a battery pack to replace.

Hybrids are a cool idea. There just very poorly executed by auto makers IE very expensive.

They make NO sense from a cost perspective EVEN at $8 a gallon gas a hybrid (as they are today) are just not a good financial decision unless your already set on spending that kind of money.

NOW if you can get a used one cheap enough then its definitely a good decision. Just not at there "new" price.

[hvatum]

Yeah Nerys, I came to the same conclusion. Hence I ended up with the Diesel. With the money I saved I can afford to put it some nice Leather seats, repaint the bumper, fix some stuff in the kind of chintzy interior and upgrade the sound system (doing some eco-mods goes without saying).







I'm doing all OEM colors. It looks pretty crap now, but in a few weeks it'll look like the luxury package.