Efficient, cheap beaters! Used car ads: 35 mpg highway or more for $1500 or less

[Xist]

I am sure that my $250 Accord was a once-in-a-lifetime bounty.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Link to photos of this little harbour town? Who doesn't love a picturesque seaside place...

It is not very picturesque, as the seaside is separated from the town by a high dike and just has a yacht harbor and fish auction.
It mainly attracts visitors who either have a boat in the harbor or are on a hike or tour. It also has a couple of decent restaurants and some bars.


Colijnsplaat has a sandy beach right there ^. And 50 is a crowd...


The street where my father-in-law lived and mother-in-law still lives.


It would not be in the Netherlands if it had no windmills

In Roman times there was a temple for the goddess Nehalennia somewhere close to where Colijnsplaat is now, as large stones of it were found in the sea nearby, and it must have looked like this. There was a similar temple in Domburg with which it had tight connections.


The new dike (on the left) was built seaward, cutting off the old harbor from the sea. The old dike has several houses built on it and could therefore not be enlarged.
The old harbor was filled in and converted to a grassy field and a parking lot, but recently the grass made way for a big pond with a piece of contemporary art in it to symbolize the old harbor and a lack of good taste.

At the north sea flood of 1953 the harbor access gate in the dike wall was blocked by wooden beams locked in slots at the wall ends, but the waves lifted them out. The men in the village kept putting them back and tried to hold them down with their arms over them, getting soaked to the bones by the storm and the waves crashing against and over the beams.

Just when it got so bad that they were about to give up a large ship broke away from its moorings and landed athwart the gate, protecting it from the brunt of the waves.
The Miracle of Colijnsplaat saved the town while thousands of people drowned elsewhere.
The captain of the boat got a fine for not securing it properly, but was more than compensated for it by thankful villagers angry with that fine.

[MetroMPG]

Excellent brief tour & history. Thanks!


The area I live in had a lot of Dutch immigration, both pre and post-WWII. Most of the ones I know I met through recreational sailing & racing.

[Xist]

All that it says is 158,000 miles and it runs.

[Xist]

Unspecified miles and an autotragic, but I would look at it if I were in the area: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/c...347577363.html

[MetroMPG]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

I have discovered the cure for compusively (?!?) checking the used car ads!

1) Buy a cheap eco-beater.

2) Buy eight more cheap eco-beaters. (While not selling any of the others.)

I literally haven't looked at the local beater ads since I impulse-bought my third Mitsu Mirage eco-appliance two weeks ago.

Is nine econoboxen the magic cure for everyone? Maybe?!

In the interest of science (to see if/when I start looking at the ads again), I have begun whittling down the herd: the $800 Honda Fit just went to a new owner on Monday. And I will soon be tidying up Mirage #2 to put on the block too.

Am I really cured, or will there be a relapse??

[Xist]

Mom tells me multiple times a day that I need to get rid of some cars--plural. She wants me down to 1 like some kind of lame person.

I am not watching for more cars, I just haven't turned of notifications. I like cars and maybe sharing this information will help someone.

Having 3 cars can be unwieldy with our space, like yesterday when I needed to move the Civic, which I still haven't tried to fix, because I am doing projects like shoveling gravel, and hauling dirt for Mom's garden.

"No problem! Just have them hauled off!"
"Go to your room!"

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Xist

Having 3 cars can be unwieldy with our space

You need to "borrow" more space. "Temporarily."

My fleet is sprinkled around 4 separate properties. One or 2 of which are mine!

[Xist]

Well if I get an FHA loan and buy a run-down mobile home (and the land and connections), I can finally get all of our stuff out of storage, use or at least move all of my lumber, and theoretically move a car, but how likely am I to fix a car that is out-of-sight and out-of-mind?
I could park my Camry there!

[Xist]

The autotragic Civic owner reposted the ad for 12.5% more, with the only noticeable difference being he removed

Runs and drives good
It isn’t cosmetically perfect but it will you get from a to b

Oddly the next part originally said "Runs and drives great," which is where it now starts.

It also says "No issues" twice.

It must not have any!