My Metro died. What car should I get? Thinking Camry/Accord appliance.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Shaneajanderson

Does Ecomodder ban people for stupidity? please keep your political garbage out of my car thread.

I am afraid we are keeping the moderators a bit too busy this week.

Can we split those posts into an off-off-topic thread?

You didn't recently purchase a 2002 - 2006 Camry, did you? I think that when Metro shared his story I thought "Ooh, one day this may save him a great deal of annoyance!" and forgot that you acquired a different vintage.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Xist

I am afraid we are keeping the moderators a bit too busy this week.

Can we split those posts into an off-off-topic thread?

You didn't recently purchase a 2002 - 2006 Camry, did you? I think that when Metro shared his story I thought "Ooh, one day this may save him a great deal of annoyance!" and forgot that you acquired a different vintage.

Well he hasn't posted again, so maybe it worked.

Anyway, what sort of mods should I be looking at? I will be driving ~30 miles down a nice paved road at 55 mph max twice every day, and hardly anybody uses the road so I can pretty much do what I want out there. Being able to drive 55 (or 50) seems like in itself will pretty much maximize the efficiency, as I think aero doesn't play a significant role at less than 55, and weight reduction mainly helps with city driving, of which I will be doing nearly none as my new job is right off this highway, less than a mile with no stops between.

There is one small town that the speed limit drops to 25 that I have always done an EOC coast down and 5th gear bump start to get out the other side, now with the auto Camry I imagine I'll just do a long DFCO coast to about 35, neutral coast through town, then a gradual pickup back to highway speed on the other side.

[redpoint5]

Your commute is right at about where I'd be looking at a used EV. Where I live, electricity is about 1/3 the price per mile as gasoline, and they are practically maintenance free. While an EV would be quite a bit more expensive, the return on investment is faster the more miles driven per week.

You're looking at about 15,000 miles per year based on what you've shared. At 30 MPG and petrol at $3/gal, that's about $1,500 per year. At 4 miles per kWh and $0.10/kWh, you're looking at an annual electricity cost of $375. Maybe petrol is a bit cheaper on average, so maybe $1,000 savings per year on electric.

ND is cold, so you might not get such good range from an EV during the winter, possibly dropping to half the advertised range. Still, if you can preheat the cabin from wall power, you have a cozy cabin waiting for you and save a bit of range sapping draw from the battery.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Your commute is right at about where I'd be looking at a used EV. Where I live, electricity is about 1/3 the price per mile as gasoline, and they are practically maintenance free. While an EV would be quite a bit more expensive, the return on investment is faster the more miles driven per week.

You're looking at about 15,000 miles per year based on what you've shared. At 30 MPG and petrol at $3/gal, that's about $1,500 per year. At 4 miles per kWh and $0.10/kWh, you're looking at an annual electricity cost of $375. Maybe petrol is a bit cheaper on average, so maybe $1,000 savings per year on electric.

I may someday look at an EV. For now, I bought another cheap car ($750) as I need my money for the down payment on our house right now. A used EV may be in my future, but then again I bought a well maintained Camry with 200k, so I may not be looking for another car again for a long time.

ND is cold.

Very cold. In fact we're supposed to get 6-12" of snow starting tomorrow night, and even though that snow will probably melt, it won't be too long before the next snow which will probably stick and then we'll have snow cover until late March at the absolute earliest, but more likely we'll still have snow in the shade in early June like we usually do.

[Shaneajanderson]

Another point on the EV idea: I know virtually nothing about EV technology, maintenance, and repairs. Further, there is nobody in my home town that will work on them, so if anything were to fail that I can't figure out, it would mean a 60 mile (or more) tow to get it to a shop that handles them. With the Camry, I am proficient to fix pretty much anything that can break on it, and if I can't, I can take it to one of several very good local mechanics that I know will give me a fair price. The only reason I bought this car instead of rebuilding the Geo engine is that I simply don't have the time right now, as I'm finishing the remodel on my current house so I can sell it, and at the same time I'm coming up on closing for the new house.

[iikhod]

As a fellow coldish climate guy, have to say that something like a camry is probably the best car for commute and daily driving. Warm, reliable and sturdy car. When it's -25°C cold with wind blowing you could care less about fuel economy at that point.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by iikhod

As a fellow coldish climate guy, have to say that something like a camry is probably the best car for commute and daily driving. Warm, reliable and sturdy car. When it's -25°C cold with wind blowing you could care less about fuel economy at that point.

I still care about the fuel economy, but the Camry will still do well in the cold. I had a 95 corolla that started on the coldest day in 35 years in ND (sometime in January 2013, it was -56 air temp) after ten hours outside not plugged in. Many of my coworkers spent the day going out every two hours to let their cars run for ten minutes in the hopes they would start at quitting time, some of them didn't. It's tough to match a Toyota I4 for reliability, and the rest of the car is nearly as bulletproof. Well, except the hateful automatic transmission, but I'm sure it's better than most.

[redpoint5]

My parents have had 3 high mileage Camrys, and zero transmission problems. Shocks needed replaced at about 200k miles.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

My parents have had 3 high mileage Camrys, and zero transmission problems. Shocks needed replaced at about 200k miles.

Yeah my rear struts are kinda clunky. It doesn't bother me much, and not a hard fix either when I get around to it. Standard maintenance item. This one has 200K and from the (very little) driving I've done in it the tranny seems plenty solid, though not as smooth as newer cars, but I think that's to be expected.

Originally Posted by roosterk0031

My Boss has 2, 03 & 10 5 sp & 6 sp. 03 needed coils and injectors somewhere after 200,000. I think they replaced the cat not long ago as well. He thinks the 03 is a better car than the 10.

Sounds like pretty standard maintenance as well, though I wouldn't replace a cat, I'd just eliminate it and probably put a glasspack in it's place to mitigate that horrid buzzing non-catted four cylinders get under moderate load. Sure wish mine was a 5-speed, but if the auto ever pukes I might swap in a manual.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Shaneajanderson

With the Camry, I am proficient to fix pretty much anything that can break on it...

Mom's Camry has 190,000 miles. She has about one repair a year. Then there is that timing chain...

Pity. Mom has replaced her shocks twice. I drove her and my brother to Phoenix so we could visit my sister in Oregon. I needed to slow down much more than normal for the corners. I felt rather nervous with how the car handled. Then the car did not start. I got a jump and we made it to the nearest repair shop, but we barely made it into a parking spot. They said that Mom needed a new alternator and I asked them to look at the shocks.

The repairs should have been easy enough, so it was frustrating that I was not able to do them myself.

I replaced her original brakes back in December. The rotors looked perfect.