Seriously, start spending some money!!
 

A while back, I sold my diesel Chevette, which got 55-ish mpg BEFORE ecomodding. I was asking 3K, and nobody took the bait. Car was nice, no dents, and in good shape. If nobody has a little cash to spend on their ideals, than this movement will stay a very small fringe, among a very small group of people. I know I haven't posted on here for a while, but back your ideals with some $$$ to make this thing grow!

3 large for an old Chevette- I think I have identified the source of your problem. :rolleyes:

If I'm going to spend $3,000 on a car it's going to be electric or get 70mpg.

I do spend $$. At places like the hardware store and Home Depot for mod project materials. Also parts stores for all kinds of miscellaneous stuff for projects and maintenance.

$3K is a lotta money for a nearly 30 year old car. Even if it does get that kind of mpg. Something is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it; I hope you got close to what you wanted.

A couple years ago a Chevette turned up locally for sale. IIRC they wanted $200 or $300 for it, and it was even in pretty decent shape. Only reason I didn't drag it home is I'm almost at automotive critical mass already.

My $400 gas Probe scored 45mpg the last tank. Why would I spend almost 8 times as much for ten more MPG with more expensive fuel? That would take years to pay for itself.

$3000 will get you a pretty decently modified rust free VW Rabbit with great aftermarket support. The Chevette is the ugly duckling of the early 80s both stylistically and mechanically. If your car is in museum quality with low miles I can understand the price but if anything at all is wrong with it I'd expect $1000 TOPS. It's a CHEvette, not a CORvette.

Sorry, most sane people don't want Chevettes. I think it'd be fun to have one to tool around in (in fact I have a framed Chevette ad in my room) but they're just not worth much money.

Doesn't $3000 almost get you a working early Prius in 'merica?

Ok, ok you guys hate my Chevette, I get it. But, I still stand by my original statement.

Not that I would pay $3K for an old Chevette either, but there are two good reasons to drive a diesel.

1. BIODIESEL - didn't come out of a dirty dark hole in the ground, and does not impact carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.

2. BIODIESEL - cheap to make, for a US homebrewer it costs $2.50 less per gallon than gasoline.

I paid off my $1000 Mercedes 240D and my $500 processor in one year of commuting.

Biodiesel is a very good point. We like the Chevette (at least I do- I like weird cars) but we just don't think $3000 is a reasonable price for it. BTW, do you have pics? :)

...that Izusu diesel engine has how many miles on it now?

No, I love your Chevette and would pounce on a nice one, gas or diesel. But just as I'm not going to overpay by 5 x or 10x for anything else, there just is no way I'd pay $3k for one. I could ask $3k for my old Tempo too but it would become part of my estate sale before I get it. HOW did you arrive at that value anyway?

I paid $3750 for my 2011 CBR 250R motorcycle and have averaged better than 83 MPG.
On much cheaper E10.

regards
Mech

In his original post he says he sold it, but not at 3K.

So what's the point? Baiting and trolling?

Sound like a fantasy trip to me. :rolleyes:

lol, I spent about 3k on an 02 golf with tdi (turbo and fancy injection) and way too many creature comforts, and decent handling, and a 5 speed, which I do feed biodiesel, made easy to do thanks to feece oil in batavia.

I had a shivtette a loong time ago, it was ok, better than a vega, sucks next to a rabbit.

Seriously, learn what a car is worth, then knock off %50 if you want to sell it here :D

I don't think you can sell a car on gas mileage alone and if you think it was worth $3,000 then you need to look at what other vehicles you can get for $3,000, most people on here with Civic VX's didn't pay $3,000 for them, I think the only time a Metro XFI was worth $3,000 is when it came off the lot new and both of those cars easily get 55mpg stock.
But you want a diesel car? $1,000 to $1,500 will get you a VW diesel Rabbit that will get 55 to 60mpg.

Spent just a little more and you can get a Honda Insight and get 70mpg.

I'm really interested in what you'd be getting for that kind of money that gets 70mpg ! :)

Yeah, but so's a Yugo :-)

Why pay 3K for a chevete when you can get a diesel mercedes for that price?

+1

I've seen a few Honda Insights that were getting close to that cheap, rough shape of course but I'm holding out, I also found an electric car that looks like it will be just over $3,000 after putting new batteries in it but it'll have a 55 mile range and over 100mph top speed, THAT is the kind of car I'm holding out for, not a Chevett that only gets 55mpg, my $1,100 civic VX gets 55mpg and starts no matter how cold it is, I can sit in the back seat, haul lumber with it, tow a trailer and never worry about it braking down.

With a lottery win in my pocket I went looking for another car - partly to annoy Mrs A - and partly to do a full set of mods on it. I thought Mk1 Insight - old enough, and rare enough over here so nobody maybe loves them ?

Wrong - every ebay auction becomes a fight and the "club" for them only seems to sell to insiders.

I spent the lottery win when my lawn mower broke a couple of weeks ago, so I never got a second project. I did get a detail sander for my MGB though.

Chevettes are rare here now, we never had the Diesel one. But none, except maybe a mint 2300 HS or HSR would go over £1.5K

The kind of money that buys a well-used 1st generation Insight (8 to 10.000 euro) also buys me a brand spanking new VW up! .

Base price for the VW up! in the Netherlands is going to be 8500 euro - for a very basic car, with power nothing (electric windows, central locking, forgotten lights warning, and AC are all options) though it'll come with plenty of airbags, even one for the knees.

Who was asking for very basic cars again ? :)
This will be it.

Why wait, the i10 Blue has all of these (non) features as well as stop-start.

I dunno where you guys are looking, diesel rabbit are 2K-3K here in California where they don't rust. Of course you can buy some rusted out wobbly pile of parts for a few hundred bucks, and if that's all anyone is looking for, then I am glad I didn't sell it on here.

It had new tires, a new timing belt, new brakes, the door hinges were re-welded so the doors didn't sag, carpet, dash, everything was all in good shape. I bought it for $2,500, and paid another $400 to have it shipped, and I considered it a good deal for what I got. I wanted a nice vehicle, not something with dents and a slipping trans that needed work.

Because you are lucky to break 30mpg with that 2 ton car.

Thats a damn nice 'Vette.

I was "looking" in the UK myself - you do know the internet is international no ? ooh that might be a shock. We have s3x and s0c14l1sm and all sorts here in Europe together with our shorter working week (well the uncivilised parts of the continent do, we in the UK still flog our guts out to pay for their bailouts) and easy living cafe lifestyles. We also have electricity and running water too. Well for most of the time when the comissar can arrange it for our block.

Actually did I mention that sitting in an outdoor cafe in Embra is likely to bring on a serious cold ?

Sorry I know I poke fun, but come on. Think what you are selling, who to, who from and work it out. You see a classic Vette in good order with no rust, other people see a potential winter diesel smoker the other end of the country and maybe want to get 1-2 winters out of it.

As (apparently) they say on US TV durr? (apparently - the comissar blocked it last night - I am not "hip" as you can see).

Well, it certainly does look good, so I think it's normal JQmile wants a good deal on it, but 3K is likely pushing it - especially around here :)

If he finds someone who really badly wants one in good nick, then maybe ...

I wonder what it will sell for.

1982 Chevy Chevette diesel

1982 Chevrolet Chevette Diesel

People are free to ask what they want; doesn't mean they'll get it.

The word for those who pay way above market value is "sucker".

"Never give a sucker an even break and never smarten up a chump." (W.C.F.)

Don't worry. As the economy worsens and the phenomenon of 'disposable income' vanishes, so will most of the suckers. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't buy this car, but it's a good-looking piece of historic, post-gas-crisis, "oh-my-god-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-OPEC-and-Japan," Detroit design. I take your point about the importance of the condition of the car. Cheaper is not better; it's just cheaper. If that's what you value, you'll get what you pay for. All cars are consumables, and we all lose money on our cars, everytime: gas, oil, parts, depreciation... wrecks and rust. The prettier and flashier you want it, the more $$$ you lose. Maybe somebody will buy your Chevette at your price, maybe not. Nice looking car. You're not looking for a sucker. You're looking for someone who loves a diesel Chevette in great condition, but they aren't born every minute. Good luck, man, and I hope you get a good price.

Already sold the Chevette to some hippie glass blower for about 2K....not trying to sell it, just trying to prove a point. It was a car that got in the high 50mpg range and had a Cd of 0.45, which is about the worst one could imagine. With the diesel engine and some aeromodding, I would have though it could eclipse most cars on this site. It weighed 2,210 also, so it was pretty light. I just thought it had a lot of potential, and would have liked to see someone explore it....but I am sure the new owner will have fun with it too. It was a good car!

On a side note, the aerodynamics were so bad, it didn't gain anything by pulse and glide, mph just dropped like a rock as soon as you lifted :D

In the first half of 2008 when gas was approaching $4 a gallon, I remember a Geo Metro with super low miles that sold for $8000 on epay. I had a heck of a time selling my VX when it had been wrecked. It only had 62k miles and ran and drove perfectly. It was hit in the rear end which is basically a box that follows the front around.

My current solution is a $3750 motorcycle that gets 84 MPG. My car gets 34, and the old truck gets 18. The truck uses one tank of fuel (16 gals) every 5 weeks. The Altima uses about 16 gals a month. The bike uses .5 gal a day when I drive it or 15 a month if I rode it 40 miles a day.

Truck $1350 will be sold when house is sold (reason for owning).
Car $11900 would sell it today if I could get enough for it.
Bike $3700 I am working on another cheap abused bike which might replace it if it runs well and gets good enough mileage.

Why did you sell the Chevette? Many people think I was crazy for selling the Civic, when it had nothing wrong with it, but it really was not the ride for the wife and myself when we are together. She hates hypermiling and the bike was the best solution for me, since she will never ride with me.

regards
Mech

?!? my 97 saturn has start stop with predictive logic?!? Do we really think the little piece of silicon can tell when the optimum time to kill the engine is? No, the stupid thing has to wait until you are already idling.

Are we THAT lazy?!? really?

Hahaha! Well maybe the glass-blower who bought it can come up with some unique aeromods that preserve visibility! :) But more seriously, a guy in that line of work could use it for a business/advert car. He's in a historic craft, so a "historic" and unique vehicle that is a conversation starter can be an asset. He could put a sign in the window of such a clean car.

http://www.michiganvw.org/forum/imag...lies/wavey.gif me me me!

Although I think I'd want some performance mods on it, or maybe just buy a Subaru FRZ. :D

Yes, most people are. The i10 one works with all drivers, not just EM ones.