Define “nice” though.
I’ll circle back to everyone doesn’t want to drive a 89 Civic daily.
Nice is anything you look at and you think it’s “nice”.
This is clear as day at my work where I know what engineers and most staff makes.
You see then pulling in anything from brand new M3’s and Audis to old Camrys, Subarus Civics and Pontiacs.
Travis has the perfect example of a vehicle that satisfies his needs. Reliable, cheap to operate good on gas, no thrills car. That’s all one “needs”. Anything else is a “want” and will cost you extra without giving you any more of a car, making it less cost efficient.
I have been looking into getting a newer, better mpg car, but after all the number crunching and gas savings per mile blah blah blah, i have decided its “at best” a wash in the end. I will keep the A8 and its 21mpg and be mad comfy driving to work erryday. lol.
I think in the end you can make a used higher mileage car work better for you as long as you keep up with maintenance and can do the work yourself. I know I have relatives that would pay the extra money to wake up every morning and know they will never have to pop the hood because their car is new. To think about it, some of them might not even know how to pop the hood. So the security of not having to worry about the car is worth it to them. (Not saying it is right, but ignorance is bliss I guess)
As this is a car forum I think 75 to 80% of the population here can do their own maintenance and work so this really takes away a huge amount of the costs associated with a higher mileage car. Also, we know the importance of maintenance.
All I can say is the biggest kick in the balls with driving anything slow, crappy, practical, daily other than your “fun car”, is the fact that EVERYDAY you drive the shit box daily around you see/meet SO MANY MORE people that you want to run in your “fun car”… but your not driving it are you? Then you get home or fire it up on the weekend, and poof, all your competition is gone! lol
In all honesty. A mid to low 12, that handles nice, that gets 20+ mpg and runs every time you turn the key would be my definition of a perfect daily driver. Can romp on plenty of stunters on the streets as you come across them on your daily commutes, and not make you want to wish “I was driving my other car right now”.
but, then the other car at home would have to be faster than the “daily”… and it would require more work, more money, more time…
it never ends
big plus 1 to you mike. agree 100%.
I agree with KK. That’s all you need really.
I’m happy with my mid 15 second car that gets usually 35mpg haha. But coming from the fit it’s like i upgraded to a rocket that does just about as good on gas lol.
I don’t ‘want’ to drive a 95 Corolla daily, but in order to have a 800++HP weekend car, a newer truck to tow it with (and do truck duties around the home), a cheap, reliable car is all that’s in my budget.
Thankfully I don’t have any kind of ‘image’ to hold up and don’t care about being ‘seen’ in my Corolla.
You also have a much longer ride to work then most people and I know I wouldn’t want to put that kind of wear and tear on something like your EVO. Basically the same reason why I have 2 trucks, the D-max you drove and the rust bucket plow truck. I love my d-max, but it’s too big to plow with around town.
Totally true, but I’d still have a beater (or just the truck) if my work commute was 20 miles or less. I still like the ‘pleasure’ of driving a weekend car just on the weekends/nice weather.
Exactly.
Not only that but it make you appreciate your fun car just that much more when you get out on it to have fun, instead of spending most of the time commuting in it.
Maintains that “new to you” smell if you will.
That’s why I love switching between bikes all the time. Completely different beasts and it’s like a whole new experience after getting used to another one.
At this point Id rather just have one vehicle to drive all the time and not worry about additional insurance, repairs, fuel, etc and a place to park it.
Gas costs me $90 or so a week but I budget for that. I definitely dont give a fuck about putting miles on it either, Ive already put on 55k in 3 years.
There are numerous vehicles with 5 star crash safety ratings that get over 40mpg hwy. They’re not expensive, the cruze ECO gets 42mpg highway, has 5 star crash ratings, and is priced under 20 grand.
roflumadbro?
So this new vehicle is twice as expensive even adjusted for inflation and gets worse MPG?
:skid
also seats 5 too though.
At which point it’s not getting that mpg.
Plus if I had a dollar for every time I had more than 2 people in my car, I’d struggle to buy a Big Mac meal. Empty space for your shit is what rear seats are 98% of the time when you are single.
When the time comes you hop in somebody elses car who has the seats.
With your logic minivans are allowed shitty mpg because they can seat 7, even if they rarely do.
My point was you can actually pick all 3 of those choices in today’s market.
I dont think my truck has gotten any different mpg whether its just me in it or me and 4 other people. It seats 6 but nobody ever sits in the front middle seat because thats the console and arm rest so I dont want anybody sitting there anyway.
Let me say that again, more expensive and less MPG. You aren’t having all 3.
$20k isn’t exactly chump change. There are probably even better examples for your argument out there.
Nothing beats an older beater that gets good MPG, easy to maintain, cheap to buy and plenty of parts around for.