So I need to buy a car - clueless
- Thread starter DandyDon
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My sister lives in Asheville, NC and commutes to Greer, SC every weekday. Thats 60 something miles, or around 1 hour 20 minutes in the car. I don't see how the sheer size of the car makes any difference in the commute time, or drive-ability. Don't tell me to do more research. I honestly do understand the times spent on the car. Down here in Mexico City, lots of people spend 2 hours 30 minutes in TRAFFIC. Maybe to travel 15 miles. Wether it is a town, a city, or a series of small towns connected by a highway system, the sheer size of the car still makes no difference. I can understand you justify having a pickup truck or even some sort of SUV if the terrain / needs justify it. DandyDon clearly specified he has no need for those things. He even specified he needs to do 20 miles on a weekly basis and 70 miles once per month. The HUGE distances people in Texas have to travel to get anywhere ... I don't seem to find them, at least in his particular case. Even if you don't live in a city, I don't see why you need to commute 100 miles a day to do your shopping at Costco. It is all about the choices you make: where to live, where to shop, how to travel, etc.
I know plenty of people down here in Mexico City who live in Cuernavaca, Morelos. We are talking 100km, 1 hour and something daily commute. We are talking mountainous terrain, Mexico City is at 2200 meters and Cuernavaca 2000, but since they are both in valleys, you have to go down, and up. Thousands of people do it daily on all sorts of cars, without terrible problems. Most of this cars are not huge, or V6s.
I can tell you examples of real people I know here in Mexico, down in Argentina, in the French Alps where my mother in law lives (Tignes / Val Claret), and none of them need a humongous car to survive. Justifying an energy and resource wasteful society is just shortsighted, sorry to tell you. I survived two years in Dominican Republic without A/C, and I am still standing. The difference is I have lived in Argentina, Colombia, Brasil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and the US(in Miami and in LA), and I am not spoiled in only one way of thinking.
I hope DandyDon finds a car of his liking. But I insist, it is time to start downsizing in every aspect, and the US is the first society that needs to take action, since they are the biggest consumer of energy and resources in the globe. Let's do it with the little things (like your car and your AC usage for example) since those are the most feasible. Good luck with the search.
I know plenty of people down here in Mexico City who live in Cuernavaca, Morelos. We are talking 100km, 1 hour and something daily commute. We are talking mountainous terrain, Mexico City is at 2200 meters and Cuernavaca 2000, but since they are both in valleys, you have to go down, and up. Thousands of people do it daily on all sorts of cars, without terrible problems. Most of this cars are not huge, or V6s.
I can tell you examples of real people I know here in Mexico, down in Argentina, in the French Alps where my mother in law lives (Tignes / Val Claret), and none of them need a humongous car to survive. Justifying an energy and resource wasteful society is just shortsighted, sorry to tell you. I survived two years in Dominican Republic without A/C, and I am still standing. The difference is I have lived in Argentina, Colombia, Brasil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and the US(in Miami and in LA), and I am not spoiled in only one way of thinking.
I hope DandyDon finds a car of his liking. But I insist, it is time to start downsizing in every aspect, and the US is the first society that needs to take action, since they are the biggest consumer of energy and resources in the globe. Let's do it with the little things (like your car and your AC usage for example) since those are the most feasible. Good luck with the search.
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That is actually the opposite of my local situation. Here, if you're not doing 75 mph, you'd damned sure better be in the right hand lane. My occasional trips are 20-25 and 75 miles each way as far as that goes, and others. Beyond the pitiful story I shared above, if a middle of the night problem or an unforeseen funeral arises hundreds of miles away, I want to be able to top off the tank and roll. Life happens all over and demands arise. Last month my brother and his wife left on short notice to travel several states as my niece and nephew's house had been in the path of the monster tornado that tore thru Tuscaloosa and even tho they had been lucky enough for it to do a short hop over their house sparing a direct hit, they still had trees down on it, etc.
So okay, either the 2.0L or the 3.5L could do any of that, fine. I didn't drive any cars until today, didn't want to seem too eager, but I finally tried them both. The smaller car was just too much of a downsize. Yeah I could live with it if I had to, but the larger car, while more than I need at this time, won easily. Whether I get 25 mpg or 30 is just not that big of a difference, both are a far cry from 15 mpg I've been living with until now, so I made a good move in the right direction. And situations change, so I am covered for most possibilities.
Eh, I've got a lot to learn on the car. I used to drive rental cars a lot from around 1988 to 2001, then I got into scuba and my travels all changed - seldom including cars. The last two cars I drove were rented in Playa del Carmen in 2008 & 2009. An adjustment sitting so close to the ground driving in my local area, even backing it into the garage. (I always back in so I can exit more safely in forward as the neighborhood kids run lose everywhere and I don't want to squash one even in my own driveway.)
The oil looks new but I'll change it anyway, altho my mechanic said to skip the synthetic. Get this: the onboard computer analyzes my driving and tells me when to do it again.
I thot I'd do a trans service but the book says 50-100K so I guess I'll wait for 50 anyway. I did ask him to get a fuel filter for it as 30-35K still seems like a good idea, even tho the book doesn't mention that.I also left the old F-150 with him to see if it's worth repairing. I think it needs an oil pressure sensor, plugs & wires, and some other things but if I am wrong about the first - I am not interested in a motor overhaul. For now, it's still on my insurance and has a place in my garage but we'll see in time.
Thanks for the discussion everyone, even tho we didn't all agree on the outcome. :cool2:
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Kiwi303
Contributor
So you got the impala?
As to the commute discussion, I live 100Km, or about 62 miles, out of town, it's an hour and a half to drive there and I do that once a week or so. 200Km round trip, 3 hours in the car to do the shopping. I could go West, to Westport, North, to Nelson, and East, to Blenheim, smae distance same time more or less to all of them. I'm in the mountains, or at least the hills, and it's an uphill grind for the car to get home either way I choose. My 2.0L van makes it quite happily, even loaded with a couple of 200L drums of liquid fertiliser, or a half ton (500Kg) of stock feed in the back. My brother has towed a 14 foot caravan from Christchurch with my van, thats 500Km through a pass over the main mountain ranger here, 3000 feet/1000 meters high. No problems.
As to wind blowing the cars around... I don't know what you Americans get, but the run of Euro and Japanese small cars here are quite solid on the road.
As to the commute discussion, I live 100Km, or about 62 miles, out of town, it's an hour and a half to drive there and I do that once a week or so. 200Km round trip, 3 hours in the car to do the shopping. I could go West, to Westport, North, to Nelson, and East, to Blenheim, smae distance same time more or less to all of them. I'm in the mountains, or at least the hills, and it's an uphill grind for the car to get home either way I choose. My 2.0L van makes it quite happily, even loaded with a couple of 200L drums of liquid fertiliser, or a half ton (500Kg) of stock feed in the back. My brother has towed a 14 foot caravan from Christchurch with my van, thats 500Km through a pass over the main mountain ranger here, 3000 feet/1000 meters high. No problems.
As to wind blowing the cars around... I don't know what you Americans get, but the run of Euro and Japanese small cars here are quite solid on the road.
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