How many of you own your own vehicle?

[Destroyer2000]

I'm looking to buy one. I wish to find a car that has good gas mileage, and is a car, not a truck. I've only looked at a few so far, and I most likely will not get one until next year, when I can start paying insurance on it. From what I've seen, I like the looks of the Toyota ECHO. Any suggestions? How well is the gas mileage on the cars that you all own, and what is your personal opinion of their appearence and interior?

[Kristal*Klear]

Ah, but don't you want a hummer? I checked out your Xanga. hee hee.

I do not..... unfortunatley.. own my own car.. I seriously wish I did though.....

[CDLviking]

Do you plan on buying new or used? I drive an '88 Ford T-bird that used to be really cool until people kept on running into it. Now it has a few dents and such, but I don't drive it for the looks. It gets over 20 miles a gallon for a V8.

[Destroyer2000]

I was joking about the Hummer. They aren't all that cool. I like the Toyota ECHO the best, personally...and for some stupid, biased, SOUTHERN reason, I refuse to buy a Chevy.

[Kristal*Klear]

HA HA! I have never had a thing for or a thing against cars.... I have always liked the look of Volvo's best!

[Ducky]

I own a purty SUV. It eats up gas like a kid with candy, but it's safe in the snowy north where it lives (currently without me :waah: ). Toyota's do tend to be extremely safe, reliable, long-lived and good on gas. My family had one that I believe was used when we got it and then my big step-sis used it all thru high school and I think the thing is still running.

[Raiden no Kishi]

I was joking about the Hummer. They aren't all that cool. I like the Toyota ECHO the best, personally...and for some stupid, biased, SOUTHERN reason, I refuse to buy a Chevy.

But...but...Chevy is l33t. Toyota is not.

Buy a GM...umm...what was their hybrid called? Insight? Impact? One of those.

I have a '96 Buick Regal Gran Sport, blue with blue interior, leather seats, tape deck, CD, radio, cold A/C (a must here in South Florida), great gas mileage, good performance, fancy chrome wheels, and a cool sporty look. And it seats 5, so I can carry 4 friends with me (well, once I get my license )

Rai

[ashfire]

I own a 96 Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup extended cab, 8 ft bed with a tool cap with a 360 engine. Drive it back and forth to work, shopping on the weekend, anime club meetings and trips to fire dept and anime cons. For the trips I ended up carrying club members luggage and extra items to cons so they can have room in their little compact cars. Sometimes 3 cars and my pickup. The tool bins on the cap have tool boxs and emergency equipment for fire and ems work so it is not mixed up with things in the bed area.

[Yojimbo]

Well I'd deffinetly suggest buying a used car. Buying new cars today, unless moneyr is not an issue, is almost idiotic because of the loss of value they receive immediately. I been driving a silver 2000 Jetta that I don't own, but my grandpa is more than likely going to sell me his 96 T-Bird in the next couple months.

[redkorn]

i got a 95 dodge dakota, standard, 2wd, 4cyclinder it gets about 25 to 30 mpg, i wish it was 4wd but i couldnt afford one that was in good condition, but my 4 banger isnt too bad i smoke alot of my friends cars.

[TroutNinja]

91 Voltzwagon Passat! (265k+ miles too) Yeah, I get gas mileage... but I don't know what it is.

[agasfas]

87' honda accord LX-I 2door automatic w/ a hatch back. Originally 220K miles but the odometer busted and we put in another. So now it reads 166K. So I'm not complaining . I get about 33mpg. Not bad for a 17yr old car. Funny thing is I bought it from a junk yard car auction (not police) for $342 after title transfer. Still purrs like a kitten. Got to love it.

[ClosetOtaku]

Toyota Echo, eh? That's a hybrid, right? Not a bad choice. I've owned several different cars: Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, Dodge Caravan, all bought new. I currently own a used Hyundai Sonata, only because driving in Seoul is so dangerous, it's not worth getting a new vehicle.

I prefer buying new vehicles - you have the warranty factor, and you're not buying somebody else's problems (which they will not tell you about usually, of course). But if you can trust the person you're buying it from, used is definitely less expensive in the long run.

When I get back to the States (next year), I'll be buying a Toyota Corolla - I've come to trust the Toyota line of cars, and I like the Corolla's low price yet sturdy construction. I might consider an Echo, though -- if you do buy it, let us know how you like it...

[Mi-Ru-Me]

I say its a 1990 GEO Storm I have a turquose Hatchback
I love it see its bigger then a metro it get 35-40 miles per gallon
its mega reliable I mean my granparents bought it brand new and now some15 years later it works great. 4 cylander 6 valve
they also come in 6 cylinder and sometimes they are auto but its rare
I have a five speed they dont go for too much used if you luky you can get a really decent onre for under 1000 dollors a buddy of mine bought his for 100 dollors also my storm has lights that have these little light covers that open up see 1990-91 has better headlights because they open up and let the light shine weer 1992-93 has deep lights that dont open up and if ones drivikng toward you sometimes they look like a camaro till they get up close yet I like hatchbacks best

[kaji]

Hey Destroyer,

Looking for a car eh? Or will be soon?
I don’t own my car (the bank does :sob: ), it’s a 2002 Mazda Protégé. It gets really good mileage around town and on pretty good on the highway. I got a manual transmission so I can control my own RPM’s and in a sense control the amount of fuel my car consumes (to an extent). And Standards are COOL!

The only draw back with my car is that its gear ratio is really low. In 5th gear I can go about 10mph for every 500rpm. That means I’m most efficient around 55mph, after that, its all down hill. At about 65 mph I’m consistently pushing 3500rmp. Sure, that doesn’t sound bad since my Red Line doesn’t pop up until about 6.5. But most automatics have one (extra high) gear that they can settle into for cruising on the highway. While my car is doing 3000rpm at 60mph, an automatic Transmission may only be doing 2500rpm.

That means my car’s engine is working 1.2 times as much as the automatic car to sustain the same speed. The more my car has to work, the more fuel it has to consume.

On the flip side, I can stay in higher gears at lower speeds much easier (and accelerate without down shifting). This means, when I’m cruising around town at about 30mph, I can still be hovering in 4th gear at only about 1500-2000 rpm’s. In a similar situation, an automatic transmission’s computer would tell the transmission to shift down, putting that car up to 2500-3000 rpm (for the designated gear).

*Of course these ratio’s are not true with all cars, as many have very different gear ratios.

Another plus (in my opinion) of a standard transmission, is that you can save on the life of your brakes. By having the ability to down-shift, you can slow your car by using your engine. I will not go into the details of how this works (for the sake of space), but trust me. This is also safer for winter driving, as when you need to slow on slippery surfaces there is less chance your wheels will lock. Again, just trust me on this one, so I can save some space here.

On, to buying your car!
First up, don’t buy a new car. Its just not worth it. The minute you drive the car off the lot its value goes down. Get a model 1 or 2 years old. The value will be more stable and you will not get pelted with the HUGE registration fees for registering a new car.
You also have more room to haggle with a used car then a new one.

Next, never settle. There is always a better car for the same price out there. Look every where, and look often (as a dealers stock of used cars can change from week to week).

Never tell the dealer what you want to pay ‘per month’. This is a tactic that car dealers have, they always want to make the big sale, and will ask you what you want your ‘monthly payments’ to be. NOTE: what you pay per month says nothing about how expensive the car will be. Just don’t tell them, stick to the ‘total cost’ of the sale, even if you have to take out a loan. In other words, tell them you want to spend no more then $10,000 total, not $250 per month. Got it?

Shoot Low. Always offer less then you think its worth to you. Make the dealer come down rather then you go up. Most often this results in you coming up, but to the price you really wanted to pay in the first place.

Ask Questions. And lots of them! Ask about every thing, how many owners did the car have (lots of owners typically means something is wrong with the car), ask for the maintenance history. Ask ask ask, anything you think of Ask.

I know it’s sneaky. But point out any defects the car may have, I know it sounds trite to try and bring the price down like this, but things like that really do take value away from the car. (any little scratches, digs, dents, you see them let em know. But don’t over do it… ok? I had a friend try to bring the price down on a car because it had daytime running lights… He didn’t like em, and didn’t want em in his car. He wanted the dealer to take them out or take some money off the car… Needless to say the dealer wouldn’t do either. O_o

Don’t be afraid to walk out. This goes along with the ‘don’t settle’ rule, but basically it mean that if the dealer wont give you what you want to pay (with in reason), walk out. Don’t buy it.

Last, this one is my favorite. Test drive a car to another dealership. Drive it right in there, tell that dealer what the other dealer wants you to pay for that car, and see if the new dealer will give you a better deal on a comparable car from their lot.
Dealers just love competition. ^_^

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions about car buying, don’t hesitate to ask.

-kaji

[Erin]

I'm looking to buy one. I wish to find a car that has good gas mileage, and is a car, not a truck. I've only looked at a few so far, and I most likely will not get one until next year, when I can start paying insurance on it. From what I've seen, I like the looks of the Toyota ECHO. Any suggestions? How well is the gas mileage on the cars that you all own, and what is your personal opinion of their appearence and interior?

well i don't have one as I'm to young to drivee but my sister has a VW beetle and it is suposed to be the 4th most fule efficient car in america.

[ssj2gohan61]

I say the Toyota Echo is a very good car.. it gets around 40 mpg which is very good for it not being a hybrid and if you are light on the gas you could get pretty close to 50mpg... but I drive a 1989 toyota pickup... 4cyl 2wd 4speed manual transmission it gets about 25-30mpg depends on how i drive most the time... wish i could afford a 4x4 but i couldnt find a good price one that didnt have over 200,000 miles on it... but yes i like my little 4cyl its pretty fast hehe RedKorn wanna race sometime? im planning on putting a 7mgte in it whenever i get the money but that wont be for a while

[Mave]

I'm looking to buy one. I wish to find a car that has good gas mileage, and is a car, not a truck. I've only looked at a few so far, and I most likely will not get one until next year, when I can start paying insurance on it. From what I've seen, I like the looks of the Toyota ECHO. Any suggestions? How well is the gas mileage on the cars that you all own, and what is your personal opinion of their appearence and interior?

I own a Toyota Corolla 1996, ~75K miles when I bought it for 4K (out the door). The gas mileage is about 32-34 miles/gallon. I like how my car looks and performs. I would say the size and space of the car is perfect for a single individual who wants something reliable and economical without all the frills. I haven't had any major problems with it except for a starter which failed recently. But apart from that, expenses were maintenance costs, typical for any car. I've had this car for more than one year and I have no regrets getting it. Hope this helps.

[PumpkinKoRn52]

I got a 66 mustang. I will own it shortly. I'm restoring it right now, and when it is complete, it will eat other car's children.....
(I seriously love my car.

[Ssjjvash]

I refuse to buy a Chevy.

Hm, what a pity. I was just going to suggest that too. XD That's because I currently own one. It's a white '94 Chevy Cavalier. Unfortunately, I think I purchased one that had once been in an accident.

You know what, on second thought, I hope you get a better car than that!
Though I got mine for a good price, it's back in the shop for the second time.

[Mangafanatic]

I drive the family's van--- a silver Plymoth Grand Voyager. Not that's one sporty car. Well, I hope you get a good car. I'd give suggestions, but I know diddly about cars.

[AsterlonKnight]

Technically. A 2004 Ford Focus ZTS nicknamed Sofia by moi. It's a stick shift, but I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.

Dad got it for my brother and me, but we've only our learner's permits for now. Once we get jobs that really pay, we're supposed to pay him back for it.