Car Shopping
So news begets news...
I'm moving... But only 10 miles. Last summer I helped some coworkers with tearing out all the water-damaged carpet and other stuff in their sunlight basement after it flooded, and now they're offering me a room in the basement, cheap.
I'm not worried about the flooding (2 stump-pumps and a several 1,000s of dollars in concrete work to improve the drainage) as they've put in a lot of work to prevent future damage.
***
Anyway, good news begets good news as I can now also afford a vehicle. And I was wondering if any of youse knows anything about Subaru Foresters or similar vehicles? Tacomas and Rav4s were completely out of my price range (unless I were to buy what looked like a stolen one...), but I've found some 2000-2002 Foresters for around 5k.
Tacomas were my first choice, but vehicles similar to Foresters (sort of a cross between a truck, a station wagon, and a van) are my #2, the pseudo pickups (with permanent camper shells).
Anyone have any experience with them?
As good as anything
I don't want a car, not useful enough, and the 4 cylinder Forester gets 28/hwy 22/city, so its not bad (better than a few of the cars I looked at), plus my work commute is only 4 miles on mostly non-main roads, so it isn't very city-like.
And I'd argue with the SUV designation... It isn't that big, its like a Ford Ranger with camper shell, not a Ford 350 with a camper shell ;-p
Another idea
If you get a zipcar membership ($25 or $50 a year, plus $8-10 per hour of rental time), then you can have a car with good gas mileage while still having easy access to trucks/suvs/vans. Realistically how often do you really need the storage space in a suv? Zipcars are really convenient to rent (you can make a reservation online and have the car 30 seconds later), and they would save you from losing extra money to gas and resale losses.
Just an idea. I do understand the desire to have a car with bigger storage (my Civic can't fit hardly anything in it), but the only time it bugs me is when I'm buying furniture. 99% of the time I don't need the extra space.
hybrid suvs...
I'm also looking for a new vehicle and am struggling with the mpg of a small car vs the versitility of a small suv. I think you'd have to buy this one new, so it might not be in the price range but I've heard good things from owners of the Ford Escape Hybrid. It's a RAV sized SUV but it supposedly get mpg in the 30s. And since analyists are predicting gas prices in the $7/gal range by the end of the summer, those mpgs are counting more and more.
Congrats
Congrats on getting out of your place. How much does this reduce your commute? I imagine you won't miss the 45 min plus that you spent on the bus.
Not quite yet
Moving this weekend and next. I go from 8 miles and 2 buses to 4 miles and 2 buses until I buy a car, but then its 4 miles of side roads!
It will be like 10 minutes there and 10 minutes + leaving the parking lot home. I'm going to be saving like an hour and half every day! Plus it will be AC. And no standing. And no cockroaches...
:-p Thanks!
dude
Get something with better gas mileage (and hence better resale value). SUVs are dropping in price, which is good right now since you are buying, but will be bad 9 months from now when you move and want to sell the car. Plus it will cost you $50 to fill the tank in the forester.
But if you are stuck on them, they are great cars from what I hear. They get ok gas mileage for an SUV (22 or so). And everything I hear is that Subarus are really reliable.