Good advice and straight forward suggestions–thank you.
I enjoy teaching and have done little research as an assistant professor. Primarily my stint in education has been in public school teaching only the last 8 years in higher ed (31 years total in education). I wish that I could manage my time better and had the discipline I should to publish more. With my focus going in several directions, it is difficult to concentrate on publishing. I teach summer school because there’s a need both for the college and financially for myself. In two years I will be eligible for retirement, but I probably will work 2 or 3 more.
You speak with certainty; have you had experience with repair of the two cars I’ve mentioned?
Amen to that!
Since 1997 two things have happened; 1) the cost of buying and operating a Mercedes has gone up much faster than college professor’s salaries, and 2) the quality and reliability of Mercedes cars has tanked and is still in the dumps.
I have a number of friends who at one time could actually afford Mercedes cars, and now (with mcuh higher incomes ) cannot afford them as their main driver.
Audis are a different story; they have never been reliable and are also much shorter lived than Mercedes cars. Changing from a good Merecedes model, although old, to an unreliable and very expensive to maintain newer Audi will be painful for you. My optometrist had two Audis which drove him to distraction; he now has a Jeep Grand Cherokee, also a relatively unreliable vehicle, but thinks he’s in heaven since it nearly always gets him to work.
If I was in your shoes I would look for an older, low mileage, well maintained Infiniti or Lexus which a down-sizing senior citizen might want to sell privately.
Happy shopping!
I admire the route you took through public school teaching and then moving to higher education. You have the public school experience to know what works in the classroom. I have a son who is taking the same path. He earned a master’s degree from seminary in children’s ministry. While waiting for a church call, he took a position teaching third grade in a private school. Teaching became his calling. He went back to school at night and in the summer and earned his teaching license. He is looking for a public school position and is also doing coursework for a doctorate. He ultimately would like to teach reading methods courses at the college level, but says that he wants the public school experience so that he can teach college methods courses with authority.
Of course, you, my son, and I approached higher education the wrong way. The way to make the dollars in education is to be an administrator.
No, and that would be anecdotal evidence. My source is Edmunds.com. They rate car costs over a 5 year period. Their source is Intellifix, a company that collects repair data from mechanics then sells the database and repair advice. MSN Autos also uses Intellifix, but in a different way. It doesn’t report the likelihood of specific repairs, just the cost of them; maintenance too. I think it’s a great tool. If you check Consumer Reports, Edmunds, and MSN Autos for the cars you are interested in, you can get a good picture of what, if anything, will go wrong and what the cost might be.
Since 1997 two things have happened:1) the cost of buying and operating a Mercedes has gone up much faster than college professor’s salaries and 2)the quality and reliability of Mercedes cars has tanked and is still in the dumps.
My wife is in higher education and drives a Toyota 4Runner that has been very reliable and doesn’t eat us out of house and home. I would like to get her income up and would like to put a Meyers snow blade on it so she could plow driveways out on the way to work. However, she won’t go along with the idea.
A 4Runner is durable enough to last most people into retirement. In the Australian Outback they started with Land Rovers in 1945, then Jeeps, then Toyota Land Cruisers. When those escalated in price the 4Runner became the vehicle of choice because of its indestructability. Even the bad guys in Crocdile Dundee drove a 4Runner in their illegal kangoroo hunt!
The Subaru Outback is considered too fragile for rough work in the Australian Outback.
Yes, I would trade nothing for my experience in the public school classroom. I have taught elementary methods at a university before I began my tenure in my present position as a secondary methods professor. I have credibility with my teaching candidates and student teachers because of my successful experiences in the classroom.
Thank you, and I am beginning to believe that what you are advising is practical advice for my current circumstances.
You seem to have had such good luck with yours. In your position, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another over an Audi. Friends and relatives who have owned Audis , have had nothing but trouble. I don’t travel in the crowd of MB owners and couldn’t comment.
Docnick,
I wish you hadn’t made this post. I’ve worked hard to convince my husband that the Toyota 4Runner is a delicate piece of equipment and that his driving habits are such that I don’t want him touching my machine. Now I’ll have to start all over again to refute your statements.
Mrs. Triedaq
IMHO definitely go for the Benz. Better maintenance frequency, better value retention, better car all around car.
Thanks, Mrs. Triedaq; but I would not recommend turning a 4Runner into a snow plow or driving it irresponsibly. If you watch the news you see many terrorist truck versions of the 4Runner with machine guns mounted on the back. These will not last a long as those in more peaceful use, but they will likely outlast their drivers.
I think you should consider something different. Considering your length of time with 1997 model, and the fact that you drive over 22,000 miles per year, you could end up at retirement age with two very expensive options: maintain a high-mileage German car or buy a new one.
I would get something less expensive to buy, maintain, insure, and run right now during the continuing high-mileage years (long commute?), and save the big money for the retirement vehicle.
I would consider a Prius or Fusion hybrid. May want to wait a little on the Prius right now. Like the other prof said, you would also look to be in more need of a raise.
After retirement, when your hybrid has saved you tons of money, and you got that raise, go for the gold.
Take care.
Wise response, however, I should mention that nearly 8 years ago I commuted 206 miles per day, 4 days a week to and from the university where I worked, thus the high current mileage-290,096 miles. For the past two years, I travel 1.4 miles to my office building! Commuting is not an issue any longer.
I used to live 1 mile from my office and it was great. My wife wanted a better house (indoor plumbing, electric lights, central heat, etc.) so we built a house 2 miles away. This doubled my commuting distance, the car wears out twice a fast, etc. I did have a friend and colleague that lived halfway between my home and office. I could stop at his house in the morning for a cup of coffee and in the afternoon for a beer. Now I exhaust myself driving the full 2 miles.
In your case, you have the car mostly for pleasure. Actually I often ride my bicycle to campus. Get the car you enjoy driving.