Hello! Our '92 Toyota Corolla has finally bit the dust- and now we are in the market for a new car. We’ve been debating whether or not to get a NEW car or a used car. A new car would be great, except we think it might make us lose a lot of our hippie street cred.
We currently live in a converted school bus and need something that we can tow behind. We want something that will reliable, long lasting and most of all look really cool.
SUVs are completely out of the question, but a hatchback would be great.
Please help us be hippies!
Peace!
Scion xA/xB? Used, of course.
Ford focus I think its sport model hatchback would fit the bill
A BMW Mini. With stick on daisys. Case closed.
The VW New Beetle has a flower vase as standard equipment.
What about a minivan? Lots of hippies drove vans back in the day.
A smaller alternative might be a Chevy HHR, especially the cargo version.
Check 'em out at Cars.com or Edmunds.com.
If you’re really hippies you wouldn’t care about street cred. Anyway I would look into the Scion xB like others have mentioned, possibly a VW Vanagon if you can find one, or a Subaru Forester.
I suggest a Honda Fit if you go new. If you go used, you should look for a 2002-2004 Honda Civic CX or DX. If you get either one with a manual transmission, you can tow it on all four wheels with minimal modification.
You could always look for a circa 1973 VW Beetle.
What is wrong with a new Corolla? Why change?
FoDaddy is right. Real hippies would buy what they want and would not worry about what other people think. If you are worried about “hippy street cred,” both you and your friends are hippy wannabes.
It Has To Be A VW!
That’s just what hippies drove.
It could even be a “New Beetle”. Most people have never seen real hippies up close and don’t know a “New Beetle” from a real “Old Beetle”.
Reliability of the New Beetle has been questioned on this forum. Don’t worry about it. Real hippies drove bugs and buses that were real pieces of junk, but had peace signs, flowers, curtains, and dingo balls. Inside they always smelled funny, like burning leaves or something. You don’t want a super-dependable car, either. During the seventies I used to regularly stop to assist stranded hippies who had broken down. “Bummer, man!” was about as upset as they ever got. They usually just used the break-down the way some people use a rest area, sometimes making love or having an impromtu picnic. It must have had something to do with that burning smell or the Boone’s Farm bottles. You certainly would not want to spoil these opportunities with reliability!
The ultimate machine would be a “27 Window Volkswagen Bus” (really cool!), tricked out with peace signs, curtains, flowers, dingo balls, and that burning something smell. I suppose after that, a New or Old Beetle would work. I hope you can find one or it would be a real bummer, man!
Peace!
By the way, some of my best friends were hippies!
It has to be some thing with a good air system and tinted windows…roll the windows down and “pot” smell could give you away.
Yours truly… an X-hippie.
I won’t get into a pee pee match over whether or not you should buy a new or used car, but I have a source for trusted financial advice and he says never ever buy a new car unless you are stinking rich and can actually afford the thing. He is not anti-new car, just anti-debt and anti-quick depreciation on investment.
My vote for a good reliable hippy car would be a post-1999 Chevrolet Metro, Prizm, or Corolla.
If you do your homework and search and scour, you can find well-cared for cars from this era that will not break your budget and will last another 150, 000 miles. Seeing that as a hippy you will have this car for a long time, that give you ample opportunity to paint the roof, hood, and trunk with whatever designs you choose!
With that said, if you can afford a car that is newer than 2002, I don’t think I have much to say in that category just yet.
Give me about 4 years and we can talk. That’s my five cents. Happy hunting…oh, well hippies don’t hunt…so happy gathering. (my middle names are marley and lennon, so I have cred to make fun of dirty hippies:-))
hahaha. Well done, Common Sense.
“He is not anti-new car, just anti-debt and anti-quick depreciation on investment.”
That is not a problem if you pay cash and then keep the car for many years, as I do. Plan ahead, save your money, and pay cash.
Very sound advice, Common Sense!
An old school VW mini-bus was actually our first choice- a sort of all purpose mother-in-law cottage and dinghy on wheels. The only problem is that when we are not driving around in our bus, we’re usually parked in Vermont and the winters here can be brutal and not too easy on a rear wheel drive vehicle. But perhaps you are right the more accidents and untimely roadside vehicle malfunctions we have, the more opportunity for merry making there will be!
Besides which car, image-wise, you need to make sure you can tow it without a dolley, many you can’t because of lubrication issues…
Which part of Vermont does that bus get parked in? I went to school in Southern Vermont and have a few friends who live/ are from there. Just curious to know if there is a connection. My haunts are Brattleboro/Marlboro and Wolcott.
Almost any car that has a manual transmission can be towed on all four wheels without lubrication issues. It’s only if you want an automatic or you want a car that isn’t available with a manual transmission that this becomes an issue.
We’re a bit north and west of there, between Manchester and Rutland. We are very fond of Brattleboro and go down there whenever we get a chance.
I asked my wife and she says vw bug, Common sense answer wins!
Like … Far Out, Man!
Peace!
I would suggest a Renault LeCar if you can find one. The LeCar is, I believe, a hatchback sold in the USA in the late 1970’s. Since you are going to tow it behind your converted school bus, it really doesn’t matter that none of them ever ran. If you paste some flowers on the car, you will be able to really maintain your image.