My Current Vehicle Purchasing Edicts

Those are the ones to avoid .

I did have an efficient vehicle for a while. I got tired of dealing with the enraged rednecks and the political landscape changed so I got fed up and started wasting fuel like everyone else around here.

My mid-sized hybrid car gets between 48 and 49 mpg, and I imagine a Prius or something similar gets far better than that

As I said, it wasn’t initially my plan to get a new car, but now that I’ve got one, I aim to take full advantage of it, including great fuel economy

Please fresh my memory . . . what was this efficient vehicle?

Did these enraged guys you mentioned physically threaten you, vandalize your car, let air out of your tires, etc.?

As far as the political landscape goes, we’ll all survive. I don’t let other people influence what car I buy. I know guys that have both lifted full-size 4x4 American trucks with fat tires AND import brand economy cars, and they actually like and drive both of them. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, imo

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I had a early 2010s Prius. Awesome car but people hit it in parking lots, probably intentionally, roared around me in the diesel trucks, and rolled coal at me.

Aside from all that the car was bad luck, ive never had a vehicle have so many unfortunate things happen to it, hit a skunk, 2 tires got damaged, road debris ripped rear bumper cover and punctured metal body, there was so much in a short period of time

I liked the car. Great car.

Don’t you live in Cali? Its honestly different there, the ignorance and stupidity in Indiana make it the pits of hell living here.

People don’t believe how bad it is here until they experience it themselves.

I don’t belong here, yet I can’t leave.

It really is my own personal hell here.

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Yeah, that sounds intentional . . . and shows their dad didn’t show them proper behavior, imo

A decently optioned Prius is a very nice car, indeed, imo

Yes, that’s where I live. That said, even though I live and work in Los Angeles, MANY of my colleagues are very conservative, driving 2 hours to work from their very rural properties with farms and big plots of land. Some of these guys have viewpoints quite different from mine, but as I said earlier, we all get along just fine. There are times I’m listening to other guys talk, yet I keep silent or just nod my head, say “that’s interesting” and go about my business, because I’m going to be working with these guys for a LONG time . . . one of my supervisors said we need to get along with our colleagues, as we’re actually spending more waking hours with them than our own families. Can’t argue with that logic, imo

I don’t have any experience with Indiana and don’t know what I’d do if I were there. I’d like to think I’d be respectful to everyone I encounter

I think you brought this up a few years ago and we questioned you about it. Yes, uprooting and moving is exhausting and not always feasible, depending on the various circumstances.

All I can say is try to make the best out of whatever it is you’ve got there. For example, I like to visit museums and catch the occasional local small-production plays in “black box” theaters. Sometimes the actors aren’t very good, but it’s cheap and fun live entertainment. I always make a point of buying the homemade brownies and cookies during intermission, as someone put in a little effort and I want to show appreciation

That’s probably way more than you wanted to hear

I’d break bread with you, fwiw :smiley:

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Tell me more about the Cavalier and Tempo. Though I wouldn’t buy the early models from 1980s, I remember that these were both decent cars by the early 1990s. Millions of them were made, and millions of people drove them every day for years. These are the kind of vehicles we need today…inexpensive, reliable transportation for hardworking familes on a budget.

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At? Fuel efficient vehicles have been around for decades, and you drive a 1989 Caprice. You set a fine example.

There were 50 mpg vehicles available in 2007 before and when gasoline prices reached $4/gallon. People that were driving 15 mpg vehicles believed they were being underserved by auto manufactures. The government response was to raise the fuel economy standards, the result is fewer choices for the consumer, no more V-8 powered cars and V-6 engines are on their way out. Motorists will be hanging on to their old cars, their Caprice Classics a bit longer.

I’ve had coworkers who didn’t mind paying $75,000 for a truck for recreational use. What about the working class; the independent gardener or pool service provider? Tax the poor?

Wise move parting with that car: negative camber can cause stress and anxiety.

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Doesn’t that one thing take care of all your other edicts??
Never seen a start/stop and a 6+ speed automatic vehicle with electric e-brakes have an ashtray…

If you refuse to buy anything without an ashtray then the rest is moot… lol

BTW: I sure am glad you use this forum as anger management tool so you are the very pleasant guy away from the keyboard that you claim to be… :wink:

BTW part 2, most all transmission have had issues, but my brothers 200,000+ mile 5 speed Tacoma is still running strong, the AC60E/F 3rd gen Tacoma had a few issues at 1st but was mostly TCM updates, and now they have a gear hunting issue that can be solved by hitting one button on the dash if it bother you, or you can get a OTT tune that takes care of it, either way, these 6 speed autos are going the distance without major issues, GM’s 6L80/90 6 speeds are going the distance and being put behind engines making well over a 1,000HP and are holding up, tons of the 8HP70+ Mopar 8 speeds are going the distance the the 8HP9/95’s are working behind 700HP+ and hopped up 1,000HP engines…

They are NOT all made of glass…
Your 200-4R is more made of glass, that is why the higher HP engines got the 700R4’s… lol
A lot, not all, but a lot of the multi geared automatic transmission issues today are TCM and or valve body issues, both can be corrected…

I hate the start/stop also…

The electric E-brake is easier to deal with then rusted out cables that can seize up without much warning… No cables to stretch, no adjustments to make, no I didn’t pull the hand brake hard enough, or no pulled it to hard and now wifey can’t release it now…

Bigger wheels make room for bigger better stopping brakes, my truck has Front large 4 piston calipers w/12.55" rotors and 12" rear drums, it will stop stupid fast… And they are small compared to some bigger vehicles, I don’t think 13"-14" or even 15" wheels would fit, the 16"s are the standard size…

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I find the ashtray limitation curious. Eliminating some of the undesirable features is hard. Overcoming the ashtray limitation is easy. Would you rather have this-

Or, for $4.70 this -

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My guess is to hold a roach or 2… :wink:

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With my last couple of cars that came equipped with ashtrays, I filled those things with mints. On the very rare occasions when someone tried to smoke in my car, the presence of the mints startled them and… maybe.. it sent a message. I told them to open a window in order to not sully my stash of mints.

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My purchasing Edicts:

Must have a moonroof and a CD player

Must come with or can be fit with narrower, high profile tires

Conventional (hydraulic) steering.

I think that your ultimate dream car just might be an Oldsmobile Limited model, circa 1910-1912. It featured 43 x 5 tires, mounted on 33-inch diameter rims.

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They were both crapola.

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And that is EXACTLY why I specifically recommended both of them🤣

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Amazing, all those vintage Road & Track and Car & Driver reviews from the '60s and '70s praising the “intuitive road feel” on cars with 70-series tires on smaller (by current standards) rims.

Were they smoking something?

Tobacco. It was socially acceptable then.

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They had nothing else to compare to. That was the best at that time. They did not have 19 inch 30 series tires to compare to.

A definition in a vacuum is useless.

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Thank goodness. Common sense prevailed back then. 40-50-series tires at that time were found primarily on competition vehicles, not the kind for day trips, or the church, school, or supermarket.