Cars

 

To buy or not to buy?

 

 My husband and I are looking at getting a new car. Our current car is 14 years old, has almost 200,000 miles on it, and is just getting tired. My husband thinks it is about to die. He is afraid it will die on us at the most inopportune time. I think it still has some life left in it, although I don't think it will last through another winter. I planned on driving it until it died. Truth to tell, I love my car. It may be an old clunker, but it has been a reliable ride, it is paid for, and insurance is cheap on it. Plus, once it gets going, it still runs pretty good. There is something freeing about driving an old clunker – you are not a slave to a car payment (and insurance payments) and you don't really have to worry about every little ding or dent – which is a good thing when you're driving around Flint or parking in the school parking lot (a lot of fender benders, yikes!). On the other hand, it would be nice to have a new ride that gets better gas mileage. My car is getting about 26 mpg. Not bad but it would be nice to get over 30 mpg. It would also be nice to have a smoother ride.

 

I guess I just worry abolut getting a new car. School is my priority right now and I don't want to be tied to making a lot of payments on things. Of course, having a reliable ride, that gets good gas mileage needs to be a priority too. Have to get to school and work somehow.

 

New V. Used

 

I wanted to wait and drive my car until it died, that way my husband and I could save up a sizeable down payment or just buy a newer, used car. I looked at the used cars out there a little bit but there is nothing I am interested in. Gas mileage sucks on a lot of cars. I think people have been buying up all the good, low-mpg, cars. My Dad works for General Motors, so we have the option of getting a Pep car. That inventory is looking pretty sorry. I actually think we decided on buying a new car, simply because there is not much out there and there are some good incentives on newer cars right now.

 

If we buy a new car, it would be a GM car, to support where my Dad works (and get a discount!). We looked at some new cars (inventory is low there too) and there is one car we are interested in. There were actually a few Chevy cars we liked but we finally settled on buying a Cobalt because it gets better gas mileage than the Impala or Malibu and it is also less expensive. I actually considered getting one of the little Aveo's (I call them bug cars) but they actually are almost as expensive as a Cobalt and the mpg is the same.

 

MPG

 

Let me vent about this. MPGs on American cars really do suck. I would think that we could be getting better gas mileage out of our cars by now; or there should be better options as far as hybrids or alternative fuel/power sources. That was another reason why I want to drive my car until it dies - to see what 2009 has to offer as far as hybrids, etc. We should be getting better MPG's or have more alternatives to gas power at this late date. This really pisses me off - that America is still in the position of relying on oil. I want 35+ miles per gallon, dammit! Of course, most American's haven't demanded this yet. Now a lot of people are hurting because gas keeps going up. Now a lot of people are unloading their trucks and SUVs and buying up all the little cars, although, I still see some people driving around in their Hummers and stuff. Still, even some of our cars do not get good gas mileage. I was looking at Impala's, Malibus, and some Saturns. I was dismayed to see that they do not even get 30 MPGs. That sucks. We need more options! We need better fuel economy!

 

Public Transportation

 

Here is another vent. I was really pissed off when gas hit $4 a gallon. I know it was coming but it still made me really angry. I almost want to stop driving altogether. This is BS. Gas is $4 a gallon and going up, we don't have great options as far as getting cars that have awesome fuel economy, etc., but in addition to our lack of options we are stuck because a lot of American's do not have access to public transportation. If you live outside of the city, you are stuck. Here in Michigan, there are not even a lot of options (if any) of taking a bus or train from city to city. I would use the bus to go to school (it would be awesome not to have to worry about parking) and my husband (who does not drive due to a vision impairment) would use the bus to go to work if there was a bus stop closer to home. Currently, we would have to drive into the city to get on the bus- that makes no sense. Shit, even a nice bike path along some major routes would be nice. I would like to do my part to cut down America's dependence on oil but I, and a lot of American's, simply lack options. It truly sucks. Maybe I should get a motorcycle or scooter.