New Car Fever?

I kinda got out of the new car rat race a long time ago. 1977 was the last time we bought a new car for a family vehicle and it was a full size Chevrolet station wagon. I had determined it was to last us 10 years, so the cost of owning it, not including driving it, was only $600/year, plus license plates and insurance. At the time, that broke down to about $75/month, just to own it.

Things have changed a lot since those days and prices are much higher now than they were then. That car cost about $6000.00 and gasoline was about $0.70/gallon (over 3 times as high as it was when we got married in 1966!). Insurance was about $120/year, instead of $160 every six months. It still wasn’t too easy to make car payments of $200/month, especially since I had taken a 20% pay cut and was only making $12,000/year.

There had to be a better way and being a little mechanically inclined, I began driving used cars only. Being pretty selective in what I would drive reduced the cost by a large amount. I didn’t buy it unless it got at least 20 miles per gallon (MPG). I disdained automatic transmissions, because they use more fuel and are more prone to problems. I reverted back to the days of my first automobile, a 1961 VW Beetle, and thought of durability and economy of operation. So, we drove a lot of VWs, Toyotas and Nissans.

Owning a foreign car repair shop made me aware of the strengths and weaknesses of many of the brands and the problems and attending costs of certain features. “Bells and whistles” are nice when they’re new, but they’re money pits when they get some age on them. As far as I’m concerned, computer controlled cars and accessories are a nightmare to work on and expensive to repair, so I avoid them if possible.

I was successful for many years in having simple, easy to repair automobiles, because I bought carbureted, non-fuel injected vehicles. They operate on a 3.5 pound fuel system that’s much safer than the 30+ pound fuel injected systems. It used to be rare to see a automobile fire, but with fuel injection’s rise in usage, it’s much more common now. The simple reason was mostly because of electric fuel pumps, that continue to run after an accident, spewing high pressure gasoline to be caught on fire!

Some will object and claim fuel injection makes for better fuel economy, but it’s hard to beat 35 highway MPG that was obtainable with a 1600 cc 1975 Toyota Corolla, even with the A/C on! My 1973, 1976 and 1979 Datsun 620 pickups would get 25 MPG, with the A/C on, and 30+ years later the new fuel injected trucks aren’t doing any better.

The paint on the 1973 Datsun is still pretty good, it’s just regular enamel, without a clear coat. I made a mistake about 5 years ago, breaking my rule, and bought a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee with clear coat paint, automatic transmission and lots of bells and whistles. When the clear coat began to peal, I checked the price to repair it and was shocked at the suggestion it would take $2500 just to strip and renew the clear coat! Then the overdrive quit working and mileage fell to 16 MPG, another $1500 to repair that. Then the computers started acting weird, so I just parked it and bought another vehicle. It would have taken more to repair it than what it was worth!

Now, I’m driving a 1984 Chevrolet 3/4 ton diesel pickup. It gets 20 MPG on the highway and can haul what needs to hauled, including a 20 foot gooseneck trailer. I bought it for $500 and it only has 104,000 miles on it now, after I’ve been driving it several years. No computers and it has a standard transmission. I replaced the Jeep with a 1987 Mercedes Benz 300 D Turbo. No computer, no clear coat and it’s a diesel. It has over 200,000 miles on it, but may last up to 1,000,000 miles (Mercedes has mileage awards, in the form of medallions for the grill, for 5 levels, beginning at 155,000 miles and going to 1,000,000 miles) . It gets close to 30 MPG, with the A/C on. It was less than $4000, but I had to drive to Austin to get it. (250,000 km is the same as 155,000 miles)



So, tell me how many years you have to drive your new vehicle to make those $300-$500/month payments for 60 months look a little more economical. It certainly won't pay for itself in fuel economy, because new fuel injected cars and trucks don't get any more miles per gallon than the older models did.