My next car...

[Leonidas]

Azanon...

It should not make any difference... you should have room to stop. The law in Texas (from what I have heard) is that if the person in front of you ran into a parked car and stop in a few feet, you should have left enough room in front of you to stop... not doing so is a ticket for failure to control speed...

It's probably the same everywhere. It does make sense that the person looking forward at the car in front of him/her should maintain enough distance (and control his vehicle's speed) to be able to stop before hitting the vehicle in front of him that stops suddenly.

 

[ladelfina]

you should absolutely be able to stop for whatever reason.. I think about it more or less like this: Imagine if a truck tire or a load of wood or a refrigerator were to fall off the back of the car/truck in front of you.. could you stop in time?

Of course, that means I'm always letting people in front of me.. but that's ok.

I love the truck bumper story!
I personally pay close attention to extremely beat-up cars and give them a wide berth. Driving around with obvious signs of previous frontal crashes would help clear your path in a hurry!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've thought about the advantages of some type of squirt dispenser hidden beside the exhaust pipe to slightly mist tailgaters with diesel fuel. It might encourage them to back off a little. Of course, that would not be nice.

I had a similar device installed in my old 300TD mercedes...its was called an "old motor"...over 220k. If someone was on my ass I could pump the pedal about 5-6 times and the car would lay down a smoke screen that would make any navy ship proud. Smelled pretty nice too.

And yeah, if the guy in front of you slams on his brakes for ANY reason and you hit him, you either werent paying attention or you were following too closely. The need for emergency stops or even the butthole who slams on his brakes because you're tailgating doesnt take away a drivers responsibility to pay attention to the road and maintain a safe distance.

 

[saluki9]

Why isn't there a market for a car that can take a 20 MPH collision with no damage? I would buy that car.

Because the energy of that 20mph collision has to go somewhere, so please choose one of the following

1. Aluminum, steel, plastic, rubber & glass

2. YOU


Personally I would choose number one, if you would like option #2, there are plenty of cars still left from the early 80's and before

 

[PsyopRanger]

Sort of off the topic but in the ballpark….

Do most of you buy new cars or a couple years old?

I am stationed in Europe and it seems everyone is running out and buying up all the latest European models (BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Audi,) this to me is ludicrous on a military salary. I work with people with little to no retirement funds, no emergency funds, but they have a brand new BMW and $600 per month payment.

We have a mid-sized SUV my wife and kids use but I opted for a 1997 Inncoenti Small 500 (think of a smaller Mini Cooper). I bought it for $225 from a guy leaving and I only fill the gas tank once per month. I use the money not going to my car payment to start investing in the TSP (after advice from this forum )

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I tend to buy new cars, and the brands I usually buy dont give you a lot off for buying a little used.

We dont put a lot of miles on them, I private sale them rather than trade them in after about 7 years, and I get a good chunk of my money back on them.

When I've bought cheaper cars with faster depreciation, I've had more problems and given the total costs of the transaction I'd rather buy a better brand at a higher cost, drive a better car and get my money back at the end.

At the other end you can buy well used cars for little money, wear them out, and throw them away. Thats cheaper. I weigh that against breaking down on a country road in 110 degree heat with my 18 month old in the back seat and decide to go with the more reliable option.

 

[brewer12345]

Sort of off the topic but in the ballpark….

Do most of you buy new cars or a couple years old?   

I have always bought new, but the last couple of times I have seriously considered used. Since I bought a honda and a subaru the last two cars, there wasn't enough of a discount for those cars used to make it worth the risk/hassle. OTOH, if I were looking for a Ford or another brand with lousy resale value, I would not hesitate to find a 2 or 3 year old car.

 

[REWahoo]

Do most of you buy new cars or a couple years old?

I generally buy 2-3 year old vehicles unless the auto manufacturers are offering big discounts on new vehicles, but that isn't a common practice. (Best deal ever was in 2004 when I got discounts and incentives totalling over $10K off a new car with a sticker price of $23K.)

Unless I'm in a real bind for a car, I tend to shop for months looking for the "right" used vehicle. Example: Three years ago DW wanted a minivan to haul around the grandkids. After poking around for a few months, I ran across one two years old with just under 10K miles on it. Still had the new car smell, protective plastic covering on all but the front carpets, and a year to run on the original warranty. I stumbled onto it while on my lunch break, took it home overnight for a test drive, and was pleasantly surprised to see it advertisesd in the paper the next morning, prominently featured as the dealer's "loss leader".

Only down side was I didn't have any real leverage to negotiate further price discounts.

 

[kat]

Brewer,

Take a look at used Subarus.

I drove Subarus my first 12 years of driving -- a Justy hatchback, then a Legacy sedan.

When I got creamed in a car accident, the insurance collision payment on my then 6 and a half year old Legacy (that I bought used at 3 years) was just a thousand less than I bought it for!!

I got a new budget model Honda Accord then, and sorely missed my sweet Legacy on the highway. (Accords are much better on turns than any Subaru I drove, though. They g l i d e .)

If I remember right, you're in the Northeast. Loads of Subarus, from Subaru dealers and other places selling used cars. I found them very willing to deal with me on the phone too. I've had the Accord for five years, but I kept wanting to sell it for a Subaru in the early years..... (Sigh).

kate

 

[brewer12345]

kate, with any luck, I will not be in the market for a car for another 5 years, since I plan to keep this one running as long as possible. Given my long commute, though, there will be a point where I upgrade simply due to reliability issues.

 

[AltaRed]

Do most of you buy new cars or a couple years old?   

We have a mid-sized SUV my wife and kids use but I opted for a 1997 Inncoenti Small 500 (think of a smaller Mini Cooper).  I bought it for $225 from a guy leaving and I only fill the gas tank once per month.  I use the money not going to my car payment to start investing in the TSP (after advice from this forum )   

Good for you. Out of about 12 vehicles I've owned, 3 were new with the intent to keep them for a very long time (and did for 11,13,15 years). Other times I found a good used vehicle typically 3 years old that also served me well.  However, as a reward for LBYM, and as a retirement gift, both DW and I decidied to buy brand new vehicles this year.

P.S. Re: original theme of the thread, I have only been involved in one slight rear ender and that was a case of an icy road and the guy behind me could not stop in time....about a 5-10 mph tap. My solution to aggressive tailgaters is simply to slow down gently until they get so po'd that they tear off and pass.

 

[Scrooge]

I used to favor used cars that I had good intelligence (maintained by my mechanic, etc) on and drive them until they fell apart. It worked for me, but it was a bit chancy since you never know what the previous owner's teenaged son did to the car while the dad wasn't looking.

My current car, a Camry, was brand new since I figured that $17K for a new midsize sedan was a better deal than $12K for a somewhat used one. You seem to get a couple more years out of the car when you buy it new if you drive as gently as I do.

 

[mathjak107]

we just got a bmw x3 3 weeks ago...we kind of figured it was our last chance before retirement to do something a little wild....it really is an incredible car,very different from anything i ever owned..the handling is just superb...after being unhappy with the performance of a rav4 and its basically rear wheel assist system of all wheel drive the bmw x drive is great for bad weather..just the thing for life here in nyc......only complaint i can think of is like all cars today the use of cheap plastics everywhere on the inside.

 

[justin]

Have kids, will continue to buy new hondas probably every 10 years or so (or as long as they are reliable, we're at the 6 year mark now). There isn't much of a discount for buying slightly used hondas vs. new. Reliability is a big concern. My DW commutes 50 miles/day, and I don't want her stranded on the side of the interstate. I also don't want to get stuck with 2 kids and a broken down POS.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i had company cars for probably 75% of my "career". when someone else wasn't footing the bill i'd buy a mid-level toyota. i was always careful about paying much for depreciating "asset" while i was trying to save money and i never bought a car without the help of a good friend in the industry.

it wasn't until i could see the light at the end of the working tunnel that i wasted spent what i considered to be significant money on convertibles. i'm on my second one. i might splurge on a vertible z next year but only because i'm considering the next 5 years of road trips with my mountain bike in tow followed by 10 years of either full time travel by boat or living country to country.

in either case i probably wouldn't own a car at that point. so i'm justifying to myself spending so much on the next one as it is really covers (sort of) the next 15 years.

 

[TromboneAl]

Quote from: TromboneAl on July 14, 2006, 08:35:12 AM
Why isn't there a market for a car that can take a 20 MPH collision with no damage?  I would buy that car. 


Because the energy of that 20mph collision has to go somewhere, so please choose one of the following

1. Aluminum, steel, plastic, rubber & glass

2. YOU

Maybe I should have said 5 MPH or 10 MPH.  I'm thinking of the time someone drove into my parked car while parking theirs,  and just kissed it, but the entire bumper and half of the side of the car had to be replaced.  I'd bought the car two days earlier, and after the repairs the paint never matched exactly.  That encounter should have caused zero damage.

The news media made a big deal about this 20 years ago, but nothing has been done.   

 

[samclem]

Another advantage of owning a POS car-- I can laugh at errant shopping carts and careless folks in the parking lot.

I mentioned this groovy washing machine we bought this year (made by Staber here in the US, uses little water and designed well. Still running great by the way . . ). One of the things that sold me on it is that it is made to be serviced easily by the owner. The parts (motor, switches, water pump, etc) are easy to get to, and the owners manual has a very nice troubleshooting guide.

I wonder if a similarly designed car would sell well. Anyone who has had to try to replace a spark plug buried under the AC compressor can immediately appreciate the issue. Even the oil filter on many cars is on the "back side" of the transversely mounted engine, very hard to get to.

What would such a car be like?
- All parts that normally need replacement are easy to get at. The heater motor/winshield wiper motors are NOT buried somewhere, you can find/replace them easily.
- Body panels, interior panels, dashboard, etc: Held on with screws or other easily operated, reversable fasteners (no "mystery clips"that break or escutcheons that require special tools to remove). The fasteners aren't hidden, they are tastefully integrated into the design.
- The company makes a committment not to change the sheetmetal, bumpers, lights/signals, glass, etc for ten years. Commonality of parts makes them easy to find.
- Bumpers-- Beefy, and with available bumper guards high enough to make contact with the bumpers on SUVs/trucks.
- Oil filter: mounted "right side up" on the firewall or other easy-to-get-at place.
- Diagnostic computer: A cheapo code reader comes with the car. Software on your PC helps you with troubleshooting.
- Carpets are easily removed (for cleaning, or drying if the car gets wet) and replaced.

I'm sure there are other great ideas.

Most of this stuff wouldn't cost much to implement. Engines now run for 200K easily before needing major work, but it is frequently impractical to keep a car that long because the other stuff breaks and is too hard/expensive to fix. Properly marketed, a car like this would become an instant cult-classic--the ultimate "green car" (manufacturing autos is extremely energy intensive--"buy a car designed to stay out of the crusher!").

I've always bought used cars. My next one will probably be a used or maybe a new Honda, Toyota, or Subaru. But if GM would "get it" and build a car like this--I'd buy one. They might worry that a car like this would generate less $$ for the dealer service departments, but I think they'd make most of that up with increased volume. As their market share continues to drop, maybe they'll give this a shot.

 

[ERD50]

Maybe I should have said 5 MPH or 10 MPH. ....

The news media made a big deal about this 20 years ago, but nothing has been done.

I'm always surprised the insurance companies aren't doing more to push this. Seems they would have the most to gain, and could offer somewhat lower premiums to attract the budget seekers.

-ERD50

 

[ladelfina]

The company makes a committment not to change the sheetmetal, bumpers, lights/signals, glass, etc for ten years. 

That was a big factor in buying my old (new) Saab in 1993.. the design had been essentially unchanged for years & years. I also was considering the Volvos of that era for the same reason; then they went and changed them both dramatically. Some people can't leave well enough alone! Note that, despite this consistency, neither Saabs nor Volvos were particularly cheap to repair.

I can't imagine a car company these days willfully making a car that lasts twice as long and requires 1/2 the service/maintenance.. unless they can charge 2x as much for it. (Oops! the market just disappeared.) I think a more practical modular approach would have to come from outside the normal producers. Maybe IKEA could come up with something? (on second thought, maybe no..)

I think the Smart car has easily replaceable body panels that are made of recyclable plastic. They use it as a selling point that you can change the look of the car.

I notice on my car (13 y.o.) that things like door gaskets and headliners are starting to go. Not a big deal, but I wonder about all the other little parts inside that could slowly be rotting away unbeknownst to me.

--
on the subject of new cars.. does anyone know anything about the newer generation of 'keyless' ignitions and entry? Seems like a kind of RFID recognition. Would this be a concern if your battery goes dead?

I am having major headaches now since after a month of disuse, my battery went dead. Jumpstarting it freaks out the alarm system and I can't get it to shut off with the valet switch. Both remotes had dead batteries, too. Got a new battery for the remote but since we hardly go anywhere far away we'll have to plan a long drive before trying to fire her up agin'.

Anyway I was just thinking about remotes and car electronics vs. mechanics remembering how I was stranded one time when my remote didn't work. I was parked near some powerful radio towers that interfered with the remote signals and I couldn't get into the d***d car. At least it wasn't raining. Or nightime. But my 'security system' sure didn't make me feel secure that day!

 

[justin]

I can't imagine a car company these days willfully making a car that lasts twice as long and requires 1/2 the service/maintenance.. unless they can charge 2x as much for it. (Oops! the market just disappeared.)

You've forgotten to take your European socialist goggles off

The company that does this greatly increases their market share. Think how honda/toyota have increased their market share at the expense of America's big 3 for exactly these reasons, among others.

 

[ladelfina]

Well, those same companies increase their market also by adding new models with new features and gizmos.

A big seller here is the Toyota Yaris, which they market based on its "Bluetooth" capabilities! Merits of buying a car based on the wireless-protocol-of-the-month aside, such a car would still look mighty tempting to many folks when placed next to a circa 1996 Honda Civic.

Both Saab and Volvo with their conservative body design approach and good reliability ended up getting sold to GM and Ford, respectively.. you know, the guys that change the bumpers and the headlights every year and have too many models to keep track of...

Boh!?!