Posted on 12/22/2016 5:29:21 PM PST by Lorianne
How could this be?
Unemployment is at record lows and “The Great ObamaNation™” has added millions of jobs. This is the best economy ever.
It always happens at this time of year.
I drive a 1995 Buick Regal, NO rust, excellent condition and only 101k miles on it. There was 97,000 when I got it. A family member bought it for me for $1,500 just 2 years ago, and the outfit she bought it from did some engine work for the bad antifreeze and corroded faulty gasket, a known problem with that particular engine. Changed the antifreeze and the oil, put new plugs. Runs like a champ, I drive it almost cross country to visit family with no problems.. 33mpg, all electric, everything works except for the AC which needs compressor bearings...oh..the lighter needs a fuse lol!
All she ever needs is ordinary maintenance such as being about due for new brakes. I keep up with the fluid changes and filters regularly.
I can’t justify the cost of new vehicles, and the old ones are way over priced too! 12grand or more for a 10 year old vehicle??? I looked at a 5 year old dodge truck recently. She was pretty but not 30K pretty with almost as much mileage as I have on my car. And, it was slow...should have been a very powerful truck, but wasn’t.
My car sat for a very long time without repair after its original owner traded it in for a newer model. I’m only the second owner of that car, so even though she has years on her, she was still a reasonably new car. She drives like a new car.
People have been out of work for a long time, had to take lower paying jobs. They’re lucky to have a roof over their heads, and in many cases, need help buying the groceries. Inflation and Obama care have taken it’s toll.
This wheel of fortune is slowed down, and I dearly hope for the sake of the workers, that Trump can get that thing rolling again.
Being a mechanical designer
and major motorhead, I’ve
never in 41 years of family
life, fallen into the
mindset of the minivan. I
gotta have a V-8, gas mileage
has always been secondary. Raised
two kids in the back of a V-8
powered CJ7. I now drive a 450HP
Mustang, and grin every time I
fire it up. 0-60 in 3.9....I’ve
never owned anything but “American”
made vehicles (Ford and Jeep). I
believe the American market has
been duped into thinking foreign
vehicles are somehow better built,
better quality, (Just about all
(1980’s vehicles were pretty bad),
with the introduction of plastics
to reduce weight and manufacturing
costs.
I’ve rented a few “foreign” cars,
only to be very disappointed in
their acceleration and overall
feel for the car.
Though most would disagree, I
believe the domestic car market
has been inundated with 100,000
mile “throw away” vehicles. My
CJ7 just turned 38 years old, and
I would still trust it on a cross-
country trip.
I apologize for the format,
posted from a Cel phone.
$50 - 60 K for a truck is absolutely insane. Guess I’ll be driving my old beater for a long time.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas - Cheers!
cars are so expensive so as to pay the retirement costs of past union workers and to pay the costs of all the crap the federal gub mint insist they have.
As Frank Barone would say, “wholly crap, that’s a lot of inventory”
The one I saw came out to $70K but had a “market adjustment” of $10K added to it. It’s a North Georgia Hunter’s Special I think. Has factory ramps for a 4-wheel drive off road hunter’s vehicle and stuff like that.
I’ve learned to love Toyotas.
2nd Tacoma and still on first Camry between me and my wife.
I’ll stick with them for front line modern vehicles.
In the meantime I fight what seems to be a pointless battle at times with my old CJs, 750K, and vintage Blazer. Mostly it’s a budget battle and being left alone to do anything to them.
I like to have things around for spares that are paid for and I can for the most part work on myself. Modern era stuff requires a liftbay, $100K of tools and testing gear, and a master’s in electronics. Having tiny little hands helps too.
I had a 1992 Grand Am up until 2010. When I bought it, it had about 175,000 miles on it. A month after I bought it someone pulled out in front of me at a stop light and damaged the front passenger side quarter panel near the headlight assembly. It didn't destroy the headlight assembly but it did crack it. It also pealed back the metal just a bit behind the headlight and it cracked the plastic/rubber bumper. Cosmetically, the car took a hit but it was still functional.
So I held the bumper together with blue duct tape (the car was blue, and hence my FR handle "ductttape45") for the remaining years of its existence and covered the gap between the headlight and quarter panel with the same tape. I had to replace the tape as necessary over the years and it eventually ended up covering 3/4ths of the bumper.
I had engine done as necessary (head gasket, tune ups, 5 starters, 2 alternators, 1 water pump and harmonic balance), and brakes as necessary. I even changed out the rear struts myself (quite a job in an apartment parking lot!).
Eventually I had to junk it because rust was claiming the support between the rear struts/shocks and the rear end was threatening to cave in. The car had 298,000 miles, had no reverse gear (was fun getting it out of the garage each morning), and the engine leaked a little radiator fluid from the front.
But you know, I wish I had held onto that car, if nothing else for memories sake. All of my kids learned to drive in it and got their driver's licenses. I drove it everywhere and the guards at the local military base always had fun with it (at my expense of course).
Automobiles, houses, medical care, and education are getting truly expensive rather than comparatively expensive, so I have read. Auto makers keep cramming more and more stuff into what they make even if people really are not asking for it.
Also, auto are lasting longer. I read where the average age of the car/truck on the roadway has passed ten years and approaching twelve. The Mineral mobile is ten years old and still going well enough.
*facepalm*
“One of the men building Camaros had on a halter top and shorts.”
I was walking down the assembly line at GM Arlington (SUV’s) several years ago and there was a female working on the line that had a full forearm length tattoo of a naked female on her arm. No it wasn’t her picture.
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