JP’s Family Truckster

[Tar]

Amazeballs FE

[Johnny_P]

You could buy 3rd Gen fans XC90 and have a BEATR that will still do kid duty if needed

This isn’t a horrible idea. They’re neat vehicles. Atrocious gas mileage but it wouldn’t be driven too much I guess. I’d really like a wagon though.

[D Griff]

So now that the heater isn’t running its getting around 40 mpg on a regular basis. Got 65 mpg coming home from Norristown today. Not bad for a house. Lifetime mpg over 9700 miles is 36.6.

It’s now just randomly dropping wired car play connection halfway through a drive. I’ve tried two cables already and no improvement.

In other news, Lisa is coming to terms with the house search, that it will likely result In me needing a cheap beater car to drive to the train station. So… wonder what is out there for sub $5k.

$5K is the new $2K... you can get a car but you'll be dropping another few Gs or wrenching on the weekends. Both sound pretty shit. Can you bike to the train station?

XC90 is a large SUV , not a wagon... Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, would not want a $5K Volvo or anything Euro for that matter, unless it's like an E46 you want to wrench on for fun. Then again E46 323i is probably $9K now or some shit.

[D Griff]

Amazeballs FE

[Tar]

2003 Tercel CE

[Johnny_P]

So now that the heater isn’t running its getting around 40 mpg on a regular basis. Got 65 mpg coming home from Norristown today. Not bad for a house. Lifetime mpg over 9700 miles is 36.6.

It’s now just randomly dropping wired car play connection halfway through a drive. I’ve tried two cables already and no improvement.

In other news, Lisa is coming to terms with the house search, that it will likely result In me needing a cheap beater car to drive to the train station. So… wonder what is out there for sub $5k.

$5K is the new $2K... you can get a car but you'll be dropping another few Gs or wrenching on the weekends. Both sound pretty shit. Can you bike to the train station?

XC90 is a large SUV , not a wagon... Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, would not want a $5K Volvo or anything Euro for that matter, unless it's like an E46 you want to wrench on for fun. Then again E46 323i is probably $9K now or some shit.

Not biking to the train station in freezing or raining weather. Yeah I dunno there’s not much that is palatable at the $5k range anymore. Wild. Man it would suck to be poor in this country.

[D Griff]

$5K is the new $2K... you can get a car but you'll be dropping another few Gs or wrenching on the weekends. Both sound pretty shit. Can you bike to the train station?

XC90 is a large SUV , not a wagon... Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, would not want a $5K Volvo or anything Euro for that matter, unless it's like an E46 you want to wrench on for fun. Then again E46 323i is probably $9K now or some shit.

Not biking to the train station in freezing or raining weather. Yeah I dunno there’s not much that is palatable at the $5k range anymore. Wild. Man it would suck to be poor in this country.

2013 Ford Cmax?

It would indeed be tough being poor.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

$5K is the new $2K... you can get a car but you'll be dropping another few Gs or wrenching on the weekends. Both sound pretty shit. Can you bike to the train station?

XC90 is a large SUV , not a wagon... Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, would not want a $5K Volvo or anything Euro for that matter, unless it's like an E46 you want to wrench on for fun. Then again E46 323i is probably $9K now or some shit.

Not biking to the train station in freezing or raining weather. Yeah I dunno there’s not much that is palatable at the $5k range anymore. Wild. Man it would suck to be poor in this country.

Everyone is rich now.

[D Griff]

Not biking to the train station in freezing or raining weather. Yeah I dunno there’s not much that is palatable at the $5k range anymore. Wild. Man it would suck to be poor in this country.

Everyone is rich now.

I was eating Taco Bell last night with my buddy after a bike ride and was thinking about the folks working in the place. This location is in a trendy urban area, any kind of home in walking/biking distance is like $2K/month for a studio. You can walk from a train station. But man, even with the new "high wages" for fast food workers, $14/hour... $560/week. So your wages can cover rent if you don't want six roommates and nothing more.

there are still a lot of poor people, they just go unnoticed.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Everyone is rich now.

I was eating Taco Bell last night with my buddy after a bike ride and was thinking about the folks working in the place. This location is in a trendy urban area, any kind of home in walking/biking distance is like $2K/month for a studio. You can walk from a train station. But man, even with the new "high wages" for fast food workers, $14/hour... $560/week. So your wages can cover rent if you don't want six roommates and nothing more.

there are still a lot of poor people, they just go unnoticed.

I know, that's the crazy thing. I have no idea how they manage. I'm not poor, but feel like I am.

[Johnny_P]

I wonder how bad of an idea a second gen CTS would be. They’re cheapish and supposedly dece to drive. Could be a good one to consider if the need arises.

Or a mini. Even the 3 cylinder one would likely work for my use case.

[D Griff]

I wonder how bad of an idea a second gen CTS would be. They’re cheapish and supposedly dece to drive. Could be a good one to consider if the need arises.

Or a mini. Even the 3 cylinder one would likely work for my use case.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older GM vehicle. It will likely run just fine for a long time, the main downside will likely be the interior will be kind of meh.

That said, I'd rather have a 3-cyl Mini. They do seem to live up to their reputation as one of the least reliable vehicles

[coogles]

I wonder how bad of an idea a second gen CTS would be. They’re cheapish and supposedly dece to drive. Could be a good one to consider if the need arises.

Or a mini. Even the 3 cylinder one would likely work for my use case.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older GM vehicle. It will likely run just fine for a long time, the main downside will likely be the interior will be kind of meh.

That said, I'd rather have a 3-cyl Mini. They do seem to live up to their reputation as one of the least reliable vehicles

I'd go for something with the 3800, probably a Buick for the little old lady factor. Those cars will run forever and will get 30ish MPGish on the highway. They're geared really long.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

I wonder how bad of an idea a second gen CTS would be. They’re cheapish and supposedly dece to drive. Could be a good one to consider if the need arises.

Or a mini. Even the 3 cylinder one would likely work for my use case.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older GM vehicle. It will likely run just fine for a long time, the main downside will likely be the interior will be kind of meh.

That said, I'd rather have a 3-cyl Mini. They do seem to live up to their reputation as one of the least reliable vehicles

The 3.6 has proven to be a bit of a ticking time bomb. I'd steer clear, personally.

MINI would be the way to go IMO. Checks every box for a commuter vehicle.

[Johnny_P]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older GM vehicle. It will likely run just fine for a long time, the main downside will likely be the interior will be kind of meh.

That said, I'd rather have a 3-cyl Mini. They do seem to live up to their reputation as one of the least reliable vehicles

The 3.6 has proven to be a bit of a ticking time bomb. I'd steer clear, personally.

MINI would be the way to go IMO. Checks every box for a commuter vehicle.

The premium fuel requirement for a motor that makes a furious 130 hp is completely stupid but otherwise they’re alright. Premium is around $1 more a gallon around here, about 25% more expensive than 87.

[rockchops]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older GM vehicle. It will likely run just fine for a long time, the main downside will likely be the interior will be kind of meh.

That said, I'd rather have a 3-cyl Mini. They do seem to live up to their reputation as one of the least reliable vehicles

The 3.6 has proven to be a bit of a ticking time bomb. I'd steer clear, personally.

MINI would be the way to go IMO. Checks every box for a commuter vehicle.

Really? I thought it had a pretty good reputation. Quick googling comes up with some timing chain issues but i have to imagine thats greatly exacerbated by poor maintenance. Generally GM engines are pretty fantastic (lets ignore the northstars) and reliable. Its everything around it that sucks.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

The 3.6 has proven to be a bit of a ticking time bomb. I'd steer clear, personally.

MINI would be the way to go IMO. Checks every box for a commuter vehicle.

Really? I thought it had a pretty good reputation. Quick googling comes up with some timing chain issues but i have to imagine thats greatly exacerbated by poor maintenance. Generally GM engines are pretty fantastic (lets ignore the northstars) and reliable. Its everything around it that sucks.

Yep, timing chain and absolutely exacerbated by poor maintenance. How easy do you think it is to find a 2nd Gen CTS (now at least 10 years old) that's been perfectly maintained? Pretty much any GM product with the 3.6 will be owned by that don't pay close attention to proper maintenance. Makes it hard for me to recommend as a used vehicle.

A 2.0T ATS would be a decent way to go, that 2.0 has proven to be pretty decent and reasonably efficient while the ATS is a blast to drive. A Volt would be another decent way to go, and they used to be pretty near worthless.

[max225]

Gm Engines Are generally reliable if they have pushrods if they don’t… I’d steer clear

[max225]

The 3.6 has proven to be a bit of a ticking time bomb. I'd steer clear, personally.

MINI would be the way to go IMO. Checks every box for a commuter vehicle.

The premium fuel requirement for a motor that makes a furious 130 hp is completely stupid but otherwise they’re alright. Premium is around $1 more a gallon around here, about 25% more expensive than 87.

The thing about the 3 cyl minis is that they deliver peak torque at 1600rpm so they don’t feel like an absolute shitbox since the useable power band start right off idle.

They are ok otherwise. Clearly 3 cyl means 3 plugs 1 less cylinder to fail

Fun fact that engine is used in the BMW i8

[CaleDeRoo]

Volt would be SICK for a suburban commuter. Charge at home, drive to the train station, and then drive home using no fuel.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Volt would be SICK for a suburban commuter. Charge at home, drive to the train station, and then drive home using no fuel.

It's the ideal vehicle for this use case IMO.

[Tar]

He will need to rent a boring tool to run the extension cord to his street parked car

[ChrisoftheNorth]

He will need to rent a boring tool to run the extension cord to his street parked car

I thought the assumption was a house in the burbs requiring a commute?

[Johnny_P]

The premium fuel requirement for a motor that makes a furious 130 hp is completely stupid but otherwise they’re alright. Premium is around $1 more a gallon around here, about 25% more expensive than 87.

The thing about the 3 cyl minis is that they deliver peak torque at 1600rpm so they don’t feel like an absolute shitbox since the useable power band start right off idle.

They are ok otherwise. Clearly 3 cyl means 3 plugs 1 less cylinder to fail

Fun fact that engine is used in the BMW i8

The fuel requirement is dumb. But yeah I mean they’re not worlds slower than an S and sound better so. Not a bad pick.

[Johnny_P]

Volt would be SICK for a suburban commuter. Charge at home, drive to the train station, and then drive home using no fuel.

Yeah that would be ideal. Wouldn’t even need to charge it every night. A lot of PHEV vehicles are still pretty expensive.