Satty

A.C. Slater

moat

This is what has bugged me about GM for years. The Volt, as a technological leap, is understandable, but many other GM vehicles (Aura, camaro, etc) have been hyped, shown as concepts, then a year later shown as "production models" then 9 months later its on lots, thats almost 3 years between initial viewing and on-sale date, totally unnecessary.

But you cant tell the GMT-900 hybrids from the regular models, GM didn't put any badges on them at all.

These things are awesome, at least until you start getting into hills, then you really notice the weight. I've quit riding one of my favorite trails with my son cause it has so many inclines.

I should do what my neighbor's landlord has done and quit mowing. Last year they had someone out mowing the lawns of all the rental houses weekly, so far this year, they've mowed twice. I have begun taking a different route to work, the distance is the same, but its almost all highway, so I do get better mileage. The unfortunate side-effect is that I no longer drive past Krispey Kreme, so I no longer get my daily mocha. Gas station coffee just isn't the same.

If I ever meet a midget with an attitude, I'll buy him a drink.

Gap is almost always extra (unless you get the dealer to include it, which happens, apparently) but isn't that expensive, like $300 on the Fusion, totally worth it. I know it was worth the $250 on the Solara, cause it saved me about $4k.

Its in my name, but in 10 days of ownership I have gotten exactly 0 miles behind the wheel, so She needed a new car with room for 4 and good gas mileage (30 miles one way to work, it adds up) so we started looking, and higher mpg vehicles began looking like the way to go. Aura hybrids dont exist in this part of the country, apparently Malibu hybrids dont exist at all, and those dont get appreciably better mileage than their traditionally propelled counterparts, so why bother? We ended up flipping a coin to pick between the Civic Hybrid (about $7k less) and the Prius (loaded) and the Prius won. It is true that we could have bought a 10 year old Saturn , gotten 30-40 mpg and spent $28k less for it, but, um, why? I'll take the comfort, space, warranty and features (except the backup camera, every one I have ever seen has been nausea-inducing) of the new car over the cheap alternative, especially when there is no real good reason to be cheap. I'm not going to make any apologies for the cars I own, its my money (ok, our money, still cant get used to that) but please, continue giving me advice on how to spend it. I've done ok so far ignoring it, in fact, I'll be here living the life most Americans can only dream of: owning a home, having health insurance, a happy and healthy child, a beautiful fiancée, a psychotic Jack Russell and his playmate, the retarded black lab, student loans out the ass and a sleep schedule that is permanently screwed up.

Buyers who use cash are the minority, a very small minority, definitely not large enough to justify a program like this. And the $30k+ comment was based on the average price paid for a new car being in the neighborhood of $27-$28k, or at least it was a couple years ago, I assume its about the same now.

Its funny you bring this up, because my better half allowed me to drive the Prius today, and I'll be damned, as soon as I got in the car, I became oblivious to the world around me. I was running stop signs, driving through yards, cruising down the wrong side of the street, I even exposed my genitals to a gaggle of nuns. Thank you for informing me that it was the vehicle I was driving that caused this behavior and not some sort of free-will, conscious decision to place my priorities on things other than driving. I feel better now knowing that such a great mind has found the root of my odd behavior.

I was speaking in terms of hybrid models, where the only other option is the half-hybrid Malibu/Aura.

Have you driven a Camry? The Camry Hybrid we drove was exceptional on the highway and on poor roads, though I will say this, it didn't carve corners like a Mini, but it had what midsize sedan buyers want. Well, everything except trunk space.

Its never a good sign for a midsize sedan when the 2 most important parts of a car (interior and drivetrain) need to be completely overhauled for the car to be competitive. I agree with reg on leasing making a lot more sense than buying outright, because after 3-4 years, you can be off the hook, and for a person who has the funds available to buy a new car outright, that would be appealing because at the end of the term they can lease a new car, with updated features and a full warranty. Want to know whats odd? The only Refuel America commercials I've seen have been Jeep commercials, but the Wrangler is the only regular model excluded by the program, I wouldn't consider any SRT models, or the Sprinter, Viper, Crossfire, Ram Chassis Cab, and Challenger regular models. I still think it would require a great degree of stupidity to forgo regular rebates to get a gas discount that would put the gas on a credit card (which you would pay interest on) and be forced to finance a larger amount, which you would in turn pay more interest on.

Other than the 300C and occasional Jeep, is there any Chrysler product that would appeal to the kind of person who can afford to write a check for $30k+?

Problem is, nobody buys straight cash, this is America, we take out 72 month loans at 11.9%.

Fixed

When I bought the Fusion, Ford was offering a $1000 gas card or $1000 rebate. Well, duh, I took the rebate (on top of the negotiated price) because thats less to pay in interest over the course of the loan. If a lot of people fall for this, it will confirm my theory that Dodge buyers are the least intelligent of all car buyers.

Mileage limits (who drives less than 12,000 miles a year?) excluding diesel and a gas card in lieu of rebates on some models, makes this a ridiculous program. Do the math, a Ram 1500 V6 gets an epa estimate 16/21, an average of 18.5 mpg (assuming thats how they figure the average) over 12,000 miles, thats 649 gallons of gas. If gas gets as high as $4.50, thats a savings of $979.99/year or $2939.97 over 3 years. An Avenger, which gets 21/30 for an average of 25.5, it works out to 471 gallons, which works out to $711/yearor $2133/ 3 years. Hardly seems worth it, since the monthly payment will be higher and if you want to unload the car at the end of 3 years, you'll owe more than if you took the rebates.

I'm finally going to get my freaking house cleaned out. I bought it off my parents, and a lot of their crap is still here, in fact the master bedroom does double duty as my office/everyone else's storage space. My 2-car garage also barely fits my car. I should be able to get most of the crap out of here.

The 3-dr in blue is fantastic looking, the black leather interior looks good in it, although some more color would help a ton.

Bronco

Yours is looking a little limp, Chris. ~~<=====8

I haven't heard about rebates, but $1500 wouldn't be enough to entice me to get into an Astra.

I cant maintain one healthy relationship, why would I want to try 2+?