Cars

[bertine]

My car is a 2000 Saturn SL1 and has 100,000 miles on it. It gets ~30 miles to the gallon and I maintain it pretty well. In the last year, including the $600 I am putting into it today, I have paid about $1300 to maintain it. That was mostly things I could have lived with out like recharging the air conditioning, fixing a seat and fixing a window.

Still, sometimes I want a new car so badly because it would look nice and have a sunroof and wouldn't need things like oil valve gaskets and serpentine belts replaced. Then I look at the car payment and get sticker shock.

Comments

[ex-ciannait.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hit that a bit with my Corolla. The inside didn't wear nearly as well as the engine; my interior kept literally falling apart. When the driver's side door lock stopped working, I decided I needed a new car. Having a good-paying job helped a lot with that, though.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

The a/c made sense, it was 7 years old at that time. Still, the interior wasn't high end to start with and it seems dirty. Maybe it is time for new floor mats, that might help.

For me it comes down to the fact that I would rather travel than get a new car. I actually kept putting off buying my first car because trips would come up. I finally bought one when I was 25. Ha!