Major wrote:bigc wrote:Why no Prius? Everyone I know who drives one loves it.Everyone I know has done nothing but complain. I drove one a while back it was not impressed with it.I've never owned or even driven a Prius, but there are a lot of Prius cabs in Chicago, and I have a habit of chatting up cab drivers about them whenever I ride in one.None of those guys have ever uttered a bad word about them - in fact, the last guy told me it was the best car ever made - he was on something like 350,000 miles on his. He was really excited, and wouldn't shut up about it, even when we arrived at my destination.A friend in Florida had one for a couple of years before it was stolen and totaled. He loved it.

Re: Snow Tires.How am I a 41-year-old grown man who had never gotten the lowdown on this snow tire business before?These things are absolutely incredible!It's like I have a new g.d. car! Driving my dumb little FWD sub-compact around like a fucking boss, in a snowstorm!Jesus, it cost an arm and a leg, but the difference is really night and day. I just muscled my way into a snowy, rutty parking space that I wouldn't have dared to try yesterday.Thanks, PRF!You-all saved my about $8K this week!

Gantry wrote:King - if I may ask what were your final costs? Probably too late/cheap to pull the trigger this year but ready and willing next winter if it's not too drastic.Gantry!Here are the caveats, before I tell you this breath-taking number:1) My car was a worthless P.O.S. for the majority of this winter. In not-this-winter conditions, my car is a perfectly reliable, if unexciting, automobile.2) My car was enough of a worthless P.O.S. this winter that I got it in my head to buy a new (to me) car. And fuck this winter.3) Since I'm fueled by Seasonal Rage, I probably paid too much for all of this (didn't spend any time dicking around trying to do this more cheaply). Also, my particular car has limited options for snow tires. That is to say, I'm sure that I paid a "desperation tax" on top of everything else. But I needed this to happen, immediately.4) I paid an extra fee of $150/year for the good folks at Ashland Tire to store my regular tires and put them back on in the Spring. I rent an apartment in Chicago, sans garage, so this was an unfortunate thing I felt I had to do.(Gulp). Total cost for this operation = $1300.New wheels to fit the new snow tires (x4), storage / replacement. No hubcaps (I opted out of that, which was the least-expensive part of this - but my dumb Fit looks burly now, to me).Anyway, I feel that $1300 is far more than most folks would have to pay, under normal circumstances.I don't regret a thing! I can actually drive my car out there, in this stupid winter.Good luck!

Hiwatt wrote:Superking wrote:Re: Snow Tires.How am I a 41-year-old grown man who had never gotten the lowdown on this snow tire business before?These things are absolutely incredible!It's like I have a new g.d. car! Driving my dumb little FWD sub-compact around like a fucking boss, in a snowstorm!Jesus, it cost an arm and a leg, but the difference is really night and day. I just muscled my way into a snowy, rutty parking space that I wouldn't have dared to try yesterday.Thanks, PRF!You-all saved my about $8K this week!Dude, that's fantastic! Big difference for sure. Did you get the tires and rims, or just the tires?Tires and rims! Rims = the dumb black ones. Opted out of hub caps, because Fuck It! Paid extra to have Ashland Tire store / replace the off-season tires for me.

Oh, and if you want a performance car, the Saab 9-2x is a Subaru Impreza wagon that both Saab purists and Subaru loyalists hate, so you can pick them up for cheaper than a comparable 9-5 or an Impreza.

If you're interested in the Matrix, the Pontiac Vibe is the same car with different badging. It's basically a Corolla, so you get Toyota reliability. They are ugly and the C-pillars give a horrendous blindspot, but they're decent enough at being a cheap, reliable wagon. The Matrix and Vibe both have AWD versions on the higher trim levels, though I think that was only in the second generation of the car.If you want a thrifty throwaway wagon to last a couple years, both the late-model Escort (96-02) and Saturn S-series (97-02) wagons will run forever and produce good mileage, especially with a manual. You can find relatively clean, running ones for under $2K and you can find Escorts that need minor work all day long for a few hundred.This should probably come with the disclaimer that I'm a glutton for punishment and bad ideas (my avatar is the chintzy graphic on a GM Tech IV engine), so take it all with a grain of salt.

Tom wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:Wagon advice, PRF?We got a Subaru Forester a couple years ago and love it. In michigan the AWD and high ground clearance is awesome in the winter (especially this one we're in). Good mileage lots of room withouth being awkward and massive. And there is a manual model if you're into that sort of thing.On the recommendation of tmidgett, i used the fighting chance method and can't say enough things about it. If you're thinking about buying a NEW car, do this. It's crazy stupid easy and saved me about 3,000 compared to every other best offer i got.here:http://www.fightingchance.com/I'm considering a Forester, and see that they get around 22 mpg. Is your experience better?

I am highly debt averse and normally buy cars from owners, paying cash. I'm looking at 2002-2006 models. The last Outback I had got all the way up to 395k before it caught on fire. Pretty great car. My previous explorations of Outbacks of that vintage had them priced way higher than I expected. Today, I find that I'm seeing cars in a very reasonable range. Thanks for the reminder!

from a letter to a friend who is an excellent mechanic:I wrote:So, if you were going to buy a wagon of some sort, what would you buy? Toyota Matrix? Honda Fit? VW TDI? You know I love my diesels, but the old mercedes market is highly demand-driven right now and a 1983 300TD is on eBay right now for $15k. $15k for a 30 year old car. Insanity. I can't seem to find a 300 sedan that hasn't had some greasy hippie installing some kind of "veggie oil" (they're fucking vegetables, dreadlock boy. What are you, four years old?) kit on it. I have a buddy who is a TDI wagon cultist. He put a manual transmission kit on his and has done all sorts of efficiency and power mods and has offered to look for one for me. My experience with early 21st century volkswagens is "pile of garbage, off of which the door handles will fall," but he swears that if you get the right year and do a manual conversion, 500k miles is possible. I am also no longer 27 with hours of time to spend wrenching on weekends (and relying on the mechanical expertise of friends who also have lives of their own), so I suspect that my idea of "low maintenance" and his are in different universes. I will say this: I think that the Matrix and the Fit are ass-ugly, but I'm willing to drive whatever works to run to and from work and to haul drums around. Wagon advice, PRF?

Superking wrote:Gantry wrote:King - if I may ask what were your final costs? Probably too late/cheap to pull the trigger this year but ready and willing next winter if it's not too drastic.Gantry!Here are the caveats, before I tell you this breath-taking number:<...>Anyway, I feel that $1300 is far more than most folks would have to pay, under normal circumstances.I don't regret a thing! I can actually drive my car out there, in this stupid winter.Good luck!Thanks so much for that info! That isn't too bad considering the cost of a new ride, plus you will extend the life of your non-winter tires. One dumb question - if you are paying someone to store the tires and put them on, why did you need new rims? I thought the main advantage of that was if you were going to swap tires yourself.