What to buy for the EIGHTIES WAGON
- Thread starter Altron
- Start date
K62
New Member
Oh yes, she should accelerate much faster. A lot less weight to pull around.
One site I find decent for comparing fuel economy is www.fueleconomy.gov
It gives you an idear anyways.
One site I find decent for comparing fuel economy is www.fueleconomy.gov
It gives you an idear anyways.
Altron
Well-Known Member
I'll meet you in Albany. $1400 (I paid $1300, but it's got a brand new alternator) and it's yours.
Assuming, of course, that my deal with the Maxima works out.
Edit - to clarify, I am not joking. If I do get the Maxima, I want the wagon to go to a great home. Southern Vermont would be great too. My grandparents have a house there. We can meet there if you prefer.
Assuming, of course, that my deal with the Maxima works out.
Edit - to clarify, I am not joking. If I do get the Maxima, I want the wagon to go to a great home. Southern Vermont would be great too. My grandparents have a house there. We can meet there if you prefer.
Altron
Well-Known Member
K62 said:
I get less than 15 miles to the gallon. The Maxima gets 20 miles to the gallon minimum. Around town I get maybe 12, whereas the Maxima will get 22-24. It's not some 30mpg little four-banger, but it's got a much better power/weight ratio and is like 2/3 of the weight of the wagon.
It's a real tough decision though. I love the wagon. It's big. It's beautiful. It can move if you punch it. It's got the most cargo room of anything I've ever seen, short of a bus. It's got comfy velour seats. It's got a big ol' AMERICAN CAPITALIST REPUBLICAN carbureted pushrod V8. It's got wire rims and wood veneer. It's got chrome. It's got a ton of nicknames.
However, the Maxima is also great. It's small, but not too small. It's fast. It's in great condition. Gas costs half as much, yet I can still fit three people + luggage. It's got aluminum five spoke wheels. performance tires. spoiler. 'the best engine of the nineties', the Nissan VQ30DE 3L V6.
Professur
Well-Known Member
Altron said:
Well, let's see. First off, if I had $1400, it would already be spent getting my ass to GA this summer. Second, what am I gonna do with a fifth car? I've still only got one ass to plant in the seat. Third, it's illegal for a Quebec license holder to drive a car with US plates in Quebec, so I couldn't even get it home.
And lastly, I said I'd kill for one, didn't say anything about exchanging money. Still wanna meet me?
It would pull the trailer one helluva lot easier than that van tho, wouldn't it?
Professur
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain, dude. But, ask yourself this. When something goes wrong, and on an old car, it will, which one is easier and cheaper to repair? On any other car I've ever owned, the job I had done on the van engine would have cost no more than $800. The van took a fully equiped garage, with fully certified mechanics, 11.5 hours to change the heads. 11.5 hours. It's a 5 hour billable job jsut to change the spark plugs. That's nearly an hour per plug. It's a great van. I love driving it. Good milage, good turning radius, comfortable interior. But if I'd had a clue about the repair cost, I'd have run the other way so fast, you'd have been waiting for the "Beep, Beep".
The sad part of it all. I traded in a beloved Subaru Loyale 4x4 because it was simply impossible to get repairs done anywhere but the dealership.
The sad part of it all. I traded in a beloved Subaru Loyale 4x4 because it was simply impossible to get repairs done anywhere but the dealership.
Altron
Well-Known Member
I just dunno what to do.
As summer approaches, I've been driving much farther. I did 70 miles this weekend. I have a couple of 125+ mile road trips planned for the summer. Gas prices are going up like crazy.
I'll provide a little more background -
My dad bought the Maxima in 1997. He babies it. It's in great condition.
A few months ago, he started having stalling problems. When he was coasting in neutral, it would stall out.
He did a lot of troubleshooting and got it fixed.
Then for awhile, it wouldn't start right. He needed to jump it a lot.
He took it back to Nissan, and they fixed it. Now it runs fine. Apparantly the battery, which he bought cheap in NY when it died one day, was a POS. Ever since he replaced it two weeks or so ago, it's been running like new.
Then there's my grandfather. He did that whole 'American dream' think. Armenian growing up in the 30s in NYC working at his dad's clothes pressing place. Saved up, went to college, became an engineer. Got married, had seven kids. Got into sales. Started a company which now has some 30 employees. They buy from factories in Japan and sell to people locally.
So he's got cash to invest. He also happens to be very smart about real estate investments. He bought a beachfront lot on the Jersey shore 30 years ago, when it was a little town and the land was cheap. The value of the land has inflated by about 1000%. A newly-built duplex down the street went for $2.5 million per side.
Around 15 years ago, he bought like six acres in Arizona, built a nice house. Again, the town kinda grew up around it.
Anyway, he was thinking, and he didn't like having the house. He found that instead of travelling to cool places, he always went to Arizona. Then he found out that he can get a cool $3.5 million for his house, which he probably spent $500k on.
Now what he's going to do is take the money from the Arizona house, and rebuild the 70s beach house. The plan is to build something of a duplex, but have one half smaller, then rent out the smaller half. He wants to make enough money from rent to pay for property tax, so that the house can stay in the family without worrying about who has to pay for it.
Anyway, he's twisting my dad's arm to buy him a new car, because he's loaded. Yesterday he told my dad 'Look at some cars, I can have the money for you by wednesday'
So my dad's torn up too. He likes the Maxima, but my grandfather wants him to get a new car.
Then there's the 2007 Dodge Challenger. We have a picture of it on the fridge. My dad said that if the car had come out a few years earlier, like 2004, so that by now they had all the bugs worked out, he would buy it right now. Unfourtunately, it doesn't come out for a year. It's a beast. 370cid Hemi, RWD, beautiful machine. My dad loves the '70 Challenger and the '69 Charger, they're his two favorite cars. He doesn't want to buy one that's old, but he would dig the 2007 version if only it had come out earlier.
However, my dad is digging the Mazda 6s. It's been out since 2003. It's got a nice 3L V6 with 215hp and 199 ft-lbs. He likes both the five-door hatchback and the wagon.
He says that it would be great to keep the Maxima in the family, since he likes it so much.
Oh, and don't get the idea that I'm a spoiled rich kid. My grandfather made a lot of money through hard work and careful planning, but he's not the kind of person to spoil his children and grandchildren. My dad is having trouble with jobs. He got laid off in June 2004, hired by a weird company in March 2005, left them in November for government contracting. The government had him buying electronic parts, but his boss was a total asshole and laid him off, even though they hired other people. It was kinda funny, 48 hours after my dad left the new guy managed to completely fuck everything up, and the company who sold the parts to my dad actually wrote a letter to his boss saying that he did a great job and firing him was a stupid idea.
But in 2006, our luck has turned. Not a week after leaving, Boeing calls and hires him. They really like him and he's working to buy parts for helicoptors. They have 370 choppers to refurbish and 70 to build, and they do two a month. My dad is 47, so he's hoping to retire from Boeing.
So yeah, I'm not a spioled rich kid. My dad would never buy me a '97 Maxima, but he doesn't want to sell his 'baby' to some random idiot who would fuck it up. He wants to keep it in the family.
As summer approaches, I've been driving much farther. I did 70 miles this weekend. I have a couple of 125+ mile road trips planned for the summer. Gas prices are going up like crazy.
I'll provide a little more background -
My dad bought the Maxima in 1997. He babies it. It's in great condition.
A few months ago, he started having stalling problems. When he was coasting in neutral, it would stall out.
He did a lot of troubleshooting and got it fixed.
Then for awhile, it wouldn't start right. He needed to jump it a lot.
He took it back to Nissan, and they fixed it. Now it runs fine. Apparantly the battery, which he bought cheap in NY when it died one day, was a POS. Ever since he replaced it two weeks or so ago, it's been running like new.
Then there's my grandfather. He did that whole 'American dream' think. Armenian growing up in the 30s in NYC working at his dad's clothes pressing place. Saved up, went to college, became an engineer. Got married, had seven kids. Got into sales. Started a company which now has some 30 employees. They buy from factories in Japan and sell to people locally.
So he's got cash to invest. He also happens to be very smart about real estate investments. He bought a beachfront lot on the Jersey shore 30 years ago, when it was a little town and the land was cheap. The value of the land has inflated by about 1000%. A newly-built duplex down the street went for $2.5 million per side.
Around 15 years ago, he bought like six acres in Arizona, built a nice house. Again, the town kinda grew up around it.
Anyway, he was thinking, and he didn't like having the house. He found that instead of travelling to cool places, he always went to Arizona. Then he found out that he can get a cool $3.5 million for his house, which he probably spent $500k on.
Now what he's going to do is take the money from the Arizona house, and rebuild the 70s beach house. The plan is to build something of a duplex, but have one half smaller, then rent out the smaller half. He wants to make enough money from rent to pay for property tax, so that the house can stay in the family without worrying about who has to pay for it.
Anyway, he's twisting my dad's arm to buy him a new car, because he's loaded. Yesterday he told my dad 'Look at some cars, I can have the money for you by wednesday'
So my dad's torn up too. He likes the Maxima, but my grandfather wants him to get a new car.
Then there's the 2007 Dodge Challenger. We have a picture of it on the fridge. My dad said that if the car had come out a few years earlier, like 2004, so that by now they had all the bugs worked out, he would buy it right now. Unfourtunately, it doesn't come out for a year. It's a beast. 370cid Hemi, RWD, beautiful machine. My dad loves the '70 Challenger and the '69 Charger, they're his two favorite cars. He doesn't want to buy one that's old, but he would dig the 2007 version if only it had come out earlier.
However, my dad is digging the Mazda 6s. It's been out since 2003. It's got a nice 3L V6 with 215hp and 199 ft-lbs. He likes both the five-door hatchback and the wagon.
He says that it would be great to keep the Maxima in the family, since he likes it so much.
Oh, and don't get the idea that I'm a spoiled rich kid. My grandfather made a lot of money through hard work and careful planning, but he's not the kind of person to spoil his children and grandchildren. My dad is having trouble with jobs. He got laid off in June 2004, hired by a weird company in March 2005, left them in November for government contracting. The government had him buying electronic parts, but his boss was a total asshole and laid him off, even though they hired other people. It was kinda funny, 48 hours after my dad left the new guy managed to completely fuck everything up, and the company who sold the parts to my dad actually wrote a letter to his boss saying that he did a great job and firing him was a stupid idea.
But in 2006, our luck has turned. Not a week after leaving, Boeing calls and hires him. They really like him and he's working to buy parts for helicoptors. They have 370 choppers to refurbish and 70 to build, and they do two a month. My dad is 47, so he's hoping to retire from Boeing.
So yeah, I'm not a spioled rich kid. My dad would never buy me a '97 Maxima, but he doesn't want to sell his 'baby' to some random idiot who would fuck it up. He wants to keep it in the family.
Altron
Well-Known Member
Oh, and by the way, any suggestions for a new car for my dad?
He wants a small station wagon that gets good mileage and has an automatic. Something like the Mazda 6 V6 automatic wagon.
I saw that, and I saw the Subaru Impreza WRX wagon.
Something with a decently strong engine (200+ hp I would say) and good cargo room, not that expensive.
Then he wants to look for a $500 beat up Jeep manual and drive for fun, since his daily driver will be automatic.
"In 2008, I'll be 50! Driving a manual, probably not."
He wants a small station wagon that gets good mileage and has an automatic. Something like the Mazda 6 V6 automatic wagon.
I saw that, and I saw the Subaru Impreza WRX wagon.
Something with a decently strong engine (200+ hp I would say) and good cargo room, not that expensive.
Then he wants to look for a $500 beat up Jeep manual and drive for fun, since his daily driver will be automatic.
"In 2008, I'll be 50! Driving a manual, probably not."