no offense but you dont know me, my lifestyle, dont know why i have 4 cars, etc

i have lived all over the country and driven all over the country also and i know there IS a difference in driving in mainly flat coasting type ground and in driving in the insane traffic and construction in dallas on the interstate or not and the more hilly terrain there

i did NOT state i got 44 mpg all the time, i said babying the crap out of it running 60-65 with a tailwind i got 44mpg for around 100-125 miles that one time, it was a fluke and i said that

if you dont know what hypermiling is google it, and no driving 65 in a 75 is not hypermiling

i have not spent any money on my prius other than buying it and fluid changes, tires etc because it is under warranty still, i said it has had repairs under warranty that would have cost me around 1800 if i had to pay the dealership to do them

and i said i would replace the prius with an 05 or 06 cdi if i sell it, not get a 5th car

i understand what you are saying about the old cars and the cost to maintain them
to each his own and when you drive as much as i do for my job then i have not found any way to not pay a lot of money on either a new car every 2-3 years or repairing an old one
how many miles do you put on your 1 car each year? and where do you drive it mostly?
in town 20-25 miles one way and back? mostly highway? 6 miles down gravel roads once every week? up and down a dirt road 7 days a week?
there are a million different ways to use vehicles

my mother lives 6 miles from work and drives less than 10,000 a year, i spend 4-6 hours a day in a car, but i love my job and dont want to do anything else

i am not saying you are wrong or right, i think there is no right answer, everyone is different and uses their vehicles differently

a $1000- $1500 difference more or less each year over time just wont matter to me, my greatest expense for my business is the car and always will be

my 01 7.3 dually is very modified and runs great, it has had very hard almost all towing 10,000-15,000lbs loads miles put on it and has cost me less than any of them
i probably have more in mods than i do repairs
i dont drive it enough to replace it with another $30,000-40,000 truck and then also spend all the time and money modifying another truck

leasing it out of the question when you drive 40,000-50,000 miles a year or you can be sure i would be leasing
there are penalties for going over normal mileage per year
the car companies are not idiots they are not going to let me drive a car for 3 years on a lease and get it back with 150,000 miles on it, they could not make any money

amazing that any water pump would be $18, i have never paid that low for a water pump on any car
i understand the appeal of the older mercedes and really like them but for what i needed and not having the time to repair stuff a lot on my older one i opted for the 99 and cost aside i have been very happy with it

this has been a great discussion but i am a slow typer and will have to let this thread drop from here

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Courtney
2006 E320 CDI
2008 ML320 CDI