Quote:
Originally Posted by Air&Road
If it were possible to buy a brand new 240D like one of those I would be first in line. As an engineer, I firmly believe in the KISS principle.
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Yes.
I have no problem with complexity actually, for a toy. However in a necessary vehicle, ie something which is absolutely required and for which you will have no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep it on the road, which of course means spend whatever it takes, I'm not interested.
I need a vehicle for work as I have to drive between up to fourteen different sites at random on any given day. And that's apart from having to meet the usual family transportation obligations etc. I've been able to afford exactly one new vehicle since I got here in 2000 which met all the requirements and had A/C. That was the Kia Rio I had. Worst crap on four wheels.
I'm now stuck with an aging 2000 GMC Sonoma that's causing almost as much grief as the Kia with even greater expense. At this point I start to think...
I would like a large luxury car with a massively powerful engine capable of wafting me along effortlessly in perfect air conditioned comfort. But the reality is I can't afford one. And given that I was perfectly capable of driving a 240D, and now my 2.2 liter pickup which is almost as sluggish It's perfectly obvious that there is no need for extravagance.
There is no car in my opinion that does what is needed better than a 123. Certainly not sufficiently to justify the increased cost and complexity. Not when you really think about what a car is needed for. So the best strategy from my point of view is to find one, or two if possible and keep them in decent shape with the only real project being to fix/upgrade/modernize etc the A/C unit.
Even a beetle would be fine as around here it would be fine as a winter car when the A/C is not needed and is even simpler than a 240. Nothing to leak out of it but a bit of engine oil. No power steering, no ATF, no engine coolant etc. I like that design spec.
Once the base motoring requirement is taken care of. Then other more complex toys can be required to fill more specialized niches.
Of course all this applies to broke carachters like me
This calculation is of course meaningless to someone with enough money to just buy or lease a new vehicle without noticing it but that's not my situation so I have to consider other aspects of the motoring cost vs beneffit calculation.
- Peter.