Nah, strap it to the roof...the dogs sit in the back.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Not if you're Romney...

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

That's a cheap, gratuitous political shot, and I'm offended...that you beat me to it.

buy a motorcycle. not only is it enjoyable, it saves a ton on gas and you arrive home less stressed. if i didnt have a company provided vehicle, i would ride my motorcycle every day.

i also have a for escape as my primary vehicle and the wife has an expedition. 3 years ago i took out a loan to buy my f250 diesel. it was a two year loan for 8k. in the end i paid about 8700. i sold the truck for 8100 two months ago, bought the expo and escape cash.

for now i am done with auto loans. though one day i plan to surprise the wife with a new fusion on xmas morning.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Fine for some but the majority of young guys today if not the vast majority have no developed mechanical repair ability nor the tools.

Personally I buy older cars with low original milage when I seek one. They are out there and generally with decent brands are basically trouble free.

The younger guys like one of my son in laws feel that accumulated milage is no issue. Usually before too much time has passed his total cost for his high milage cheaper buggy exceeds what I pay.

The last one was the older Honda civic with 36,000 miles or sixty plus some thousand kilometers. So far all is well with it. Meaning basically no issues since purchase. Was about the cost of the sales tax on a new one plus a very little bit more.

You can put the reliability of a low milage car back into a high milage one. In general though it costs a lot more than buying the same car with much lower milage.

^^^

Bought my car at 213,000 miles. There are now 258,000 on the clock, 3.5 years later. It's never left me stranded, and I routinely drive it on 500 mile trips -- wouldn't hesitate AT ALL to drive it across the US tomorrow.

Better to sell the car to someone after explaining what they're buying then sell it for scrap to feed some factory in a Far Eastern pesthole.

True Cost to Own® (TCO®) Calculator on Edmunds.com

True Cost to Own® (TCO®)

Plug and play

Outside of your first home, it's never a good idea to buy something that you cannot pay cash for. But if you do, pay it off in a matter of months with your income cash flow - even if you buy a new one with the BS 0.9% or somesuch financing. Debt==risk, and debt on cars is especially risky to have around. Your best move is liquidating that college loan balance before making any newer car move. I'd just drive what I had for the interim.

When I started buying cars they were making such cr@p, you had to buy them new to expect any dependability out of them. Today, that's all changed. Near new, and slightly used cars are very dependable, and a much better financial play than new. So, you don't have to buy new to expect to get to work dependably.

I'm out on ever buying new again. I love owning and driving my 8-year old used CDI, and it's dependable enough to suit my needs, as well as being bought for a fraction of what the new buyer paid for it.



I hope you don't believe that just because your 30 something year old car, with 258,000 miles on it, that has never stranded you, is reason to believe that it won't strand you while driving it across the US tomorrow.

I've been stranded by cars and trucks far newer, with far less miles on them than your car, while driving cross country.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

It's been reasonably reliable for the last 45,000 miles. Why should the next 3,000 be materially different if the car is well kept up?

Besides, I'm not a wussie who's afraid of getting his hands a bit dirty, and I have the cash to pay for a car rental and/or airfare should it come to that. If it's unsalvageable, I'd either sign the title over to the nearest junkyard or get a gallon can of gas, a match, and report it stolen. It's served well.

Because of what it is, that's why. -A 30 something year old car, with 258,00 miles on it.

Your trip will indeed become very costly with all the contingencies you mentioned coming to pass.....not to mention the time elements......better bet to rent a car for the trip than do all that.....or fly.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Good points thus far.

One thing I'd like to add is if you finance a car for 5 years for example (60 mo), and see if your monthly payment is still below your budget, try to see if you can finance it for 6 years (72 mo). When your monthly payment is retained for the 5-year amount, but you're paying more of the balance than the interest.

Say you're paying $400 a month for the 5-year loan. If you can have it financed for a 6-year loan typically the monthly payment goes down (if the rate of payment is retained). But if you can still shoulder $400 a month, more of this goes to the balance, NOT interest.

This will give you breathing room in case you are low on funds, but make sure your % interest is as low as possible within your means. Typically the lower the % interest, the higher payments you need to make. Hence the "within your means".

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

As I said, I'm not a little limpd**k who's afraid of a bit of uncertainty. Makes life interesting. I pity the average American, rolling along in his air-conditioned sensory deprivation chamber, isolated from the world, stuffing his yapper with homogeneous drive-through Burger King.

I'm contemplating a cross-country trip in early summer or late spring. 'fraidy cats need not apply. Be fun to do it in a MACHINE, rather than a toaster, though I might buy a motorcycle this month and do it that way.

NEVER buy a new car if you want to get ahead financially. You can get a reasonably reliable car for about $5K plus change. I have bought reliable cars for far less than that. If you feel a bit well off then buy a lease return car as I mentioned in earlier post.

0% loan means NOTHING unless you have the fund to pay it for 60 months or whatever is the loan period. One would buy an used car and invest the money monthly in mutual funds or DRIP, using dollar cost averaging, as if one is paying for a new car loan. Invest the money in stocks/bonds and you will thank yourself for that.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

I'm with spdrun on this, well not the anger part of it.

My 240 has considerably more mileage than his, and id trust it to run across the country also. If you know the car and have kept up its maintenance, than I don't see any reason to worry to much about a breakdown on the road. Like he said, he's put 45k on it and knows how the car is likely to run.

Things can happen sure, but the same thing can be said for an unknown rental car. In that situation you are jumping into a vehicle with totally unknown maintenance and driver history. Usually is just the the fact that its relatively new that people automatically trust it. I've been stranded with a blown motor in a 30k rental that an earlier renter destroyed for me.

Depending on the distance or need, id rather take the car I know, and prep it with some pre-trip maintenance, than jump into something that may or may not have been treated right or cared for properly.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

This is true. Spare car or a spare motorbike. Either will get the job done.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.