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.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Based on what's parked in my driveway, I seem to agree with you. AC isn't much of an issue in northern Nevada though, so mine will be staying broken for the foreseeable future.

I've never driven a Beetle, so I'm merely speculating here. I think they might be a bit underpowered for highway use. I'm rather a fan of the slightly revised version, of which I've driven many examples. I refer to the one where they took the basic Beetle, squished it down a bit, fitted bigger tires and two extra cylinders, and then wrote the number for emergency services on the back. Unfortunately, other people are on to this idea so a good one is very hard to find for under twenty grand, and the last air cooled ones are getting near twenty years old.

Since you mention it, I've been after a job in Reno that would triple my commute distance. The pay increase compared to my current job would fund a new car, so I've been considering the relative merits of a Scion FRS vs a BMW 320i and some others. I need to land the job first.

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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.