I have a 1996 Saturn SL. It is the manual stick shift, low-end version. It has nothing with the word "power" in it's description. So no power steering, windows or brakes. I just didn't trust having a lot of electronics in an American made car. What little electronics that were there, I already had to do repairs on already. Bah. I was attracted to the very low price, which was good for my first car purchase, and the gas mileage. It was advertised THEN as having 40 mpg on the road and 32/34 in the city. My brother says it's weird that I still have my first vehicle. He has owned 4 different cars in the same time span.
What helps me is I drive when there is no traffic, and I consistently drive 45 mph to 55 mph with only a couple of stops within a 40 minute driving period. This kicks me towards the road drive fuel efficiency range. I also drive fairly conservatively, which helps. Like when I drive home at night after work which is like after midnight), I play a game to keep my mind occupied where I time the lights and adjust my speed so I never have to stop at a red light. There is hardly anyone around, so I don't really piss many people off driving slower than the speed limit on certain stretches of my commute. There is a certain satisfaction of looking at a car that had been sitting at a light for like 1 to 2 minutes, and then you zoom right on by them at the light because I never had to put on the brakes before getting the green light. Technically, neither one of us are getting to our destination any faster - so why deal with stop and go traffic when you don't have to do it. I don't mind pissing people off if I think they are being foolish. :P
*Update* I got gas last night actually, and it was $3.50 per gallon. :/
But I did get 41 mpg when I figured it out last night. O.o !!!
Times really have changed. Even though I loved fuel efficiency for like ... forever (inherited from parents who survived the past energy crisis of 1974 and 1981 and always got fuel efficient car themselves); in 1996 when I got my Saturn SL, I never actually cared to sit down to figure out my gas mileage as I am doing now on a regular basis and I thought SUVs were cool and wanted one.
My car is like 12 years old and worries me. I have vowed to never do another big dollar repair on it. I spent like $4000 in repairs in a single given year like in 2006. $4000 could have gone towards new car payments. So now I do my research and TRY to do my own repairs if it's easy enough to do. And I am doing constant mad research into new cars out there. I am also doing pretend car payments. I set aside an amount of money each week with the full intent of never having to actually take out a car loan for my next vehicle. I don't feel like paying extra interest and I don't think I will want to be making new car payments and paying new car insurance rates at the same time.
I do plan on running my car into the ground and driving it for as long as I can. I got the mp3 CD player installed in it and it gets me awesome gas mileage in today's SUV/truck crazy times. I want this thing to work.
But if I was forced to do so ... so far my options for current replacement vehicle are the Honda Fit or the Mini Cooper. Toyota Yaris gets an honorable mention, but I doubt I would get it.
My dream car would be clean diesel hybrid Mini Cooper S. Or something similar. I want smallish, cute, fun, sportsy, and obscenely excellent gas mileage.
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It is the manual stick shift, low-end version. It has nothing with the word "power" in it's description. So no power steering, windows or brakes. I just didn't trust having a lot of electronics in an American made car.
What little electronics that were there, I already had to do repairs on already. Bah.
I was attracted to the very low price, which was good for my first car purchase, and the gas mileage. It was advertised THEN as having 40 mpg on the road and 32/34 in the city.
My brother says it's weird that I still have my first vehicle. He has owned 4 different cars in the same time span.
What helps me is I drive when there is no traffic, and I consistently drive 45 mph to 55 mph with only a couple of stops within a 40 minute driving period. This kicks me towards the road drive fuel efficiency range.
I also drive fairly conservatively, which helps.
Like when I drive home at night after work which is like after midnight), I play a game to keep my mind occupied where I time the lights and adjust my speed so I never have to stop at a red light.
There is hardly anyone around, so I don't really piss many people off driving slower than the speed limit on certain stretches of my commute.
There is a certain satisfaction of looking at a car that had been sitting at a light for like 1 to 2 minutes, and then you zoom right on by them at the light because I never had to put on the brakes before getting the green light. Technically, neither one of us are getting to our destination any faster - so why deal with stop and go traffic when you don't have to do it.
I don't mind pissing people off if I think they are being foolish. :P
*Update*
I got gas last night actually, and it was $3.50 per gallon. :/
But I did get 41 mpg when I figured it out last night. O.o !!!
Times really have changed. Even though I loved fuel efficiency for like ... forever (inherited from parents who survived the past energy crisis of 1974 and 1981 and always got fuel efficient car themselves); in 1996 when I got my Saturn SL, I never actually cared to sit down to figure out my gas mileage as I am doing now on a regular basis and I thought SUVs were cool and wanted one.
My car is like 12 years old and worries me. I have vowed to never do another big dollar repair on it. I spent like $4000 in repairs in a single given year like in 2006. $4000 could have gone towards new car payments.
So now I do my research and TRY to do my own repairs if it's easy enough to do.
And I am doing constant mad research into new cars out there.
I am also doing pretend car payments. I set aside an amount of money each week with the full intent of never having to actually take out a car loan for my next vehicle. I don't feel like paying extra interest and I don't think I will want to be making new car payments and paying new car insurance rates at the same time.
I do plan on running my car into the ground and driving it for as long as I can.
I got the mp3 CD player installed in it and it gets me awesome gas mileage in today's SUV/truck crazy times.
I want this thing to work.
But if I was forced to do so ... so far my options for current replacement vehicle are the Honda Fit or the Mini Cooper.
Toyota Yaris gets an honorable mention, but I doubt I would get it.
My dream car would be clean diesel hybrid Mini Cooper S. Or something similar.
I want smallish, cute, fun, sportsy, and obscenely excellent gas mileage.