I'm gonna get a new...used car.

[Lee Marshall]

Usually I buy used.  Better value for me.  Last time I bought a brand new Blazer....2006 I think.  Roll up windows...'cause power windows foul up and come winter in Canada...you want the windows UP.  Anyway...I'm going to pass the Blazer on to my wife.  She wouldn't let me replace her 2000 Cavalier...but it's almost dead now.  So now what?  I'm looking at something fun because where we now live the driving is only lousy for 2 months of the year.  We're semi retired.  No kids at home.  We can LIVE a little.  Grand kids can come and go with THEIR parents.

I want a Mustang...or a Camaro...or a Charger...or maybe even a Mercedes.  Something no more than 5 or 6 years old with fairly low mileage.  You folks drive any of these?  What's good?  What to avoid and why?

Whatever it is better have a decent cd playin'...BEACH BOYS K I C K I N' sound system.  I wanna scare the neighbours and have them hiding their wives and daughters INSIDE.  Guess I better play Bluebirds Over The Mountain....ultra loud.  That usually has ME running for cover.  Wanna spew out some Led Zep and Bob Marley too.  Look out...the 'Rude Bwoy' is comin'...You HEAR!!!

[Lee Marshall]

Thanks for the input.  Just keep those cards and letters rolling in.  Nobody here has a car?

[bgas]

Thanks for the input.  Just keep those cards and letters rolling in.  Nobody here has a car?

nah, just nobody driving muscle cars or mercedes

[Lee Marshall]

It'll likely be my last car.  So I wanna have some fun with it.  If I can get one at a decent price...it'll be good.  I just want to know what to watch out for.  I figured somedody here would have had some experience with one of these vehicules somewhere along the way.

You know bgas...Beach Boys...cars/cars...Beach Boys.  [Shut Down Vol 2.]

[SMiLE Brian]

Dodge Challenger

[bgas]

It'll likely be my last car.  So I wanna have some fun with it.  If I can get one at a decent price...it'll be good.  I just want to know what to watch out for.  I figured somedody here would have had some experience with one of these vehicules somewhere along the way.



You know bgas...Beach Boys...cars/cars...Beach Boys.  [Shut Down Vol 2.]

sure;  know what you're going for and still, don't think most folks here drive those FFF cars! I've never had any of those; looked at a Mercedes SL convertible once, but decided it was TOO much $$. Drove A Mustang conv as a rental once in CA, got sunburned. 
 Now if you want to know about my Plymouth Belvedere, VW bus or Beetle,  Alfa Romeo GTV , Datsun 1600/2000 Roadster, Chevy Impala, Toyota Landcruiser, BMW 320i, Mercury Capri, Mercury Sable, Chevrolet P/U, Chevy Trailblazer or my current Honda Accord then maybe I can help... 

[alf wiedersehen]

I don't mean to brag, but I drive a 15 year old Honda Accord.

[SMiLE Brian]

I drive a 2001 jeep Cherokee.

[Lee Marshall]

Well right now I'm drving a radio station vehicle 'cause my wife came down here in mid November with a U-haul full of stuff, dropped off the truck and drove my Blazer back up north where she continues to ready THAt house for going up for sale.  Meanwhile her old piece of dirt...the one where the windows don't close is dmeolition derby ready.  So...I need a car.

I figure it'll likely end up being the 5 year old Mustang.  It won't be too expensive and I should be able to have some fun with it over these next 4 or 5 years...give or take.

Over the years I've owned...starting in college...an Austin Cambridge, a Chev Malibu, a Pontiac Laurentian, a Pontiac Firebird [my first NEW car], a Honda Accord [also new], A triumph TR 7, an Audi 5000, a Lincoln Mk 7, a Lincoln Mk 8-leased. a Chev Astral Van-leased, a Chev Trail Blazer-leased, a Chev Blazer [new] and now...a... ... ...

12 vehicles since 1971...either owned or leased.  The Cambridge lasted less than 6 weeks.  English wiring.  Canadian winters...so an average really of 4 years per vehicle.  I just want a fun car to drive to the golf course and to the little 'things' I/we go to.  I only work part time now...just for the fun of it really.  Gotta have something to do.  Somethings that's FUN.  And generally I walk to work and home.

Yup...These days...it's ALL about fun.  Fun, family and friends.

[stack-o-tracks]

Just now seeing this thread so I'm a few days late. But honestly, if you want to save money to do stuff you'll enjoy throughout the remainder of your retirement, but an Asian car. Honda or Toyota, mostly. Outside of Japan, Kia of Korea makes a decent vehicle.

You probably won't find the fanciest or the fastest, but they're reliable, much moreso than (most) American cars.

I think you should buy a cheap, reliable car, then use it to go to places and experience things that will be much more memorable to you than owning a "cool" car will be.

As for a recommendation, check out a Kia Optima from the past couple years, they're more "sporty" than they used to be, and you can probably find one for a decent price. If you're looking to spend more than $20k, find a used Toyota Land Cruiser. 

[the professor]

yes, i see the practicality; i have a 2011 Lexus 350, elegant, reasonably priced, silent and steady on the road, very "professorial" in appearance, and good customer support. But to trade that all in for the mythos of a muscle car with the BB blasting is damned tempting. The new Mustangs look to have upped their game with luxury interiors, combining the muscle car mode and the elegant sedan feel. they look great.  I drove the Challenger as a rental--it a big boat of a car, heavy and unwirldy and eating gas--fun to look at but a heap to drive. I am curious about what the Mustang, 8 cylinder would feel like--never tried yet, just saw them.

[Lee Marshall]

I appreciate the suggestions...and the experience of having 'been there'...like the Challenger being a HEAP to drive.  That's what I want to avoid.  Keep in mind that where I live...there is a Ford, a GM and a Chrysler dealership with minutes.  Any other kind of dealer is at least a 1/2 hour away...40 minutes really.  That's a distance to travel when you don't have a working vehicle and SOME dealers will not service vehicles they didn't sell...

A few more weeks...once the snow and cold are done here...and I'm gonna go fo it.  [whatever 'it' is.  time will tell]

[The Cincinnati Kid]

Japanese cars are not anymore reliable than American cars.  Those days are long gone.

[bgas]

Japanese cars are not anymore reliable than American cars.  Those days are long gone.

Tho they sadly hold their value longer than American cars

[Lee Marshall]

I've been driving little company cars these past few weeks.  [ a Dodge something or other and a Mazda Hoodiccuss ]  Wonderful of them to lend me the vehicles BUT...I'm almost 6'2''.  I usually weigh around 230ish.  Little cars [and a lot of those Japanese cars are pretty tiny] are difficult getting in and out of as you get older and a little less flexible.

Note to bgas...The Two Lane Blackdop mobile available in 'general discussion' was about 140 Grand more than I'm looking to spend.  [give or take a dollar]

[Cyncie]

I'd go Corvette or Mustang GT. I like the Dodge Challenger, too. The modern Camaro just seems a bit too Asian in design for me and I don't like this years Charger, but the one a few years ago is pretty cool.

For my retirement toy I want a '57 T-Bird, Sunset Coral with a continental kit. Not gonna happen, but I can dream.

[Lee Marshall]

Pretty sure I'm going with the Mustang.  It'll be fun 'toolin' around in it.  'Toolin around'    Now that's an old expression that never made it into a BBs song.   Anyway...this week I'm going to start to record some music files, from my cd library, of songs I want to cruise to..  I record them because I MIX them together like the good old days of free-form FM radio.  Computer programming CAN'T do it properly.  The timing and the levels almost never work in terms of enhancing the listening experience.

I only do 2 song files so that the playing order can always be altered on subsequent CDs.

Yes I'm one of those dinks that cruises about, hither and yon, with the 'radio' blastin'.  I turn it down to reasonable levels when I re-enter nieghbourhood settings...as I don't like hearing hip-hop, rap and heavy duh,duh,duh bass when I'm outside sitting in the back yard with a nice cool 'beverage'.  As such I don't do it to others.  I love hoppin' into my car, firing it up and then the music hits.  It's like the soundtrack to a potentially perfect 'trip'.  As I move out...the volume slowly starts to increase.

And then I arrive at the golf course.  A-one, two, three, FOUR!!!!!! [and everybody ducks. ]

[Cyncie]

Pretty sure I'm going with the Mustang.  It'll be fun 'toolin' around in it.  'Toolin around'    Now that's an old expression that never made it into a BBs song.  Anyway...this week I'm going to start to record some music files, from my cd library, of songs I want to cruise to..  I record them because I MIX them together like the good old days of free-form FM radio.  Computer programming CAN'T do it properly.  The timing and the levels almost never work in terms of enhancing the listening experience.

I only do 2 song files so that the playing order can always be altered on subsequent CDs.

Yes I'm one of those dinks that cruises about, hither and yon, with the 'radio' blastin'.  I turn it down to reasonable levels when I re-enter nieghbourhood settings...as I don't like hearing hip-hop, rap and heavy duh,duh,duh bass when I'm outside sitting in the back yard with a nice cool 'beverage'.  As such I don't do it to others.  I love hoppin' into my car, firing it up and then the music hits.  It's like the soundtrack to a potentially perfect 'trip'.  As I move out...the volume slowly starts to increase.

And then I arrive at the golf course.  A-one, two, three, FOUR!!!!!! [and everybody ducks. ]

Back in the 80's I fell in love with a bright red Mustang convertible with white interior. Beautiful car. Wound up buying the thing. First "accessory" I bought was a Beach Boys greatest hits cassette so I could cruise with the top down, jammin' to my favorite group. I still have that 'Stang, and it's still playing the Boys and still getting double takes at the lights.

Dang. When's summer gonna get here?

[bgas]

 If youi're ggona get a mustang, you really ought to invest in a vintage 8 track player to get the best sound around

[Lee Marshall]

Ya....NO.

I've still got about 25, or so, 8 tracks.  I'll bet they'd snap as soon as I put em in a machine to play.  Awful vehicle for delivering music.  Worse than 78s.  Thanks for the  suggestion bgas.  Now then...where's my Wilson Pickett best of *CD*...

"Mustang Sally....."