Hey all,
My wife is getting a new car tomorrow, most likely. We have 2 cars and a motorcycle right now, and when she gets this car, we will have 4 vehicles total. --Not a good idea. I'm now stuck with the BIG DECISION: WHICH CAR DO I KEEP? Here are the options:
My car: I have a 1987 Toyota Camry LE. LE is the top model, and if you've been in an 87 Camry LE, you know that they are STILL DAMN NICE cars, even by brand new car standards. However, there are some downsides. First, the car has about 185,000 miles on it. Not surprising, since it's a toyota, that it's still running, right? Well, also, it has a fairly new engine I put in a couple years ago. --has about 60-65,000 miles on it. So, the CAR has a lot of miles, but the engine is fairly new. BAD THINGS about the car: Front end damage. Quite a bit. I ran it into a ditch and banged it up really bad. Didn't have enough insurance to get it fixed. Also, the paint on the hood is almost GONE. The damage includes the grille, the bumper, the hood, and the left front quarterpanel. --And the whole car could use a paint job. Inside, the car is immaculate. --But no A/C. The physical AC system works, but the "brain" of the AC, a little circuit board under the dash, needs to be replaced for the air to work. Also, the car needs new tires and an alignment within the next 5,000 miles.
So, basically, the car RUNS good, and is very dependable, but it's a visual wreck, and could stand some significant body work and a new paint job.
My other choice: Heather and I share a 1989 Firebird Formula. The car has 111,000 miles, but has been METICULOUSLY maintained with records from mile one. NEVER missed an oil-change, tune-up, NONE of it. Heather's dad bought it new OFF THE TRUCK, and took good care of it. It's a forumla with a 5.0 litre V8, the interior is immaculate, the engine is perfect, the A/C works, and there is NO body damage.
Bad things abour it are, the hood needs painted. The clear coat peeled completely off a year ago, and this BADLY detracts from the vehicle's otherwise near-flawless exterior. Also, one of the headlight motors (flip-up) is dead, so the lights stay propped up. I could easily get a used part for pretty cheap to fix that, though.
Also, OF COURSE, the Firebird gets about 1/3 the gas mileage as the camry.
So which to choose? Keep in mind, whichever one I choose can be fixed up with the money from SELLING THE OTHER. The firebird's blue book value is a bit higher than the camry's right now, but that really doesn't help. That just tells me that I could sell the bird for enough to fix up the camry back to good condition. --And I certainly could get enough for my camry (even at wholesale) to paint the hood on the Firebird and fix the lights (and power antenna, which I forgot to mention). Whichever car I choose to go with, it will have a Premier deck with a pioneer 6-disc changer, so the factory stereo isn't a factor in this decision. The only other option I can think of is to sell BOTH cars and hope to have enough to buy a decent used car with a little better balance of remaining life, gas mileage, and dependability. Maybe a used low-miles accord, or a slightly newer, better camry or something?
I HATE having to deal with this crap.
Ricky
DesignDawg
My wife is getting a new car tomorrow, most likely. We have 2 cars and a motorcycle right now, and when she gets this car, we will have 4 vehicles total. --Not a good idea. I'm now stuck with the BIG DECISION: WHICH CAR DO I KEEP? Here are the options:
My car: I have a 1987 Toyota Camry LE. LE is the top model, and if you've been in an 87 Camry LE, you know that they are STILL DAMN NICE cars, even by brand new car standards. However, there are some downsides. First, the car has about 185,000 miles on it. Not surprising, since it's a toyota, that it's still running, right? Well, also, it has a fairly new engine I put in a couple years ago. --has about 60-65,000 miles on it. So, the CAR has a lot of miles, but the engine is fairly new. BAD THINGS about the car: Front end damage. Quite a bit. I ran it into a ditch and banged it up really bad. Didn't have enough insurance to get it fixed. Also, the paint on the hood is almost GONE. The damage includes the grille, the bumper, the hood, and the left front quarterpanel. --And the whole car could use a paint job. Inside, the car is immaculate. --But no A/C. The physical AC system works, but the "brain" of the AC, a little circuit board under the dash, needs to be replaced for the air to work. Also, the car needs new tires and an alignment within the next 5,000 miles.
So, basically, the car RUNS good, and is very dependable, but it's a visual wreck, and could stand some significant body work and a new paint job.
My other choice: Heather and I share a 1989 Firebird Formula. The car has 111,000 miles, but has been METICULOUSLY maintained with records from mile one. NEVER missed an oil-change, tune-up, NONE of it. Heather's dad bought it new OFF THE TRUCK, and took good care of it. It's a forumla with a 5.0 litre V8, the interior is immaculate, the engine is perfect, the A/C works, and there is NO body damage.
Bad things abour it are, the hood needs painted. The clear coat peeled completely off a year ago, and this BADLY detracts from the vehicle's otherwise near-flawless exterior. Also, one of the headlight motors (flip-up) is dead, so the lights stay propped up. I could easily get a used part for pretty cheap to fix that, though.
Also, OF COURSE, the Firebird gets about 1/3 the gas mileage as the camry.
So which to choose? Keep in mind, whichever one I choose can be fixed up with the money from SELLING THE OTHER. The firebird's blue book value is a bit higher than the camry's right now, but that really doesn't help. That just tells me that I could sell the bird for enough to fix up the camry back to good condition. --And I certainly could get enough for my camry (even at wholesale) to paint the hood on the Firebird and fix the lights (and power antenna, which I forgot to mention). Whichever car I choose to go with, it will have a Premier deck with a pioneer 6-disc changer, so the factory stereo isn't a factor in this decision. The only other option I can think of is to sell BOTH cars and hope to have enough to buy a decent used car with a little better balance of remaining life, gas mileage, and dependability. Maybe a used low-miles accord, or a slightly newer, better camry or something?
I HATE having to deal with this crap.Ricky
DesignDawg
Facebook
Twitter