- Jun 30, 2004
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The one and only new car I ever purchased was a 1979 model. I later picked up two more of the same make and model, keeping them trim and maintained until 1999 -- the year I retired "completely." I relocated from the DC metro area to the home of my youth in So-Cal, and on my way west, visiting a friend in Albuquerque, I made arrangements to buy his 1987 Trooper for $1,000. It was in great shape, but he didn't want to spend $400 to replace a CV joint boot. I returned to ABQ that month with a $1,000 check and a NAPA "blue-plastic" split boot. [I know about these -- they're tougher than the factory part.] My friend said "Gee! If I'd known you could do that, I wouldn't have sold you the Trooper!" I apologized, but told him "a deal is a deal."
That Trooper was a stand-up ride for a 5-speed manual and 4-cylinder engine 4WD. I took it on two marathon trips up to WA and the North Cascades. But one evening, I was returning from Idyllwild with my brother the chef, and a brainless college girl decided to make a U-turn from the right shoulder into the opposite lane without even signaling. I was going 55. I could've killed her, but swerved. The accident totaled the Suzu, but the insurance company gave me a check for $1,500 -- covering the new tires and minor repairs I'd made.
I had been bitten by the SUV bug. I immediately looked for another Trooper. Within a month, I found a second-generation 1995 Trooper LS. It had been briefly owned by a rental agency, then purchased by a family in San Berdoo. It had 95,000 miles on the odometer when the family decided they wanted a Lincoln Navigator. I paid them $8,500. The MSRP of 1995 was $29,245. So now, I was not only bitten, but I was going to be spoiled.
Next month, the LS will be 24 years old, and I will have owned it for 17 years. It is almost as though I suddenly woke up to this fact. After a marathon trip to No. VA for two months in 2004 and some "four-wheelin' adventures," I was putting an average of 3,000 miles per year on the car. It is our "main ride." I had replaced the transmission during the 2004 trip. In October of this year, without even considering the Kelley Blue Book value of ~$2,000, I invested $2,500 in a completely rebuilt suspension with KYB heavy-duty shocks, ball-joints, heavy-duty brakes, a replacement CV-Joint.
I had had an engine-oil leak -- very minor, in the last few years. But a bottle of Blue Devil engine sealer stopped it completely. More recently, cleaning up the garage floor, I'd discovered a transmission fluid leak near the radiator -- also very minor. I put in some Valvoline tranny "stop-leak," and now that leak has disappeared.
The engine has 185,000+ miles on the odometer. Three different mechanics, one of them a smog-test facility owner, told me this last year "Don't do ANYTHING with this engine! It's perfect!" There are maybe four years left on the tire warranty, and only 10,000 miles in wear of the 70,000 mile warranty limit. No coolant leaks. Everything works, although I never use the anti-theft alarm system and keep it switched off.
There are uncertainties. What happens if one of the two onboard computers goes on the fritz? I ran some preliminary searches at Rock Auto: "Out of Stock." When Isuzu introduced their 3rd Gen models after 2000, they priced themselves out of the market, and chose to get out of the passenger-vehicle business. They had always made commercial trucks, but my Trooper is an orphan now. Even so, there does not seem to be a dearth of new parts available, excluding the computers and tail-light assemblies.
My friend from high-school (1965 and we're now 70 years old) keeps telling me to buy a new car. I very much like watching my savings account, which had amazing growth this year despite $6,000 in dental work. And I'm not interested in buying a new Toyota Corolla. I'm spoiled now. A longtime friend in Virginia who retired handsomely with $17 million in personal assets had bought a Land Rover in 2003, and I was impressed. But I cannot afford $52,000 MSRP for a 2018/19 Discovery. For any such vehicle, I'll need to buy "previously-owned." I'm not eager to do it. And if I buy another car, I'll still want to keep the SUZU.
So I worry about things like "new fuel formulations" with ethanol. Or a surprise death of an onboard computer. If the engine somehow dies, I think I'll be adverse to replacement or overhaul, but it is definitely not showing any troubles.
Any ideas on how I should plan for the future? I think I can pay $20,000 as a cash outlay for another car in three years and still have half my savings left over. I don't like the idea of a vehicle as an asset store. I DO like the idea of low cents-per-mile and reasonable dollars-per-year, and I like the idea of a "Free Ride" even better.
I love this Trooper -- often referred to with less affection as "The Pooper." Sooner or later, I'll have to "let go."
=========
PS I checked my digital archives for the smog-test records. The smog-test results for January 2018 were better than they were for the test run in January 2002. Barring the comparison, the "NO" results show a "Maximum" allowed of about 550, and my SUZU scored 345. And that was last year's test result.
That Trooper was a stand-up ride for a 5-speed manual and 4-cylinder engine 4WD. I took it on two marathon trips up to WA and the North Cascades. But one evening, I was returning from Idyllwild with my brother the chef, and a brainless college girl decided to make a U-turn from the right shoulder into the opposite lane without even signaling. I was going 55. I could've killed her, but swerved. The accident totaled the Suzu, but the insurance company gave me a check for $1,500 -- covering the new tires and minor repairs I'd made.
I had been bitten by the SUV bug. I immediately looked for another Trooper. Within a month, I found a second-generation 1995 Trooper LS. It had been briefly owned by a rental agency, then purchased by a family in San Berdoo. It had 95,000 miles on the odometer when the family decided they wanted a Lincoln Navigator. I paid them $8,500. The MSRP of 1995 was $29,245. So now, I was not only bitten, but I was going to be spoiled.
Next month, the LS will be 24 years old, and I will have owned it for 17 years. It is almost as though I suddenly woke up to this fact. After a marathon trip to No. VA for two months in 2004 and some "four-wheelin' adventures," I was putting an average of 3,000 miles per year on the car. It is our "main ride." I had replaced the transmission during the 2004 trip. In October of this year, without even considering the Kelley Blue Book value of ~$2,000, I invested $2,500 in a completely rebuilt suspension with KYB heavy-duty shocks, ball-joints, heavy-duty brakes, a replacement CV-Joint.
I had had an engine-oil leak -- very minor, in the last few years. But a bottle of Blue Devil engine sealer stopped it completely. More recently, cleaning up the garage floor, I'd discovered a transmission fluid leak near the radiator -- also very minor. I put in some Valvoline tranny "stop-leak," and now that leak has disappeared.
The engine has 185,000+ miles on the odometer. Three different mechanics, one of them a smog-test facility owner, told me this last year "Don't do ANYTHING with this engine! It's perfect!" There are maybe four years left on the tire warranty, and only 10,000 miles in wear of the 70,000 mile warranty limit. No coolant leaks. Everything works, although I never use the anti-theft alarm system and keep it switched off.
There are uncertainties. What happens if one of the two onboard computers goes on the fritz? I ran some preliminary searches at Rock Auto: "Out of Stock." When Isuzu introduced their 3rd Gen models after 2000, they priced themselves out of the market, and chose to get out of the passenger-vehicle business. They had always made commercial trucks, but my Trooper is an orphan now. Even so, there does not seem to be a dearth of new parts available, excluding the computers and tail-light assemblies.
My friend from high-school (1965 and we're now 70 years old) keeps telling me to buy a new car. I very much like watching my savings account, which had amazing growth this year despite $6,000 in dental work. And I'm not interested in buying a new Toyota Corolla. I'm spoiled now. A longtime friend in Virginia who retired handsomely with $17 million in personal assets had bought a Land Rover in 2003, and I was impressed. But I cannot afford $52,000 MSRP for a 2018/19 Discovery. For any such vehicle, I'll need to buy "previously-owned." I'm not eager to do it. And if I buy another car, I'll still want to keep the SUZU.
So I worry about things like "new fuel formulations" with ethanol. Or a surprise death of an onboard computer. If the engine somehow dies, I think I'll be adverse to replacement or overhaul, but it is definitely not showing any troubles.
Any ideas on how I should plan for the future? I think I can pay $20,000 as a cash outlay for another car in three years and still have half my savings left over. I don't like the idea of a vehicle as an asset store. I DO like the idea of low cents-per-mile and reasonable dollars-per-year, and I like the idea of a "Free Ride" even better.
I love this Trooper -- often referred to with less affection as "The Pooper." Sooner or later, I'll have to "let go."
=========
PS I checked my digital archives for the smog-test records. The smog-test results for January 2018 were better than they were for the test run in January 2002. Barring the comparison, the "NO" results show a "Maximum" allowed of about 550, and my SUZU scored 345. And that was last year's test result.
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