AutoSanity.com

As many of my readers know, I have a teenage driver in the family now. Mary has an after-school job and my wife (and myself, mostly) think that it would be a good idea to have a third car available to her, mostly for the  convenience. Something cheap, older and mid-size, as I’m not part of the pay-anything-for-a-small-car-crowd quite yet. And, surprisingly, some of the mid-size cars we’ve been looking at get pretty good gas mileage (up to 25 highway) and top out at around $3000. So, we’ve been looking, mostly on craigslist for something that would fit the need. Here’s what we’ve seen so far;

• 1984 Mercedes Diesel Wagon. This was my find - I’ve always dreamed of sitting behind the big steering wheel and watching that three-pointed star lead the way. Admittedly, this one was always a longshot just because of the advanced age and built-in quirky-ness of an older car.  Not really interested in the biodiesel stuff, I thought it would be cool to have a turbo-diesel, and if it came in a wagon - even better! It turned out that this one was pretty rough (needed most interior electrics repaired), wouldn’t shut off when the key was turned off, had no records and the owner was asking a premium for the car. Definitely a non-contender when we discovered the a/c didn’t work. Me: This is Colorado, we don’t need air conditioning here! Still, it did drive like a dream, plenty of power (surprise) and it’s built like a tank. It’s still for sale, and if the price comes down, I could be persuaded. I’ll keep you informed.
• Various small sedans and wagons. I’ve already written about the Ford Focus Wagon - ’nuff said. I’ve been pretty unimpressed with over-priced, bottom-feeder Saturns, Geo Metros and super high-mileage Japanese cars (those with 200k+ on the odometer) that are in our price range. My theory on the state of the small car market today - like most any “rush” of the last few years, stock market (2001), housing (2006), this fad will peter out too. Either gas prices will retreat a little, when the US decides to drill for some oil, or folks will just get used to the higher prices for gas and go on with life. Either way, I figure, that in the long run, these super-premium prices for small cars can’t go on forever. What comes up, must go down. And, most important, the financials behind a purchase must make economic sense - panic buying never works out over time.
• Plain-Jane mid-sized sedans or wagons. We’ve been pretty happy with our Ford products (Taurus Wagon, 123,000 miles, Windstar Van, 130,000 miles) so we’ve neen looking for something similar - With about 100k miles - or less. The wagon is getting 20 mpg in town, reliability has been good (knock on wood), and the supply of replacements is looking good. Note: 20 mpg may not sound fantastic, but a smaller car with an automatic transmission that gets 25 mpg in town is selling for a big premium - in the $2k range. You can still buy a lot of gas for $2k. I think that if we find a creampuff in this category that’s priced right, we may have a new set of wheels before long.

Of course, any car we buy will be all CASH - never a payment. And it’s got to be a really good deal. They’re out there - if you’re not desperate and are willing to look around a bit. Stay tuned.