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blueshoefarm at gmail dot com.... and that would be how to reach me

Monday, October 24, 2011

The crazy thing I have been doing

I drive a minivan. A white, bland, reliable workhorse of a car that can carry bales of hay, bathroom vanities, saddles, kids, dogs and one day a cat that sneaked in. I bought it with 13k miles on it and was hoping to see it through to 200,000. I am at 147K and it is making a funny noises, which I already paid $1400 to the repair shop to fix. And it's going through oil a bit faster than it should.
So somehow I got to looking at used cars for sale online. I don't want to spend alot of money on this so am looking at older vehicles. Us Northwesterns have a penchant for the Subaru/Honda/Toyotas... so consequently they are hard to find a good deal on. Here is where you come in. I need your help. These cars are all the same price(or I can get them down to the same price)... which would you get?


2005 Honda Accord, 100K miles, one owner all the maintenance records.


1999 Mercedes, 40K miles, one owner. Literally owned by a little old lady, she and her sister drove around with me. Lila can't drive it anymore, she has the beginning of dementia. Super sweet ladies, the cleanest car ever, but Mercedes are $$$ to repair if things go wrong.


2002 Buick LeSabre, 50K, one owner. Cushy. Reliable.
Something I notice a bit hinky is all the cars are silver. Hmmmm. One thing I should add is a friend said I would have to dye my hair blond and get a bob cut if I bought the mercedes... she thinks I would be snobby. I told her... HAVE YOU SEEN MY CARS? I think to live with me the mercedes would be "well-loved" and have the fresh scent of dirt and dog. Just driving on my property puts mud in the car, so we can't put on too many airs. Hey just because it is a mercedes, doesn't mean it won't be hauling hay! I like the Buick because it is nondescript and reliable.
And yes, I am still working on Wilder's room and the upstairs bathroom....

8 comments:

Buffy said...

Mercedes, but still ten years old. Will hold value better. Will cost more to fix. Mercedes should not be hauling hay, wet dogs or anything that goes against it's reputation. It's jus not right. But since it's ten years old, it will understand why you are doing that to it.

The other one has 100K miles...no.
I sell my cars before 80-85K miles even though I bought it brand new.

Glad to see you're getting better and your noggin is working better.

Blue Shoe Farm said...

Thanks for the well wishes, Buffy!
So noted on your car preference. I don't think I am done looking, I am just too darn sensible to have a high repair cost vehicle in my driveway. And, I think bales of hay would improve any luxury vehicle. They look too uptight as it is.

Jayne said...

Tough decision. I'm leaning towards the Mercedes, but I understand about high repair costs. I agree with you about hauling hay in it--the Mercedes is a bit stuffy and its attitude would be improved by being made to work. lol

Blue Shoe Farm said...

Jayne,
I was heavily leaning toward the Mercedes but practicality has set in and it is now in 2nd place. I don't have oodles of money to be giving to a car repair shop.
The more I drive other cars, the more I like my noisy oil burnin' car. Sigh.

Karen Anne said...

My everyday car is a 1992 LeSabre which belonged to my late Mom. We both have taken good care of it. I did have it repainted a few years ago. It is very reliable. There's a reason our grandparents drove Buicks :-)

It was appraised after my Mom passed away in 2000 before I bought my brothers' shares, and as I recall it was something like $5000-$6000. I don't recall how many miles it had then. I think it has something like 150,000 now, I could be wrong.

I don't worry too much about mileage. My only other car ever, which I still have, is a basic 1969 Mustang and it's looped through it's 5 digit odometer a few times.

Blue Shoe Farm said...

Karen Anne your LeSabre must be reliable if you went and repainted a '92. I am honestly leaning toward the Buick, not flashy or a statement car... but oodles of comfort and good gas mileage. I will miss my van, however.

Karen Anne said...

Here's a pic, freshly painted in 2009. Not bad for a then 17 year old car:

Buick

Blue Shoe Farm said...

It looks gorgeous, Karen Anne....if my Buick seller will sell it to me for a song, that is what I will be driving!

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