We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of

.......my beloved 1989 Jeep Cherokee XJ
at 337,762 miles she is just mechanically worn out.

I've owned her for a long time, and have been able to preform a lot of the maintenance my self - learning a bunch about automotive repair along the way - but I think if I go for another round of repairs (transmission noises now) I'll be throwing good money at a losing battle.

You just know when the time comes that you just can't keep it alive and reliable any more.


Found a real nice 2003 Subaru Forester S (loaded) for a decent price and 110,000 miles on it - I figure with proper maintenance I can keep it running to at least 200 - 250,000+ miles but the last car payment I made was in 1993 - 18 years ago...... *sigh*

This sucks.

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. We had a Subaru. Not a bad vehicle, but my only complaint is it required Super Unleaded only. We didn't realize that and went through 2 oxygen sensors in 3 years. Gotta love that warranty. In the end, it was a lease that we planned on buying. It was way to upside down to be worth it, so we moved on. Never going to do a lease again.

Man, if you had only been putting back $100 a month since 1993, you'd be able to pay cash for this car and then some. :-) That's are plan after we pay off my student loans. We'll be debt free except the house and I don't want another car payment with the way my job security is.

It's been hard though. The 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with the new color matched painted top looks awesome. Really, really want, but not going to do it.

:bow my head:

I understand to some extent. Had a truck I loved, bought it for $2k with 140k miles on it, drove it for several years to 210k, was replacing/repairing a gas line every week or so, finally after say 6 mo of me smelling like gas, my wife suggested it was time to part. Left it with my old man, who loved it as much as me, he was offered $2500 by a local dude (more than I paid for it) dad turned him down, "that truck is worth way more than that." I ended up giving it to a friends kid, don't know what happened to her from there.

I've got an 01 Toyota minivan I'll sell you 😀 Less than 100k miles, smells like kids and dogs, and has pretty dimples in the hood. I'll even throw in the kids for free. Not the dogs though.

Seriously, sad to see the jeep go but 300k miles is a good long life.

We're in the car market as well. We've outgrown our Accord and need something that can haul kids, dogs, gear, and bikes. I'm not looking forward to having a car payment again at all but I don't see any way around it except for buying something very old and not as dependable as I'd like.

Sorry Sarge - I'd take you up on it by my wife's van is a 2000 Ford Windstar and has all the same accoutrements as yours.
Plus I don't know if I can trust the seller. ...... 🤣

Well the dealer would not budge on the Subaru (By the way Subaru backwards is U R a bus) it had 164,000 miles not the 110 and carfax did not show that the timing belt, water pump and head gasket had not been performed at 105,000 like factory "DEMANDS" you do to all Subarau's
The local Sub garage said all three done out the door would be $3,000.
I tried to dicker with the guy and he just would not move.

So we swung by a private guy that my wife use to work with, when she was the office manager for the *cough* Ford dealership - and I immediately fell in love with a 2006 Jeep LJ - lifted, wheels, tires, winch. body armor........ then reality hit and I kept looking.

Tony made me the deal I just could not refuse.

I bought a Homer.....

Same color (gold on gold not the gold on grey lower), same features as picture.
2004, 42,000 miles, AWD, sunroof, 6 disk Infinity, 8 speaker, Nav, OnStar, XM/Sirius, dual climate, separate rear radio/cd, heated leather seats, HEADS UP display (soooo cool), rear compartment air compressor, factory fit air bed for rear, slide out rear storage compartment.
(Missing or not included the Aztek tent)

$5200 😱
(Bank required $800 down $4400 financed)

He gave us his cost from the auction as they knew each other - and has give me an "hand shake" warranty for the next few months.
Carfax shows one owner so I think I got a real good deal - Yah I know its considered one of the fugliest things ever made - but the features and the condition of it..... (plus it fits my style (and I fit at 6'2)) made it worth it.
(Big bonus fits 4x8 plywood inside - something I could never do in the XJ and was always borrowing the in laws pick up or paying for delivery - NO MORE!)

My Mortgage co. picked us up in less than 5 min to approve (was a bit worried there....) no issues, will do the same thing as my mortgage - direct withdraw weekly form the paycheck + 15% extra each month.

http://autophiliac.wordpress.com/2011/05/1...deous-vehicles/


The Homer – A Modern Look at Hideous Vehicles

We’ve gotten to the point in automotive design where cars simply can’t get much uglier. Its true. I thought that the peak of the ugly car was the Pontiak Aztek (universally known as the Asstek) – but mankind never ceases to amaze me with its ability to build uglier, stupider cars than ever before.

I like to refer to the phenomenon of stupid, ugly cars as “The Homer”. Let me elaborate. In the Simpson’s Episode “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou”, Homer’s long lost half brother Herb turns out to be the head of a car company, whose products Homer hates. Herb wants to create a car that appeals to the “average American” so he hires Homer to develop a car.


(more in article)

The final car is a hideous monstrosity of compromises and idiotic features. Among them include two bubble domes, one to separate the children in the back – with optional restraints and muzzles. Three horns scattered within arms reach, giant cupholders (see where I’m going with this?), and an engine that sounded like “the world is coming to an end”.

The reality is that today, many cars are formed in the same manner. Rather than asking one simpleton however, the cars are formed by committee, and the end result is a smattering of unrelated features that focus groups say they want. Of course, ask any smart auto manufacturer, the consumer doesn’t know what they want. The consumer buys what you tell them to buy. ”The Homer” symptom is characterized by a car that you can’t classify – it “crosses genres” – but the reality is most consumers do not want this. They don’t want to use a hammer to put in a screw.

When you build a car based on the lowest common denominator, the end result is almost always a hideous monstrosity. Each of these cars has been a miserable sales failure by attempting to be too many things, to the point where they wind up being nothing. Let me take us through the landscape of automotive abominations.

The first one I have already mentioned – the Pontiac Aztek. In concept, it seemed like a good idea – a highly functional, multi terrain vehicle with such features as a built in tent option, all wheel drive, and a chassis built on a car for “improved” driving dynamics. The end result was a bunch of features and design cues cobbled together into a complete sales failure.


Yah Baby!!! I own a Homer!

Sweeeeeeeet

LOL!

BTW, I wanted to make sure you guys knew about the tick to lower your car payment without actually paying any extra. Almost all car loans are compound daily interest. If you will make a 1/2 payment twice a month and keep doing it on the same days, you can knock a 5 year/60 month loan down to 4.5 years/54 months. The higher the loan, the more benefit you actually get from this. I've been doing this for years and it works.

This is why most mortgage's won't allow daily compounding interest. It's really easy to game the system in your favor.

Duck, your loan is low enough that it may not benefit you much, but it's a nice deal once you get over a 20K loan. Congrats on the new Homer, but I would have bought the Jeep. 😛

Yah I don't know when the withdraws will start - but after having the same seat under my ass for years and years and years is going to hit me some time.... will be strange.

I divide my mortgage in to weekly automatic payments and add ~75$ or so and over time it pays 3 extra payments a year plus that amount comes out of principal not interest - which has brought me to (have to check to be 100% sure) being 2 years ahead on my mortgage.
(Which is why I think they picked me up in such a short time)

I plan on doing the same thing with Homer, payment / 4 +70 extra a week = more than one extra payment a month.
And then next July (2012) my 401K dumps dividends again and wife and I already agreed - pay if auto loan then to get back to just mortgage.

Calling this one a win.

Ooooh Yahhhhh