Buying a new car.

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

As a followup to this thread:

I called the shop because the sunroof is still leaking after their second attempt to fix it. They told me that means that the only solution is to completely replace the sunroof. This would mean that I would once again have a working sunroof and, since it has to be removed in the process, I can get the headliner recovered at the same time.

Total cost: around $1200.

My dilemma was that I can’t keep driving a car with a leaky roof, but is a 10 year old car really worth the expense? I’ve recently put a good bit of money into repairing other issues so would it be protecting my investment, or throwing good money after bad?

Well, unfortunately, it appears that the dilemma has been solved for me. Driving home last night I started to smell what smelled like burning rubber. As I got near home smoke was coming out of the back of the car (out of the hood as it turned out). The check engine light came on and I barely get it into the lot behind my mother’s house (where I happened to be stopping on the way home).

The RPMs are going ridiculously high just to get it to move forward and it has difficulty going into reverse. It has to be a transmission problem. :mad:

I’m assuming that whatever it is will cost more than the car is worth to fix. I could have it towed somewhere and evaluated but I’m not sure that it’s worth the bother.

Opinions? Is it at all possible that this is something that could be inexpensive to fix?

Assuming that I’m not going to get it fixed, which is pretty much the conclusion I’m reluctantly coming to, I’m going to need another car.

I want to get a hybrid. I think it’s the responsible thing to do but, just as important, I intend to drive it for a while and who knows what will happen with gas prices?

I’ve been looking online and I kind of like the 2010 Honda Insight. It looks like I can get a lot of nice features for a decent price and Consumer Reports in 2009 scored the Insight the highest of any vehicles in predicted reliability.

One drawback is that I’d prefer to purchase something made in the USA. I hate to give money to a Japanese manufacturer when our economy and our manufacturers are struggling and our workers need jobs.

On the other hand, I’ve had one bad experience after another with my current American made car.

Can someone suggest a comparable American made hybrid with similar reliability in a similar price range?

Does anyone know where Insights are manufactured? Wikipedia has a list of Honda assembly plants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Honda_assembly_plants
Some are in the US, but Insights aren’t mentioned on this list.

#2

This wiki entry for the Honda Insight lists it’s assembly location as Suzuka, Mie, Japan

#3

Damn. I wonder how up to date that article is.

#4

based on what? How much do you drive? unless you can figure out if the reduction in your fuel use is greater than the additional energy and resources used to manufacture the battery and the rare earths used in the hybrid motor/generator, you don’t necessarily know if it’s actually the “responsible” thing to do. If you’re just interested in looking like you’re doing the responsible thing, that’s a different story.

if you were OK with your Saturn’s room, I’d just get a B- or small C-segment car like the Fit, Ford Fiesta, or something like that. And please don’t swear off the entirety of the US automakers because your 10 year old GM car died.

#5

Oh, I’m not swearing off US manufacturers. Like I said, I’d prefer to buy something made in the USA. I’m just feeling a little bitter that the thing died at only 76,000 miles and waited until I sank money into it before doing so.

As far as the additional energy for manufacturing, is there really any truth to that? I’ve gotten the impression that’s hype from auto manufacturers and oil companies, but I don’t want to turn this thread into that argument.

#6

I’m not saying they offset, or that it’s huge, but it’s not something to ignore. Rare earth mining and refining from ore is rather energy intensive and environmentally crappy, which is one reason China is the only one really bothering with them now. And why the Chinese decision to no longer export rare earths in raw material form has sent many industries worldwide into a huge tizzy.

Oh jesus christ will this shit just die already. “Big Oil” and the “Big Three” have supposedly been in collusion for decades, yet the Detroit 3 all nearly ceased to exist over the past few years. If there was some grand conspiracy, it obviously didn’t work, so why would it still be going on?

except you just did.

#7

Oh jesus christ yourself, what’s with the angry tone? :rolleyes:

The oil companies have provably funded global warming denialism for years, so it’s not a stretch that they would put out anti-hybrid propaganda. And no, I’m not going to cite that anymore than you cited your claims because that is not what this thread is about.

I probably shouldn’t have made the remark about hype but I did follow it up by saying that I didn’t want to turn this thread into that debate.

I’m looking for advice on buying a car. If I want a hybrid than I’ll buy a hybrid.

If you want to make this a political or environmental debate then please take it to Great Debates and debate it with people there.