Tell me again which one is the smartass smiley… I’d have used it in my post.
Total cost of the car, including financing and downpayment, tax, title and prep was $9,000. So that’d be $900 a year over 10 years, correct? I bought it two years old with 15K miles on it. I think it’ll last me another six years, since it’s in good shape and I take good care of it.
I thought that I’d said $200 a month. Did I make a typo?
My car gets good mileage. I have a commute of 16 miles each direction from work, so that’s 32 miles a day for the FTJ, plus the on-site consulting, plus any additional traveling that I do. I drive a lot. 
Oh my goodness! Your job involves you having to listen whingeing?? THE HORROR!
Welcome to life. You deal with people’s money. I deal with people’s children. Guess who gets more whingeing…ok the sad truth is it is probably you.
Damn straight.
Kids are an inexhaustible supply. It’s easy to make more.
Money… now that’s more tricky. It’s not like you can print it in your basement anymore. As I’ve recently learned. Much to my chagrin. :eek:
We are in the middle of a road trip from Calgary to Las Vegas, and I’ve learned a few things along the way:
- our car was a good purchase (used 2005 Corolla).
- the lowest gas prices in Canada (Alberta) are higher than most gas prices in the U.S. - we’re finallly hitting gas prices comparable to what we left, so we’ve been laughing for the last week.
- gas prices are a big, friggin’ deal here in the U.S. - we’re pissing and moaning in Canada, too, but on a much smaller scale.
- Alberta is producing far and away enough oil and gas for Alberta and probably the rest of Canada, and we’re still on the same international o & g roller coaster as the rest of youse.
In other words, I agree with the OP.
As Douglas Adams said, people have to keep talking in order to keep their brains from bothering them with that nasty old “thinking” stuff.
Given the way the rest of the war has gone - versus the apparent beliefs of its proponents on how it would go - I’d say it’s a safe bet that they thought we’d all be drowning in light sweet crude by now as Iraqis anointed the new pipelines with unguents. Instead of insurgents.
As for Iran: can anyone say “pincer movement”?
the second thing. I was hoping that my mirroring just the kind of conversation that you were complaining about would make it more clear that this was a “Pit op: I hate it when people talk in caps! grrr. next 5 responders: WHY DO YOU SAY THAT? I ALWAYS TALK LIKE THIS” joke. I admit that quoting the op was perhaps not the best stylistic choice, but helped my segue into my lead in to the joke.
Of course the lead in to the joke was my pretending to misunderstand the op, so maybe helping that part wasn’t the greatest idea
anyway, this post is just to say that I can read the op fine, but can’t tell a joke well
An average car is driven around 12K miles a year. So, let’s say 1000 miles per month, at an average mpg of 25. This amounts to 40 gallons of gas a month, which at $3/gal, is only $120/month. And 25 mpg isn’t exactly “good” milage. So, yeah, you use much more gas than an average person. According to AAA, the average cost of driving is $7,834/year. So, at $120/mo, gas only makes up 18.3% of the cost. AAA has $1425/year for the cost of gas, which is almost exactly what I calculated, but they have higher values for maintenance than you suggested.
I drive a hell of a lot more than 12K miles a year.
You can, of course, go with AAA averages, but I know that for me those numbers are not close to accurate.
Do we have any proof that the powers that be were salivating in anticipation over all the Iraqi oil we’d be drowning in? Memos? Off the record comments? Anything?
I found this right here at www.imadethisshitup.com
3/3/03
Memo
From: Vice Prezzy Cheney
To: All Underlings, Including you, Bush
RE: Succulent, slick and gooey crude
I have located massive amounts of delicious, smooth and creamy crude oil. Enough to swim in. Location: 33.20N, 44.30E or thereabouts.
FEED ME!!!
kbythks
Dick “Palpitane” Cheney.
If you are driving enough to spend $200 a month on gas, and only spending $200/yr on maintenance, I don’t think your car is going to last 6 years (the life you are using for your comparison) before needing 4 digit repairs.
Sure. But, since the average works out to less, we know that the majority of people whining about gas probably don’t realize that it’s a relatively small part of their total automobile expenditures.
Expensive doesn’t mean better. Just for example - it costs me around 40$ and a couple of hours to put brake pads and rotors on. That kind of job is 200$ at the garage.
I have the car checked out periodically and replace whatever’s needed, and it’s in excellent condition. Being able to take care of things for only the price of parts keeps maintenance costs way, way down.
You change four tires for 100 dollars? What size and what brand?
Wow, nothing like nitpicking the details.
If I spend $200 in two years on four tires, that’s pretty much $100/year isn’t it?
Not nitpicking, just curiosity.
I operate a tire shop and the $100 figure seemed too low. The cheapest size I have is 135/80/13 at 134 euros for four tires, installation and balancing included.
I get decent mileage out of a set of tires, and for whatever reason I usually have to buy two at a time instead of four. I rotate them every so often and they last a long time. Last set of tires was $130 and I won’t need new ones for over a year.
Dunno what to tell you.
catsix writes:
> I thought that I’d said $200 a month.
Sorry, I mistyped. In any case, $200 a month is distinctly more than average. $9000 for a car is distinctly less than average. (Did you include the financing costs?)