What do you drive?

[Keonobi]

I wasn't sure if this belonged in the "things that piss you off thread", or here, so here goes.

Prior to us meeting my Wife had bought a 2004 Ford Focus.  Nice car, for what it is, but was fast getting too small for our family of, now, four.  So we were thinking of replacing it anyway.  Well, yesterday morning the transmission went kaput.  From what the guy at the transmission shop figures, we lost when of the shifting bands, i think that's what he said, so we wouldn't have 2nd or 4th gears (its an automatic).  He could either rebuild the transmission for about $2000 or get a used transmission off a junked focus for almost that amount.  Basically bad idea options number 1 or 2.  Especially because putting down $2000 isn't so doable right now.

So we're thinking we are going to trade it it.  Its got 85,000, so I realized Ford has a 5 year 100,000 mile warrantee on Focuses from 2004.  Great right?  Nope, the warrantee started in October of 2003.  Meaning it expired 3 months ago.   

So now we're back to buying something else.  I think we're going to look at the Mazda5, maybe the Scion Xb, the Subaru Forrester and a couple other models.  Its a nice time, with the incentives being offered, to be looking, just not a good time to be paying for a car loan.

[Jesse James]

Get what you can out of the car's parts.  I'd take it to a yard that specializes in selling used parts to people willing to come strip them down themselves.  85k isn't a lot of miles so I'm sure there's tons of things on there that are useful from body parts to mirror motors.  You could probably get a pretty penny out of the car actually.

Or try listing it on Craigs List under car parts or something.  See what kinds of offers you get, that the car is for parts only due to the transmission, and offer it for half bluebook value or something perhaps (not sure what shape it's in overall, just giving you an idea).  85k isn't many miles, so I'm sure the car has a lot of things worth something on it.

[Keonobi]

I'd just sell it as in on Craigslist, I did that with a Saab that blew a headgasket a couple years back, but a couple weeks ago I slid into a guardrail and broke a headlight and mashed the grille some.  Basically enough where repairs were more than the deductible on my insurance, but not enough so the car wasn't driveable.  So that knocks out some of the parts stripping potential since a head light was busted, etc.  According to an estimator on Mazda's website, that claims to be based on KBB, I should be able to get about $2700 on a trade, and that's with an engine or transmission that needs repair/replacement.  I'll be sure to print that out just in case they low ball me with $200 on the trade.

Bottom line, if it wasn't January, I'd try selling it on my own, or at the least to someone who would part it out, but its too cold to be outside pulling parts.

[Jesse James]

Body parts aren't nearly as important as engine parts, etc., so if the engine's still good it's retained most of it's parts value.  The problem with selling as-is compared to the Saab is that headgaskets go all the time on cars, and are easy to fix.  The Saab's like buying a used Saab, basically, if you know how to repair the gasket (unless you cracked the head when it blew)...  The Tranny on this is a major issue though, and rebuilds are tough unless you know what you're doing with transmissions.  Most don't, thus $2000 to rebuild one.  I hope you get a good bit for it, but it'll be a tougher sell for a fair price than the Saab I'm guessing.  I had a car that blew gaskets about every 3 years because of just how it was engineered.  You just had to stay on top of it and replace them before it happened (watching for oil leaks and stuff).

People may call your bluff on the KBB trade-in value...  They'll say, "go try it then", as not many dealers are going to take a car with a ruined transmission right now I'm afraid....  I don't know if a Dealer would be quick to take anything like that in for that price.

Though, Focus is a pretty popular car so they may take it for parts, who knows.  I think sales of Focuses have been higher than usual the last few years due to oil prices, so maybe I'm wrong there.  They may take it just to get a new car off their lot too, who knows.

[darth punkinhed]

I have a 2000 ford focus. The tranny is out on it too. If you do the research on it the ford focus is pretty much crap when it comes to the tranny. I wouldn't suggest any year, make or model of the ford focus to anyone.

[Matt]

This is my whip:



I'm pretty proud of it.

[iFett]

You're such a pimp Matt.

[Matt]

Not until my purple fur-lined hat and jewel-encrusted cane arrive from The Soul Boutique, I'm not.

(Thankfully, I already have my crushed-velvet leopard skin jacket.)

[Jesse James]

I'm lovin' it...  and by "it", I mean your car.

[Tracy]

Does it come with special sauce stains on the seats?

[Matt]

Does it come with special sauce stains on the seats?

Only when I get a little sloppy with the ol' Big Mac, if you know what I mean. 

[Scott]

Is Big Mac 26"? WOW   Because Super Macho Man is only 22"

[Matt]

Is Big Mac 26"? WOW

Unfortunately, no.  They left the decimal point out of the decal.    

[Keonobi]

So as of tomorrow afternoon we're going to be done with the focus.  The wife convinced me we needed more space than a lot of the mid-size/crossover type of cars we were looking at, and since Ford & Chevy don't make minivans anymore, Dodge/Chryslers are way too much for what you get, Nissan's is pricey, and a new Toyota or Honda would be amazing, but not at all doable, that left us with the affordable ($4,000-$5,000 incentives help) but according to Consumer Reports, somewhat below average in terms of reliability; Kia Sedona or Hyundai Entourage.  Oh, and on top of that, generally the prices for lightly used cars is about the same as a new car around here (go figure?).  So just for fun I happened to search online for Toyota dealers and was looking through their used stock.  I found an 06 Sienna, with only 20k on it.  That means its been driven 6,000 a year, and unless Granny had it at the red line all 6,000 of those miles, probably in great shape.  And it is.  So now I've got a minivan.  I wasn't expecting it to have one, but its got a DVD in the back, which the boys will love, and it gets significantly better mileage than the alternatives we had, which I love.  Plus I'll finally get to have a second policy under the same name, so I'll get a break on my Home Owners Insurance too.  Win, win, win.

[Morgbug]

No win for the climate.  Minivan = small SUV.  Convenience trumps conscience every single time.   


Sorry man, couldn't resist.  Can't really go wrong with a Toyota.  Thumbs up.