Quote:
Originally Posted by status
did you buy the lexus?
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No, but I feel like I'm under some kind of kid's automotive zombie spell when it comes to that car we drove. Neither my wife not I can stop thinking or talking about it.
Ridiculous.
Over the years, we have easily been able to resist all newcomers into our spacious, two-car (whoops, there I go again) garage. On those rare occasions when we did walk into a new-car showroom, usually the new cars were too cramped for me and we never even got the urge to take a test drive. I once sat in an Avalon that had pretty good room, but, again, it was not an exciting car, so we didn't even bother with a test drive.
After all of these visits, we'd sit back down in our very roomy Accord and drive away thinking that we owned one hell of a great car.
A friend of our's just bought an "09 Corolla. He even let me drive it while he and my wife were passengers. It's a nice little car, but I think our 92 Accord is a better vehicle in every respect except gas mileage. For example, the dash on that Corolla is a disgrace and the rest of the interior isn't much better. Our car does not have a single tear, or even wear spot, on its upholstery, and no deterioration on any of the dash or door trim. The only place the interior has some minor fading is the deck under the rear window.
I would not be a bit surprised if our '92
still outlives that Corolla.
Anyway, back to Lexus. A couple of weeks ago, there was a black/tan, 1998 Lexus LS400, 240,000 km, advertised on an local on-line classified-ad site. I'd sat in a few LS400s that were much older than that, but never driven one, so I bamboozled my wife into going to take a look at it by telling her that we would be "just looking" and would not be buying a vehicle with that number of miles on it.
Well, I instantly found that I fit just great in that car - plenty of leg room for my 38" legs - and it drove spectacularly well and my wife really liked it, too. The interior was almost showroom condition, and ultra-luxury to boot, but the exterior showed its age and miles.
After the test drive, very surprisingly to me, my wife actually suggested that we go to the Lexus dealer, which just happened to be nearby, in order to find out if they had any newer, lower-mile vehicles.
That's where we saw, and drove, the white, '01 LS430.
It had even better headroom than the LS400 that we had just driven, and was an even better all-around looking, and driving, car. For example, its turning radius is very tight - even tighter than our Accord, I'm pretty sure.
It is a fantastic car in every way. I would not be surprised if our Accord gets a roomate in the near future.
(This is the reason I started the thread about prices of vehicles at dealer-only auctions. I'm a stingy SOB, so if one can save several thousand dollars by buying a vehicle there, I'd become a temporary car-dealer in order to do that.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimBlake
If it's well maintained, it'll get better over the first several thousand miles as the rings seat into the cylinders & general break-in stuff.
If you're lucky, it almost stays the same from then on. But eventually things will wear out. A drop in MPG can tell you to start looking for things going wrong. Maybe even non-engine stuff like corroded brakes that drag a little bit.
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Thanks again, Jim. With my careful maintenance, our soon-to-be 18-yr-old Accord still runs very well.
(How's this for reliability. The
only lamp I've ever replaced on the car is the back center brake light- and that only once.)
Interesting fuel economy comparison
, even less than the luxury living room on wheels.)
