Thanks!
Ive been out car shopping all week. Its down to an 11' Chevy HHR, an 11' Honda Element, or a 12' Kia Soul!(Exclaim). And weirdly both the HHR and the Element were both discontinued this year, and the Soul is in its 3rd year, 2nd transformation. Will it make my deal better to buy a car that was discontinued but still popular out on the streets? Or go with the Soul which is so popular, at least out in California where I spend alot of time, that Soul moddin car clubs have been poppin up every where. Im doing a cash deal, errr via cashiers check or wire transfer from my bank when we get thru hammerin out a price quote I can live with. I just want to get the most stuff I can get on a car for the best deal. Luckily Im in between picking cars that I can get alot of stuff on em and walk out of the place only 20-25K lighter and not something over 30 or 40k. Damn economy, gas prices, and having to have something that saves me money cause I travel so much between Oklahoma, Iowa and California with my careers has priced me down into the 2.4l engine subcompacts market. Ive never in my life had anything smaller than the 4.3l 6cylinder engines, gonna be weird to be putt'ing around in a golf cart sized car. Making my move by Friday or next Monday, will post pics of my choice.
Of the three, I'd do the Soul.
Just thinking out loud here. One of the consideration I look at real hard when buying a car is safety. I understand you drive A LOT but with so much driving are you safe in such a car out on the highway? I'm thinking head on and side impact collisions. I always give up some MPGs for more protection.
I'm a hard core GM guy but I agree with this. The Soul is a good car from what I've read.
I've been considering a new car. My Silverado is is paid off and I need something with good MPGs. I saw a tan Soul on the road a few weeks ago and thought it was sweet looking. So I looked into them. I really cannot afford a new car so it's likely the Silverado will remain my daily driver.
If I choose the Soul it has supposedly rated very high in safety tests. I read at one of the consumer websites where it got high marks for safety due to all of the airbags and the crush-zone type of build of the vehicle. The Scion XD scored really high also.
I know where youre coming from here though. When you get in those cars you just cant imagine them being all that safe. After always having 4x4s and pickups, pretty much ever since I got my license, along with some kind of sports car or hotrod for a toy, the last thing I really ever thought about when buying a truck was safety when I chose a vehicle. I just didnt think it really mattered with the 4x4s and trucks. I got rear ended in my Blazer a few years ago and while it took the whole front of the girls Avalanche out all the damage I got was a broken tailight and a little hicky on my bigassed steel bumper.
I bought a new Nissan Sentra for my wife about 4 years ago. For some reason I had it one day going to go shoot. It was a sedan. Mouse mobile IMO. I was at 71st and Mingo in Tulsa going south on Mingo. We call this area the 'combat zone' because of all the traffic. I had went thru the intersection and before the south bound 2 lane Y'd into one lane I decided I wanted a Bill&Ruths sub in the south east side shopping strip. I stopped, the oncoming traffic coming from the south heading north on Mingo was going from one lane then expanding to two lanes right where I was making a left into the shopping strip. The right hand lane going north stopped for me. I looked and it was clear on the other side, or so I thought, and right when I went to turn east into the shopping center a big SUV was going around the stopped traffic in the left lane into the now expanded 2 lane road. She T-boned me at about 50mph and pushed me into a concrete ditch near the entrance to the shopping strip. The airbags deployed at impact. I managed to open my door and got out, unscratched, a little dazed. Walked around and looked at my car which was obviously totalled. That car saved my life I have no doubt as fast as she was going and at the impact my car absorbed. I didnt have any aches or pains, nothing. Cop came, blahblahblah, the whole wreck scenario. I had witnesses who corroberated that I had yielded for them and then turned in, but, she had had the right-of-way, even though she was speeding. My wife came and I went to the hospital to get checked out regardless of lack of any pains, just a good idea according to my wife. I was all good. Ive been in a bunch of wrecks over the years and almost always was injured a little when the accidents were in cars, especially in total outs like that one. But not a blip in the Nissan wreck. Either I was super lucky or that was a car that was built to take a wreck.
Anyways, ya, I will be looking really hard at safety equipment and the cars safety tests when I choose a vehicle. Subcompacts and compacts have historically never been my first choice in a vehicle for myself, its just time I figure to get something a little more economical even though I really dont mind the extra expense of the cost of gas because ironically I own mineral rights on our properties and a good part of my income is from the sale of oil and gas. Plus being from California I have already experienced paying $4 and close to $5 a gallon for gas living in San Francisco and the bay area.
Luckily though it wont be a total loss if I get something and dont like it- I have 3 daughters who one of them will benefit from a new automobile. Lollll.
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That 95 looks great.
I love the color.
Last of the great Ford body styles, IMHO
I love the color.
Last of the great Ford body styles, IMHO
Thanks for the praise and tips.
I'm in the process of accumulating the parts so if you know a source for a decent 440 and trans, let me know.
Also looking for electric window motors for the front or manual window regulators.
And I'll keep you in mind on the pushbutton trans.
Post some pics of your B-bodies. We'd love to see them.
I'm in the process of accumulating the parts so if you know a source for a decent 440 and trans, let me know.
Also looking for electric window motors for the front or manual window regulators.
And I'll keep you in mind on the pushbutton trans.
Post some pics of your B-bodies. We'd love to see them.
Sounds good to me. That's the direction I'm heading.
Gotta run on pump gas though......
Gotta run on pump gas though......
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