New daily driver ...

New truck wasn't in the cards financially  and decided to go econobox. Got the official staff car of Father Guido Sarducci.  Bought it the end of Jan ... handles  great, 41 mpg last tankful (lots of interstate miles), my best so far- usually average 35-36 mpg. Don't mind the heated seats, Sirius, Bluetooth, pw/locks/windows/ cruise at all. Won't carry too many hay bales though.

Pretty cool! 41 mpg, who can complain?
I'm supposed to drive my sons Civic while he is at school, but my ass feels like it's sitting on the road, way too low for me. Your car seems like you would sit more upright which would be more comfortable for me. Good luck.

TheQuig wrote:

Pretty cool! 41 mpg, who can complain?
I'm supposed to drive my sons Civic while he is at school, but my ass feels like it's sitting on the road, way too low for me. Your car seems like you would sit more upright which would be more comfortable for me. Good luck.

You sit quite a bit higher than in a Civic (I looked at one and had the same reaction you did)  ... the seating position reminds me a lot of an old air cooled VW Beetle. Plenty of room for me ( I drive solo 99.5% of the time) ... more leg room than the Ranger which surprised me considering how small it is. It's a hoot to drive, surprisingly comfortable and it's nice not to have to dump two quarts of oil in it every week.

It was a tough decision for me to make ... I've owned trucks for a long time and was pretty well set on a new Ram 1500 Tradesman (V6, RWD, reg. cab/ 8' box) later this summer when my finances were better but the Ranger wouldn't let me wait that long. The Fiat was $10g less than the Ram, something I could afford now. Later in the year I'm going to start looking for a project truck.

Did the girl from the TV commercial come with it? That would be the deal breaker for me. I will most likely drive the Civic one day this week, it's been sitting since he went back from spring break.

Nice little car Rusty. Nice to be able to drive past the gas station isn't it? Wife drives a Yaris which I figure is about the same size. She can get in the low forties too, when her foot is not through the floor boards (rare).

TheQuig wrote:

Did the girl from the TV commercial come with it?

I wish ...



I was surprised to find out she (Catrinel Menghia) is actually Romanian and not Italian ..... but with looks like that who cares.

ggbaird wrote:

Nice to be able to drive past the gas station isn't it? Wife drives a Yaris which I figure is about the same size. She can get in the low forties too, when her foot is not through the floor boards (rare).

It is .... I can go all week on a 10.5 gallon tank even if I drive it like I stole it ... fun to drive a slow car fast. It's about $12-$15 a week less in gas than the Ranger plus the two quarts of oil I had to dump in it every week towards the end.  The 500 has free service for 3 years or 3 oil changes and tire rotations- whichever comes first.

Can't knock the Ranger though, it served me well (almost 168,000 miles on it). The numbers just didn't add up to fix it.

Nice, too bad GM didn't offer compact coupes anymore.
Would liked to have looked at one when we bought our Cruze.
Econo cars are sooo much better than 10 years ago.

Diesel Dan wrote:

Econo cars are sooo much better than 10 years ago.

Core reasoning is that they're bringing premium aspects into the small cars. As large vehicles continue to get exponentially expensive, incomes haven't increased at the same rate. To have product from a cost perspective hit the target and amenities that is desirable by many, this was a natural evolution. When large vehicles were relatively affordable with all the amenities, there was no reason financially for the manufactures to sell down market.

Interesting timing, as I've been on and off recently of evaluating another vehicle purchase as well.  The little irritation called fiduciary responsibility keeps telling me no however.  Trying to keep strong but a truck is only so much fun.  Plus my daughters need to learn to drive here in the next few years. The girl above might sway me to evaluate something different, however its easily assessed the girl would come with its own set of costs and accompanied issues. I don't believe I want any part of other at this point in life.

I just bought my wife a 2012 Ford Expedition. I seemed to have gone the opposite route. Lol. We looked at a Kia Sorento, Ford Expedition and Explorer, GMC Acadia and some others but when it came down to it the kids around here were too expensive for what you get. I don't trust GM with this ignition switch stuff and the Acadia seems to have a lot of transmission issues. And I'm a Ford guy. After Maggie drove the Expedition she was sold. She LOVES the room in it. We got an XLT model with leather so melted crayons will be easier to clean up. Leather was the only "luxury" item we cared to have but it also came with the backup camera and power folding seats in back. The gas for us won't be a big deal because she does mostly in town driving but not many miles. I am disappointed in the mileage though as it is rated 14/20 I believe but even with my grandpa driving we got 13.3 first tank. Oh well. It's a huge step up from the vehicle I've had the last 11 years.

But on an all positive note, riding the bike weather is back!

Probably still winter gas, my mom's 2010 Expedition EL gets better than 13.

Do we get winter blends here in Texas?

We do in DFW. I don't know if Lubbock does or not.

You'll like the Expy and enjoy.  Interior design much like the trucks is a positive.  Many key in on the fold flat rear seats versus the GM equivalents.  Funny our Denali would average 14.5 MPG in mixed driving seeming no matter how you drove it. With highway only I could squeak out 18 and some change.  The 5.4 never was great at mileage but once you get it out of the stoplights you should see better than the 13.3 MPG your getting now.

Many will freak out on the GM ignition issues even though they have nothing in common with other platforms.  Very similar to Ford's Pinto and Mustang gas tanks, Firestone tires on the Explorer, and truck and SUV ignition fires.  GM's turn now in the hot seat.  Though GM seems to be unique.  Its socially popular in the masses to never let go after 10, 20, 30 years from now they'll still refer to it as a reason not to buy.  GM is the media stepchild of the US auto industry.

I thought I had read an article about a blending facility in Dallas County that had something like 13 different blends for distribution around the area. The number of unique blends adds costs to everyone's fuel.

I'd like a new corvette but agree, the fiduciary responsibility says no for now.

That is terrible fuel mileage in todays age, JMO.
Damn EPA and NHSTA are killing any real fuel mileage gains we should be seeing by now. Wish we would jump on board with Euro Diesel specs so we could import more efficient smaller diesels.

rustbucket wrote:

TheQuig wrote:

Did the girl from the TV commercial come with it?

I wish ...



I was surprised to find out she (Catrinel Menghia) is actually Romanian and not Italian ..... but with looks like that who cares.

That is impressive as there aren't many attractive Romanian women for some reason.

rustbucket wrote:

TheQuig wrote:

Did the girl from the TV commercial come with it?

I wish ...



I was surprised to find out she (Catrinel Menghia) is actually Romanian and not Italian ..... but with looks like that who cares.

I would be happy if she would just speak dirty to me.