Well, it was fun while it lasted. I changed jobs recently and our budget is a little tighter than when I bought my truck, so in the interest of our family and financial security, I decided to trade it for a more economical form of transportation.

However, that being said...I still ended up with a pretty performance minded car, just out of chance. I was checking out the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, and thought I'd test drive a Chevy Aveo, and the Chebby dealer had a used 2003 Ford Focus ZX5 SVT, with only 33K miles. After a test drive of it, compared to the 3 cars above, I was sold.

After adding up all the savings (ins, gas, maintenance, payment), I'm saving around $200/month. And at least I still ended up with a fun car, that was very loaded to boot.

Thanks for all the assistance from each of you. I'll probably troll around on here every once in a while just to see how things are going. Too bad Dodge/Chrysler doesn't make a decent 4 door hatchback, or I might still be an active member.

Best wishes to all of you.

Matt

 

sad to hear you go, but can't argue with your priorities. good luck to you Matt.

 

You must drive a lot of miles to be saving $200 a month. I think things would have to get really bad for me to give up the security of driving a full size truck for me to switch to a little car. They sure aren't making tri-axle dump trucks any smaller. Best of luck.

 

I'd never condemn anyone for doing what they have to financially for the family. But did it have to be a Furd???

 

Well, we used to own ALL Fords. My wife had a Focus sedan (sucked) and I had a Ford Ranger.

When the kid(s) came along, we went shopping for a minivan. Our first stop was the Ford dealer, but we were not impressed at all. After checking out the Chrysler T&C, and me coaxing my wife (she didn't want one due to the bad transmission rap they had,) we decided to buy it.

Ironically, I ended up trading my truck for a Dodge Neon not too long after that. I dropped the Neon for a Mazda 6s Wagon, and hated it, so when I saw the truck for sale last year, I jumped on it for the price I got it at.

But with the job change, I took about a 10% pay cut. And I'm finding out the truck doesn't just cost more in gas. The last oil change ran me about $50. And with me driving 60 miles day to/from work, the costs add up quick. It finally started to show on our budget, so I had to make a decision.

I'm gonna miss that truck, as it was super clean and appeared to be well maintained. It's for sale at a local dealer in Johnstown, OH if anyone is looking for one. But they're asking way too much for it, or else truck prices have rebounded. I only paid $13.9K for it, and they gave me $13K trade. Now they're asking $16.8K!!!!

 

I am not condemning him, I just hate the direction these wacky "go green" freaks are pushing our country and not that he is one..... but I do understand where he is coming from, I have 3 kids, can barely make ends meet, but my kids will not be riding in a compact car.

 

Id never stop driving my truck for anything. However, as stated earlier, we all have to do what we think is best for our families in the long run. 200 bucks a month is alot of $ in the course of time and does make a difference. Good luck Matt, hope things work out for the best for you and sad to see ya go.

 

Hammer, What do you have against Furds, They make a descent car for the most part.

I find that the cost of having someone dive into the crammed engine bay of a van or passenger car, Outways the maintance cost of me DIY'ing it for my truck. I can't work on passenger vehicles for the most part anymore. The DIY cost also makes up for the gas mileage to.

With that said, being in the same situation alot of other people are in, I recently bought a little 3cyl Geo Metro for $300, Gets 50mpg. I do alot of the city driving with it, And amusingly enough adding it to my insurance dropped the 6 month premium by $5 becuase of the multi line discount was more than it costed to insure the thing.
And it is pretty easy to work on.

In the long run I beleive I will save a significant amount between the 2.

 

It's pretty easy math:

Car payment: $-40
Ins: $-12
Gas: $-120
Maint: $-30 (includes tire wear and oil changes)

That adds up to a savings of $202/mo.

All calcs assume 20Kmiles/yr. Which for me is pretty common.

 

BTW, we have the van for the family car. I hear you about safety...we got rid of the Focus sedan once the first kid came along. It was just too scary.