1976 Ford Pinto, didn't blow up on me, but I was never rear-ended 1976 Honda CVCC--my friends called this a beer can. Because it looked like one to them. Could reach over and roll down the window on the passenger side while driving, without leaning over. Small! 1988 Pontiac LeMans-the car they brought back from the 60s only uglier and less durable. The first car I ever ever bought. 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse-At this time, Mitsubishi, Dodge, and Eagle (remember them?!) were in collusion, I mean had agreements, in place and Eagle made the Talon. Daddy liked my Eclipse so much he bought a Talon. 1990 Mazda Miata--you know how I feel about that one!!!! 2011-1990=21 years old. Still running strong. After bankruptcy, foreclosure, and divorce... AND it got flooded, there is no A/C (I don't care), no heater (I don't care), the driver's window doesn't crank up or down, I can pull it instead, and the radio just went out. I might fix that. I did just get a brand new convertible top and it'll likely work another three or so years. My parents owned, during my lifetime, and I rode in: '67 Jaguar XKE (CHECK THIS CAR OUT!!!!) Late 70s Grand Torino Ford, Pinto (the same one) A really huge and old Oldsmobile that I learned to drive on. Ugh. Cars my boyfriends/husbands have owned, and I drove/owned: 196? VW Bug (two of them) 198? Honda CRX (two of them) 1986 1/2 yes, a half year??? Toyota Celica, Supra (two of them) Oldsmobile Cutlass Nissan pickup Mazda 626 Mazda Protege Isuzu Rodeo The weird thing is, the two bugs, two Hondas, and the two Supras are the same two guys. Both guys onwed all those cars in succession. Where they deviate? After I broke up with boyfriend of eight years, he bought a Nissan Pathfinder. The one I married and stayed married to for 11 years, owned an ordinary Nissan pickup. Weird!!!!!

A gell cell battery has from 13.2V-13.4V therefore more CCAs. Use one of these in a very hot or cold environment. So your not waisting money. Everything is made to last a certain time including transmissions ect... It just happens to fail out-of-warranty as we call it. In our shop we repair CNG systems, Hybrrids, and EVs (Electric Vehicles). Though fewer problems, when they do happen it is much more expensive to replace than your regular car. A EV or HEV battery pack can cost up to $23,000 for the most expensive (Ex: Fisker Karma Coupe or Mercedes Benz S-400 Hybrid). So love your cheap stuff now and hate the dealers now: Honda, Lexus/Toyota, Kia... ect, Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge, because they are set to fail after warranty. Your best bet is a foreign car like Fiat, Jaguar, Benz... ect. UK cars in general (Better economy where based). Though Fiat has brought back the 500 with Jeep/Dodge (The companies they own). We needed a small turbo deisel not gasoline powered. With a motor generator and a deisel to charge a pack we would be set. But we are afraid :(. Boo hoo America. We have almost no polution from some deisels now. Lets see your paying an extra dollar to gain a extra 25-35 mpgs its worth it trust me. We are not ready for this innovation, for even i drive a souped up 1994 940 Turbo that uses premeium gasoline. Thanks, The Hybrid guru. JKSully

I don't know anything about the seal problems, but a Toyota with only 76K miles could have a lot of life left. As for $3K, I again say look at the "book value" to see what it should sell for and look at the private sale value, that should be less than what you'd have to pay at a dealer. Again, I'd look at the book on Chevy and Ford (S10 and Ranger to be in the same size range as the Toyota) and see if it is possible to get one a couple of years newer and a few miles less used for the same money. I was talking to a fisherman I "bumped" into a couple of days back. He had noted my Chevy Colorado and asked how I like it. He had a Chevy S10 of some years, don't remember, but I do remember he said he had about 300,000 on it. Yes he had replace a number of things, but he engine/transmission/drive-train was original equipment. My 1988 Dodge Ram 50, similar size, had about 100,000 on it when I traded it in (gave away) on the Chevy and the only problems I had were: Head Gasket and Carb. It was a 4WD and the drive train/clutch seemed to be in "perfect" shape. A mechanic at the dealer bought the truck, and I see it from time to time, he's still driving it to work. He said he replaced the carb, I don't know if anything else has gone. Point? 76K miles isn't a lot of miles on a vehicle if it has been maintained (mostly just oil change/filter change).

Some people are so funny to me. Gas prices are way up as are profits to the oil companies. No shortage, nothing to explain the higher price other than market gaming. Some people want to point to the suv owner as the problem. Mini vans that get about the same mpg are ok for some reason. A person who gets 35 mpg but is still paying $2.50 per gallon for a product that can be sold at a profit at $1.25 is still getting screwed...and not by the guy driving the hemi. Good/bad gas mileage is a relative term. I guess if a dodge hemi can tow a 6000 lb trailer and get 12 mpg, and a gmc with a 454 pulls the same trailer and gets 9 mpg, I guess the gmc is getting bad mpg. If one guy purchases a little yuck mobile and gets 40 mpg, and another buys a little ick mobile with the same capablities gets 35, the guy with the ick mobile is getting bad mpg. GoodOleBoy, What kind of flop houses are you putting your familly up in for $30? Just got back from a trip myself and the cheepest room with two beds we found was $75. It cost a guy I know at work $65 per night for a campsite with hook ups at a KOA outside West Yellowstone a couple weeks ago. He knows he got jipped at that place. $30 sounds like those run down rent by the hour places in the questionable part of town.