My car rolled over 65,000 miles today. That’s not a particularly significant number (I tend to like the palindromic numbers myself) but it did make me think to take stock about where I am with this car.
- Image via Wikipedia
In 2001, fresh out of a job, my 1993 Isuzu Trooper was in need of repair- and after a few years of questionable reliability, I decided it was time for a replacement. I bought the Nissan Pathfinder for a decent price (I thought) of about $35,000 (including tax, title, and all that other bullshit). After getting more than 5k for the Trooper, I was driving home in my first ever brand new vehicle.
In that first year of ownership, I drove the car 14,000 miles: On one trip alone I drove from San Francisco to Joshua Tree to Seattle and back. Did I mention that I wasn’t working?
In the years since, my driving scaled way back. For starters, I have a job now – I’ve had a few in the past years. In those years I haven’t worked further than 15 miles from home and in the last 4 I’ve worked downtown – no driving to work!
I was fortunate (and disciplined) enough to pay off the 5 year loan in about 3, so I haven’t had any car payments for the last 5 years. That has been awesome. I hate making payments.
And, being fairly meticulous with paperwork, I’ve got a full record of all of the work that I’ve had done to the car: normal routine maintenance; replaced windshield, new tires, smog checks, etc., Including the initial purchase price of the car (but not including interest charges as I don’t have that recorded, or insurance as that’s all wrapped up with the condo and motorcycle..) my cost of ownership to date has been $39,750. Ahh. one more thing – that doesn’t include gas. I reliably get a lousy 17 miles to the gallon. let’s see…. 65000… 17 .. let’s assume $3 average (that’s high for sure) 3823 gallons of gas .. $11, 470. Wow. 25% of my ownership costs have been fuel.
That’s definitely higher than I would have expected, but part of that I have to chalk up to the fact that (knock on wood) I haven’t had any major issues with the car so far and I’ve also elected to keep driving this car, rather than replacing it every 3-5 years like so many others would be tempted to do.
Today the Kelley blue book value is listed at $9,500. Who knows if anyone is even buying these cars these days, but that’s not really important as I’m not selling. I intend to drive this car hopefully for another 8 years which will hopefully only double (or less) my current mileage. If it can last even longer I’d like it even better.
As an environmentalist I’d love to have a car that gets better gas mileage – but at this point am I a better steward keeping an older car and not creating more demand for more manufacturing or would I be better off doubling my fuel efficiency. I’m not sure.
Despite rising gas prices, despite the economy, I like having an SUV – it matches the driving I typically do (when I’m not driving to Sacramento…). I take it to the mountains loaded with people and gear. For me, the ideal scenario is to supplement this car with a smaller “city” car. And of course, by city, I don’t actually mean a car to drive around the city as I HATE driving in the city – I prefer walking/public transport. A city car is one to take on those big grocery shopping days, or to visit friends on the peninsula, or to haul the mountain bike on a sunny Saturday.
But for now, the Pathfinder does just fine.
I couldn't agree with this post more. I have a similar story with my XTerra. It's a 2000, purchased in early 2002, and has been paid off for around three years. It has 75,000 miles on it, 20k of which were from the previous owner. I love this car to death (his name is Sancho). I fully plan to drive him into the ground, which should take me another ten years, at this rate. When that fateful day comes, I absolutely foresee another smallish Japanese SUV in my future. While the gas mileage may not be the best, it is hardly abhorrent, and it's not like I'm wrecking the ozone for more than a couple miles (seriously) a week. Given that, the extra cargo space is well worth it to me.
Hi Christian. I've been trying to reach you for about a year now and finally here you are! My name is Melanie Jolly and I am a Development manager for the SF Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. You've had an ongoing contribution with the Chapter since 2004. As of 8/26/08 the credit card we had on file for you was no longer processing. Usually this means that the member has gotten a new card. Contacting you this way may seem a little unethical, but I've spent a lot of time trying to find you, so when I found your blog, I couldn't resist. Please contact me as soon as you can so this can finally be resolved. I need to know if you will be able to continue contributing to the chapter. I can honestly say that if it weren't for people like you, we wouldn't be able to be as effective as we are. We won over 85% of the campaigns we worked on in November's election! This year is already proving to be one of the most difficult for us yet, but we're stubborn and refuse to give up doing the good work and protecting the planet we love. My # is 510-848-0800 ext. 302. Thanks again for all your support over the years and I hope to speak with you soon!! MJ
I couldn't agree with this post more. I have a similar story with my XTerra. It's a 2000, purchased in early 2002, and has been paid off for around three years. It has 75,000 miles on it, 20k of which were from the previous owner. I love this car to death (his name is Sancho). I fully plan to drive him into the ground, which should take me another ten years, at this rate. When that fateful day comes, I absolutely foresee another smallish Japanese SUV in my future. While the gas mileage may not be the best, it is hardly abhorrent, and it's not like I'm wrecking the ozone for more than a couple miles (seriously) a week. Given that, the extra cargo space is well worth it to me.
Hi Christian. I've been trying to reach you for about a year now and finally here you are! My name is Melanie Jolly and I am a Development manager for the SF Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. You've had an ongoing contribution with the Chapter since 2004. As of 8/26/08 the credit card we had on file for you was no longer processing. Usually this means that the member has gotten a new card. Contacting you this way may seem a little unethical, but I've spent a lot of time trying to find you, so when I found your blog, I couldn't resist. Please contact me as soon as you can so this can finally be resolved. I need to know if you will be able to continue contributing to the chapter. I can honestly say that if it weren't for people like you, we wouldn't be able to be as effective as we are. We won over 85% of the campaigns we worked on in November's election! This year is already proving to be one of the most difficult for us yet, but we're stubborn and refuse to give up doing the good work and protecting the planet we love. My # is 510-848-0800 ext. 302. Thanks again for all your support over the years and I hope to speak with you soon!! MJ