| Pages:
1
2 |
mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
|
|
Fuel price changes mindset
Due to the high cost of fuel being predicted ($5.50 by June1), I am buying a smaller "get around" car. 40mpg to my 10 mpg Dodge truck....change is in
need. My truck is not needed every time I head for Baja.
Here's my question....
Should I ever drive this little car to Baja...are parts reasonable avail for these brands: toyota echo or kia rio
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
|
|
|
bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
|
|
Get a used Chevy Tracker or a Suzuki Vitera, 2dr, softtop, 5sp, 4x4
[Edited on 3-5-2011 by bajaguy]
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mcfez
Should I ever drive this little car to Baja...are parts reasonable avail for these brands: toyota echo or kia rio |
Kinda depends on the car, Deno. If it's one of them Maseratis, you may have a problem. Any common, working man's car, no problem.
What are your intentions? To immediatly tear hell out of your new eco-ride?
|
|
|
comitan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4177
Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
|
|
Any color other than red you will be fine!!
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
|
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
the new Kiaota would be the ultimate small car for Baja:
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
BajaGringo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3922
Registered: 8-24-2006
Location: La Chorera
Member Is Offline
Mood: Let's have a BBQ!
|
|
Or get one of these. Hook up a set of horses and fill 'er up with a couple of bales of hay...
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
--------or invest in the Vanguard Energy Fund which MORE than compensates you for the higher fuel prices. 
Barry
|
|
|
mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by mcfez
Should I ever drive this little car to Baja...are parts reasonable avail for these brands: toyota echo or kia rio |
Kinda depends on the car, Deno. If it's one of them Maseratis, you may have a problem. Any common, working man's car, no problem.
What are your intentions? To immediatly tear hell out of your new eco-ride? |
.......tear hell out of your...
I do that already :-(
I'm old fashion.....it kills me mentally to pump $80 into the tank every other day. I have to take my son into town from the farm for his private
school. ...plus routine stuff. Driving to Baja in the truck is 827 miles ./. by 10 mpg @ $4.00 PG = $640.00 per round trip. A toyota echo or kia rio
will pay for itself within 14 months.....from the savings of non weekly use of the truck.
The Ram will be used strictly for the landscape contracting business. I'll secure a truck or rail and keep that at the Baja House.
[Edited on 3-6-2011 by mcfez]
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
|
|
|
Howard
Super Nomad
Posts: 2353
Registered: 11-13-2007
Location: Loreto/Manhattan Beach/Kona
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.
|
|
I just love my Prius and it goes beyond the 45 mpg. It's a well built car with all the room I need.
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
|
|
|
mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Howard
I just love my Prius and it goes beyond the 45 mpg. It's a well built car with all the room I need. |
Excellent Howard...txs for your feedback. Have you gone long distances with it? Comfee ?
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
|
|
|
woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15940
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
i'm feeling SOOOO good about my 13.5-15 mpg in my tundra right now. but she only gets out when i head south, so not really a problem for me. plus,
living 7 miles from the border means that all of the miles are in baja so i don't mind. it's why i bought her after all.
edit: AND with gas being +/- $.50gal cheaper in baja it's like i have more money to spend on Srhimp (not a typo!) tacos!
[Edited on 3-6-2011 by woody with a view]
|
|
|
mtgoat666
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 20372
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mcfez
| Quote: | Originally posted by Howard
I just love my Prius and it goes beyond the 45 mpg. It's a well built car with all the room I need. |
Excellent Howard...txs for your feedback. Have you gone long distances with it? Comfee ? |
lots of nice econo cars out there. prius is fun, but visually boring.
the new mini countryman is nice looking. mini on steroids, capable of seating 4 comfortably, with room for some luggage. has higher ground clearance
too.
|
|
|
MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
Member Is Offline
|
|
In Baja I have a 1998 4 cyl Toyota Tacoma 4x4 that gets 14 mpg in town. At home in So Calif I have a 2000 Toyota Echo, 4 door, that I bought about 5
years ago for $5,000 USD (it had 60,000 miles at the time). I consistently get 40mpg plus on the Echo with a combination of freeway and in town
driving (mostly in-town driving) employing 'hyper-miling' driving techniques (e.g., driving the speed limit, coasting as often as possible, modest
accelerating off the line, staying under 70 mph on the freeway, anticipating stop lights and slowing down early instead of using only brakes to come
to a stop). The Echo is extremely reliable and comfortable, zippy, great peripheral vision capabilities for safety, great a/c, heater, and very road
worthy. I am happily married and not looking for women to admire me, so I don't give a potter's dam what people think of me when I am seen in my Echo
in Orange County.
Considering getting a similar Echo for Baja (it would be great for easily parking in-town, La Paz, a crowded down town city). Makes absolute perfect
sense to do so. I would hope that we Americans would start using some wisdom and maturity and go to much smaller cars for basic transportation.
[Edited on 3-6-2011 by MitchMan]
|
|
|
El Jefe
Super Nomad
Posts: 1027
Registered: 10-27-2003
Location: South East Cape
Member Is Offline
|
|
My opinion only, but as I see it there is no supply problem. Higher prices are the result of oil speculators taking advantage of unrest in the middle
east to bid up the futures price. The bubble will pop at some point in the next year and prices will come back down slowly, prices being sticky
downward, to near where they were a couple months ago. However, I think they will settle a bit higher than the last low we saw. So, can you ride it
out for 12 months or so in your guzzler?
Looks like we might have to put off the cross country motorhome trip this summer. Too bad.
On the topic of economical cars. I think any little somewhat newer car you buy would be no problem for highway driving down here. They are all pretty
darn reliable.
No b-tchin\' in the Baja.
|
|
|
norte
Super Nomad
Posts: 1163
Registered: 10-8-2008
Member Is Offline
|
|
I think many have!
| Quote: | Originally posted by MitchMan
Considering getting a similar Echo for Baja (it would be great for easily parking in-town, La Paz, a crowded down town city). Makes absolute perfect
sense to do so. I would hope that we Americans would start using some wisdom and maturity and go to much smaller cars for basic transportation.
[Edited on 3-6-2011 by MitchMan] |
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
The old VW Bugs would get 30MPG, if they got stuck you could easily push/pull 'em to solid ground. Air cooled, high milage/gallon,skid plate, etc.
and now we have what?
|
|
|
Howard
Super Nomad
Posts: 2353
Registered: 11-13-2007
Location: Loreto/Manhattan Beach/Kona
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.
|
|
mcfez
I have gone from L.A. to Sacramento several times, camping into the Sierra's and find it very comfortable. I am a big person and have no problem
getting in or getting out. Lots of room in back and does not ride like a small light car probably because of the weight of the batteries. 70,000
total miles, no problems at all. One time I had it up to 90 MPH with the air con on and it had no problem doing that. You can U-2-U me if you need
any other feedback. It does not get to good of gas mileage in the hills.
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
|
|
|
mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Howard
I have gone from L.A. to Sacramento several times, camping into the Sierra's and find it very comfortable. I am a big person and have no problem
getting in or getting out. Lots of room in back and does not ride like a small light car probably because of the weight of the batteries. 70,000
total miles, no problems at all. One time I had it up to 90 MPH with the air con on and it had no problem doing that. You can U-2-U me if you need
any other feedback. It does not get to good of gas mileage in the hills. |
Well...great info coming in here from my Noman tribesmen! Please....keep it coming in.
Howard...txs 4 that info...as we do too run to the Sierras / coast often. I myself am not a skinny ol boy.
All this could be worst....waiting in the lines like back in the 70's!!! 
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
|
|
|
MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
Member Is Offline
Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
|
|
Getting Gassed and Gouged
A few days back in the L.A. [Socialist] Times Business section, there was an article wherein one analyst speculated that a LOT of people were going to
make the mistake of running out and buying New Fuel-efficient vehicles based upon the "Current" Run-up and who would then find themselves with Buyers
remorse when prices once again moderated given how long it would take for the purchase to reach a Break-Even point.
He said "It's like looking out the window at the rain and thinking it's going to rain non-stop for four years".
|
|
|
Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8970
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
|
|
My personal observations thus far..
My Jeep Wrangler Rubicon on 33" flotation tires gets 16 mpg (combined city/hwy) when driven conservatively. When I drive the Honda Pilot, I get 19
mpg in combined city/hwy use.
My question to McFez is - if you bought a small run-about for Baja use, how would your family fit inside?
Would you pack this car like a family of backpackers?
When driving at night, how safe is your family in a small run-about vs. your full-size pickup? Is this worth taking a chance??
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
