I bought a new car last week. I have been driving a Dodge Ram Diesel for the last 2 years and turned in my last lease car last year, while I like the truck, the fuel mileage was just too much. I checked a credit card statement and added up over $1000.00 in 1 month on fuel. I decided to buy something practical and comfortable, as I tend to drive approx. 25,000 miles a year. In the past I had more than 1 car. Now I am only driving one and my wife has her vehicle.
I bought a 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. rated for 35MPG city and 40MPG highway.
This is not my car. I downloaded a picture of the same car and used it.
So far I am happy with it and am averaging 34MPG all around and 38MPG on the highway.
The car is full of options; leather, panoramic roof, Ipod dock, navigation, etc. People that have known me for a long time are surprised to see me drive a Hyundai (and enjoy it). I am kind of surprised myself at how well it drives. The hybrid does take a little getting used to. When the ignition is turned on, nothing happens, just the dashboard lights turn on.
Here is a look at some of the cars I've had over the last 10 years. There were many more, but these are the ones that stand out.
I leased a Jaguar XK8 for 2 years in July 2001. (Hippodrome company car)
This was a great car, my first convertible and still one of my favorite cars. As much as I liked the car, there is still no denying that Jaguars aren't the best built cars. The front end of the car felt like it was going to fall out every time you went over a bump. The salesman (who I became friendly with) said, "You think it sucks now?
Wait a few years til it's not new any more. That's how they build them."
This was a very cool ride, with a 501 CI engine, got about 8 MPG. I drove it around a little bit and came to the realization that it belonged in a museum or in some classic car collection somewhere. A 30 year old car is still 30 years old, no matter how little it has been used. Low mileage original cars are always in demand and easy to sell.
Notice the Jaguar in the background.
I put less than 1000 miles on it and sold it on Ebay. A person in Norway bought it and made arrangements to ship it to Oslo. The car had 8200 original miles when I sold it.
In 2004 I bought a new convertible. An SL 500. This was the 2nd year for the new body style.
A great car and a Hardtop.
The Mercedes was a little more expensive than the Jaguar, but was a much better car all around.
The car was even designed better. With the top down and the wind screen up, your hair wouldn't even get blown around.
I then missed the big Eldorado and decided to look for another one.
What I found was a 1978 Special Edition Barritz. This car belonged to an elderly woman who bought it new in 78. She added all of the "pimp" accessories at the dealer.Including the grill and spoke mags.
The interior on this thing was classic (and like brand new), with the overstuffed seat cushions.
My friends would accuse me of stealing Snoop Dog's car.
I put some work into this one. I removed the exhaust and catalytic converter and had it replaced with a custom dual exhaust. This alone must have added 100 horsepower. I had Antique plates on it and only drove it on weekends. I put 2000 miles on it and sold it with 14000 original. I looked on Ebay and realized this car was in much better condition than ones selling for twice what I had into it. So this car found it's way on Ebay and sold to a person in Latvia. He had a relative of his that lived in New Jersey come pick the car up and ship it to him.
In the fall of 2006 I bought a 2007 S550. This was a brand new body style and a great car.
I can't find any pictures of the car (on this hard drive), so I found a photo online of the same car. Gray/blue Metallic, with a panoramic roof. The list of options on this car were endless. When I first bought the car, I laughed at the fact that it had electric window shades for the rear side and back windows, until we had kids and used them while traveling with a baby in the back seat. (What did I ever do without them?) This was the last car I bought while I was single, and probably the nicest. It's amazing how your priorities change.
