No car – we had a 2000 Commodore VT, but it was costing an arm and a leg in loan payments and fuel, so got rid of it in 2003. Best move ever. We live walking distance from my wife’s work, and walking distance to the train to my work, and walking distance to downtown Bris. So all is good! The amount we save is just phenomenal! We do know though that it can’t last forever – when we have kids we will certainly get one. But one thing it taught us is that we will never get a big, new, expensive car again, and we will only ever pay cash in future too.
AdamDon’t let life get in the way of living.
Very interesting subject. I think that you can tell a lot about a person from thier car.
Personally, I drive a new Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD, I traded a 2003 Holden SS commodore. We live in a rural area and I was sick of the limited ground clearance and traction. I travel about 30-35,000 kms per year. I find it best to lease a vehicle, run all expenses on the fleetcard. I also dispose of the vehicle before the manufacturers warranty expires.
My wife has a Nissan Navarra 4wd t/diesel ute for towing a horse float. Beside this I also have 4 M/Cycles, a quad bike, a tractor and 2 trailers.
The tractor allows me to boast that I drive a red Lamborgihi 2 door coupe (Yes, they mainly make tractors)I think that for me Reliability,economy (fuel/Maint) and safety are the factors that make me lean toward a new car. Also I feel better not driving a heap of s**t , knowing I will arrive in comfort and on time. If I need to travel 1000km to inspect a bargain piece of RE, the car is just there ready to go. A car is really a “Tools of Trade” for me in my real estate investing hobby.
JTW
I think that you can tell a lot about a person from their car.Absolutely…and I’m only 30 days away from realising my dream of purchasing a beat up 1960’s F150 with all of the extras…like scratched panels, rusty hinges, uncomfortable bench seat, big wide mud tyres, cobwebs on the side mirrors, worn through floor matting and a really uneconomical sluggish 351.
$ 4,000 and she’s all mine. Beauuutifuullll.
Dazzling,
I to have a real soft spot for the old “FUN 100”, especially an old classic. I am jealous. However you probably only have this as a toy , right?Alternatively, perhaps you are trying to tell us you are a middle aged, sluggish, overweight, tired and slightly balding. (Just joking, the thing about the car telling you about the person)
JTW
JTW did you know the word Pajero is apparently the Spanish slang for “wanker”… yep, we have a Wanker too [diesel]… to tow float, which it does superbly.
When Mitsubishi went to release the Pajero in Europe a little bit of name changing occurred.
Nonetheless we happily drive our horses around towed by a Wanker… I mean Pajero.Sam
Goodrum,
No I hadn’t heard that ‘Wanker’ interpretation, I though it was supposed to mean a panther or something. I might change the badges on the car, in north america they call them Montero.ours is a diesel Auto and goes great, I think it forgets to drink fuel every now and then. Ideal RE investor car.I take back what I said about the car telling you something about the person.
JTW
Up to a few weeks ago our family had a ’89 VW Transporter with 10 seats in it, and an ’89 Range Rover. Both were petrol powered. But with the price of petrol going up I couldn’t afford to run them. So we sold both and bought a ’95 VW Caravelle and a ’92 Range Rover, both dual fuel LPG/ Petrol. The cost to change over both cars was a total of about $10 000.
Because we still have 7 children at home both cars tend to be in use all the time. we find that our fuel savings are approaching $100 per week for both cars. If we calculate the cost of the money at say 10%, that is $1000 per annum, or about $20 per week. So we are $80 a week better off and driving much nicer cars!
Does my financial mathematics make sense, or am I kidding myself?
Why A Caravelle? I haven’t worked out how to fit 7 kids in a Rangie!
Why a Rangie? I like it! And we need two cars.
So our cars are a ’95 VW Caravelle and a ’92 Range Rover Vogue SE. Both run most of the time on LPG.
Willem.
Well I am a self confessed petrol head so I love this thread.
I drive an 99 AU falcon ex taxi. I have fitted an aftermarket turbo kit, and low k engine and trans to this vehicle (did it all myself because I am too tight to pay) so I have XR8 performance for the cost of running a taxi. I get up to 500k’s for about $30. The car is beaten up, I do 150 k’s each day to go to work so I think its the perfect vehicle fo me. All up it owes me about $8k.
I used to have a Ford Fairmont Ghia V8 with leather, wood all the flash stuff, but I worried about it too much, Needless to say I dont cry if I dent the taxi!
I still have my first engine – a 351C in my second car, an 68 XT falcon with a 4sp top loader. She used to really go! The clock only went to 120mph it used to go right around to the stopper.
I have had heaps of bikes and cars probably 30 bikes and 10 cars.RE: the Guzzi top speed I love the jap bikes when I was a poor uni student I had a 1984 VF 1000 that I could get up to a clock speed of 260kph. Most recently I had a 1995 CB1000 “Big One” that I sold because it hadnt been out of the shed in 7 months. I once rode that from Bourke to North Richmond in 6 hours. Not bad on a naked bike!
I commissioned the building of a car for my partner, I took an RN85 Dual cab and had a 1UZFE Quad Cam V8 out of a jap soarer fitted to it. All the fruit like power steer and A/C, but that was when we had two kids, now with three I am looking to get something a little more boring. Building this was probably a silly move it cost me about $17k. – an ex taxi is looking good.
For the tractor lovers I have a 1950’s Fordson Major Kero/Petrol she has one way hydraulics a 3pl and PTO – way ahead of her time! I have various other contraptions around the place, but nothing anyone here would be interested in.
I am happy to say that I dont carry on like a fool on the road anymore.
I love the BMW 7 series, or the bentley turbo’s I think I will get one of those one day (and put it on gas out of principle!)
For the tractor lovers I have a 1950’s Fordson Major Kero/Petrol she has one way hydraulics a 3pl and PTO – way ahead of her time! I have various other contraptions around the place, but nothing anyone here would be interested in.Hi jenwren, I reckon you’d be able to sit down with my father and while away the hours swapping stories over a few beers. He also had a 50’s Fordson Major (linked up in tandem with another).
He used to spend years and years making absolutely no money chewing through the deisel doing endless laps of dusty paddocks with his tandem setup…in the hope of making some money….it never eventuated.
He paid 2,500 pounds in ’54 for his, when the land he was farming was worth 0.8 pound per acre. His tandem tractor was unceremoniously dumped in the paddock to rust away in ’83…now worth less than 0. The land is now worth $ 370 / acre.
For me as a teenager looking at this happen, didn’t take me long to realise what an ‘asset’ really meant.
Mmmmm I have no illusions about the tractor, she is a hobby that occasionally makes herself useful. I do my own servicing and repairs and the tractor is lucky to get 3 engine hours per month, so she doesnt cost much.
Your lesson sounds like one of those Rich Dad Poor Dad type lessons. My father has passed away, but my mother has made millions upon millions of dollars in business over the years. She has three properties worth just $1million to show for it. I just see the waste.Hi Dazzling grt topic ,its good making the bucks ,but lifes to short and man and ladies must have fun, so after my little fact finding missions to bangla road in phuket, studying nice well rounded figures ,dollar figures that is ,some strange ladies over there ,they have adams apples?[blush2]well after that we must have some toys my d/driver is a 2005 red 360 ferr,oh s..t,dreaming again ,is a 05 hyundai tucson and yes would recommend one ,next is a 05 VW jumbo transporter, wish i had it when i was the local stud at haberfield,oh well,next is the trusty 80 model toyota hi lux 4wd it lives at the holiday home ,oops i mean investment property,need it for maintaining the gardens dont I,then my desparate bid to hold onto my youth is my HOT ROD a 23 ford t-bucket heaps of chrome and polished aluminium and a very hot 350 twin tunnell ram chev V/8 motor very fast and veeeeery nooooisyor and by the way ,my darling patient forgiving and your on your 3rd and final warning ,fellows why does she keep saying that,i cant help it if i love thais oops i mean thailand,well she by choice ladies drives a twin cam 98 hyundai excel ,thats all folks stayed tuned for some serious good news elsewhere in forum,ps ed burtons toy is a porsche
gjedwards
Hi Dazzling grt topic ,its good making the bucks ,but lifes to short and man and ladies must have fun, well after that we must have some toys my d/driver is a 2005 red 360 ferr,oh s..t,dreaming again ,is a 05 hyundai tucson and yes would recommend one ,next is a 05 VW jumbo transporter, wish i had it when i was the local stud at haberfield,oh well,next is the trusty 80 model toyota hi lux 4wd it lives at the holiday home ,oops i mean investment property,need it for maintaining the gardens dont I,then my desparate bid to hold onto my youth is my HOT ROD a 23 ford t-bucket heaps of chrome and polished aluminium and a very hot 350 twin tunnell ram chev V/8 motor very fast and veeeeery nooooisyor and by the way ,my darling patient wife , well she by choice ladies drives a twin cam 98 hyundai excel ,thats all folks stayed tuned for some serious good news elsewhere in forum,ps ed burtons toy is a porsche [biggrin]
gjedwards
Hi,
Just an update.
We have dispatched the ’85 Mitsubishi Colt (good little car) and replaced it with a ’93 (G200) Daihatsu Charade. So, that means:
’97 Falcon Sapphire 8-seat wagon
’03 Mitsubish Mirage
’93 Daihatsu Charade.Remember: Dogs have masters – cats have staff . . .
Luv to yous all
Grahame
Cool thread,
99 VT commodore wagon!
I love my wagon!!!-Thomas
“More Time To Snowboard”
Has anyone imported their own vehicle from japan or singapore into Oz or Nz
Cheers
Don
D&L Property Projects NZ Ltd
Sourcing Investments that fit.
[email protected]
Email to receive current dealsDon Nicolussi | Mortgage Broker - Home Loan Warehouse
http://homeloanwarehouse.com.au
Email Me | Phone Me"I think of finance as a technology, a way of getting things done." Robert Shiller
2005 VW Touareg 4WD just bought it Friday, great wagon V6 TDI
when the going gets weird the weird turn pro
This is the longest thread in the world!
Oh, I don’t have a car, or bike. Sorry.
But I hire them on weekends for $50 a day! This is my preferred option since my last car was vandalled, hit a roo, vandalled again and then had the seats stolen (Tip to TYPE – R owners, weld the seat bolts to the plate).
Mat
I’ve got a 2000 AUII Ford Ute. It goes like a dream and is good on fuel and I tow a lot (I’ve got horses).
I bought it to keep til it dies. I used to have a great little second car – Toyota Starlet 4-dr. But….you can only drive one car at a time and the ute is far more practical (imagine trying to tow a horsefloat with a Toyota Starlet….hehehehehe)Mind you, I wouldn’t mind upgrading to something like a Ford Territory to do both Town and Country!
Cheers
DinahMY TURN!!!!
Talk about length of this posting.It’s like waiting on the phone for you to have your say on talk-back radio, only to be cut off after you’ve had a five second conversation.
Two cars, one Ford laser year 1995.
Second car Ford falcon year 2000, ex. police car and ex. taxi.
Love that LPG.
Half the cost of petrol.bruham.
Galaxy class starship. NCC-1701D
The Nebula class was old hat…. i much prefer the “D”
Cabo Wabo
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