Need some advice here

[C.bowles2]

Ok heres the situation im in. I have my LLY paid off and with a lot of money into it. The truck is very clean as far as underneath corrosion but rockers and cab corners are rusted out. But ive put a lot of money into suspension and chassis stuff that is all new, and new fuel and brake lines underneath so i dont want to drive it this winter here in ohio and ruin it all. I used to have a gas saver car but i sold it a month ago. Now i want to buy something as a daily driver. This is where i need the advice. Im 22, virtually debt free. I have a good job with the railroad. Im debating wether to buy something older under $5k but will have higher interest rate but can be paid off sooner or buying something newer but still used with a better interest rate and that will be more reliable. Im an ex mechanic of 5 years and can fix virtually anything but im sick of working on vehicles and dumping money into them to make them reliable. And with my job being in call down time is almost non existent. I want something decent on fuel milage too. I was gonna look at a 1990 rust free jeep wrangler with inline 4 for $4500 but who knows what it may need. Or maybe something newer like a VW tdi or a chevy diesel cruze. I found a diesel cruze with 30k miles for $16,200 and is a 2014. Any insight guys on how i should go about this. Any hindsight advice you can give me? I also found a 2002 lb7 zf6 for 12k$ with studs and some good reliability parts and new injectors. Thanks guys




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Porno Joe]

IMO if your cab and rockers are already rotted out, then there is really no point in parking the truck for winter. Save the money you would spend on the beater and just drive the truck

 

[catman3126]

if you need a run around commuter car. I love my 03 TDI jetta. manual 5 speed and I drive 90 miles a day to and from work and gets 44mpg going through town 10 miles and on the freeway at 78 mph. don't buy an auto one in these years until the DSG trans came out in 05-06 I think. I have 193K on mine and runs like a top starts in -10 without a block heater. I saw a clean leather sunroof one of Facebook with a five speed the other day with 140K miles on it for 3500$ that is a steal for a clean one around here since he have no rust issues. when I drive all freeway and no in town mine gets 49-50 mpg at 78 mph. fill them up to the cap by hitting the air bleed off button in the fill spout and they will go over 725 miles on a tank easy. any way that's my take on the VW TDI

 

[catman3126]

also if I hadn't bought this car in 2012 just driving to and from work and the parts runs I make it has kept 45K off my 05' to me that's worth what I payed for it not to mention going from 15 MPG to 45 mpg. 30 mpg adds up fast at 3$+ a gallon. not to mention tires and only changing the oil at 10K instead of the 3K I change my LLY at. Just the fuel savings alone at 3$ a gallon going from 15 to 45MPG has saved me 5900.00$ in a little over 3 years. 15 oil changes in my LLY Vs 4 oil changes in my jetta don't even have to add that up. 2 sets of pickup tires on the LLY in 45K Vs one set of 400$ tires on my jetta. theres an easy 1500$ savings. and then whats my LLy worth with 104K vs 150K? not including any repairs I would have made in those 45K miles.

 

[C.bowles2]

Nice man, great info i appreciate it. Well looks like I'm going with a 2011 VW golf tdi. 2.0l engine. 6 speed manual 60k miles and for 13k dollars. Gonna go look at it tomorrow. Should be a good daily driver that i can expect to perform well for a long time. My plans are turbo back exhaust to delete dpf and cat and all that, egr delete and mild tuning for the deletes and a bit more mpg. Then new wheels for a better look and maybe gauges to monitor things and thats it. Any chance you know where i could buy the exhaust? Only one i found is like 1400$ for the full system with egr delete. Im pretty excited and this will be the first "newer" vehicle I've purchased




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gamudslinger88]

A V Dub TDI is hard to beat brother, I want one for driving around. I put alot of miles on a vehicle a year so once I get monied up again I'll start looking. I vote VW.

 

[PureHybrid]

Hell buy a cheap car man, toss it when you're done. I found a 2000 Cavalier with a dented front fender and the right rocker is rusty, 115k mikes, $1500. Been driving it to work for 3yrs. Had to buy one set of tires :thumb:

If you only keep a car for 3-5 yrs, buying a TDI VW in good shape isn't worth it IMO to get another 10mpg.

 

[catman3126]

But they hold their value well too.