And here we are some months later still talking about the same things
Lengthy post inbound.
Current situation:
2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 with the whistles and bells and such - She drives this daily
2001 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4 without even so much as a kazoo - I drive this daily
I toss between 60 and 80 miles on the baby spartan Jeep each day, and I've got to say that I'm going nuts with its lack of refinement. The wind noise beats you down, the ride is bad (even with the new tires and tons of maintenance I just finished up), and I can't even make a phone call because of the antiquated electronics (even if I updated, the wind noise is so bad because bricks don't fly well through the wind). If we lived and worked in the city, I don't know that I could think of a better car to absorb the potholes and still be small enough to zip through and parallel park wherever. However, we live in the city and work in the 'burbs = long highway commute at high speeds. After we leave here, we'll stick with our jobs but work well north of the 'burbs in the sticks and have a similar highway commute, just coming from a different direction. Skinny of the story is that we will never live near where we work and we gotta have a decent commute.
This old Jeep is dragging me up the walls. We will NOT get rid of it. It is absolutely perfect for when we want to take a trip up to the mountains or the lake and toss our stuff in and not worry about dirtying something up. But a design that is well over thirty years old just can't work in a modern (Atlanta) commute. It is screaming at me to go 75 mph and I'm still getting blasted by everyone because if you're not going at least 20 over, you will cause an accident. Not to mention the only real "feature" it has is an overhead compass and temperature gauge.
Story time over. Tyler needs some wheels for commuting.
Plan:
Her daily/family/trips = 2015 Jeep
My daily =
Empty - Needed now
Utility = 2001 Jeep
Toy =
Empty - Plan for in a couple years' time
My thought is to get something that is still car guy approved (not for the cool gas station stories but just for something that I know I'll be happy I'm in) and be <$20k so that I'll pay it off quick and redirect funds for a dedicated toy car after we move to the sticks. I'm a simple guy and don't need massaging seats or anything, but there are a few things that I think are necessary:
- Fun to drive
- Cool (insert "car guy approved" sticker here)
- Bluetooth for streaming and making handfree phone calls (or a car that I can easily update this and be integrated)
- Can handle decent commutes and not wear you out - a car that's a nice place to be
- Three pedals is awfully close to a requirement depending on the car
- Pretty reliable and ready to take on some miles - don't mind a little higher maintenance costs, but don't want something that's prone to failure
- Heated seats would be nice
Right now the top of my list is an F56 (2015+) Mini Cooper S with three pedals. I'm seeing some super nice ones with low miles going for within budget and keep reading that they are much more reliable, less rattle-prone, and more comfortable than the ≤ R56 models. An N18 R56 is a lot of car for the coin, but I hear they're still a pain. What else am I missing in this budget (
no VW) that can tackle some highway miles but still be a fun car that won't be spending its life on a lift for maintenance/repairs?
How are the E82 135's? I see stuff like this and get giggity (
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...ting=226776572)
Am I a fool for considering a peasant 996?
What am I not thinking of? I hopped in a Fiesta ST, but I don't know that it really works well for the highway.
My plan is to buy before the end of the year to hopefully take advantage of a dealer's need for EOY #'s.
Thanks for the conversation!
-Tyler
