Tag Archives: Car

Keep track of your car's mileage

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A neat site I have run across in the past week is My Mile Marker, who’s purpose is real simple: keeping track of your car’s mileage, MPG, annual costs, and so on.

It works brilliantly if you fill your cars tank every-time you get gas, you write down your car’s mileage when you fill the tank, and you remember to input the data into My Mile Marker.

With a week’s worth of tracking, I have found out I get 26.2 miles per gallon on my 2002 Subaru Forester, which is actually above the government gas mileage standards for my car. This is including lots of highway miles, a little city driving, plus some classic side road driving (lots of hills and turns at 30-40 mph speeds).

Granted, I have been practicing some fuel saving techniques to keep my MPG up. For example, I drive mostly on the highway in my car, which means less stop/go traffic which automatically means higher mileage. I also drive between 60-65 mph on the highway, which is much more efficient then driving even 70 mph. I also use cruise control extensively, which really helps with mileage.

It will be interesting to see how my car does over the next month. I am going to attempt to keep track of each fill-up.

$1,730?!?!?!

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Well my “new” car (a 2002 Subaru Forester I bought last year) just failed inspection and needs $1,730 worth of repairs (well, $1,400 if you only include the leaking head gasket that needs to be replaced to pass inspection, but there is several other things that need to be done and might as well get done now).

This sucks.

2002 Subaru Forester

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I bought and drove home a 2002 Subaru Forester today. What an awsome car. Handles the snow extremely well, easy to drive, and looks like it is as good as new.

Let’s hope the 3rd time is the charm when it comes to cars.

Goodbye Saturn, Hello Subaru?

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Yesterday I found out that my 2000 Saturn SL1 was declared a total loss. It was rear-ended last month and apparently there was a lot of internal damage in the back. Just cheaper for the insurance company to cut me a check for the car’s worth then to repair it. I lucked out and it was about a $75 difference between what the insurance company will pay and what was left on my loan.

Today I saw the Saturn for the last time. I went to the auto body shop where it was going to be repaired and took out whatever I had left in it. Most important was my E-Z Pass (can’t believe I forgot it last time) and my car stereo. Thankfully someone there helped me get that stereo out, I never would be able to get it out myself.

It was quite amazing to see the Saturn there with the back of the car (except the trunk) and both rear doors had the outside stripped off. You could see where all the damage was pretty clearly on the frame and underneath.

Afterwards, we (as in my parents and fiancee) did some car shopping since I lose rental coverage on Wednesday. We amazingly found something that fits me perfectly on the 1st day of looking. It is a 2002 Subaru Forester L, red, all-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, AC, fog lights, cassette/cd, etc. I was so impressed with how smoothly it drives and how new it looked (it literally looked like it never had been driven before).

Subaru Forester’s are among the safest cars on the road and are excellent in the snow. Exactly what I need, especially with all of the traveling I do.

I put a deposit down to have the dealer hold it overnight while I think about it. However, I think I made my decision…I am going to get it. The insurance looks like it will go up just $7 per month and it looks like my budget can handle the payments.

I have to call tomorrow before 2 PM and confirm/deny what I am doing. I really think this car is the right move for me.