What Car Did You Own Before Your PiP?

Ever stop to think what's their motivation? That's the quick-fix for lagging sales due to unreliability.

 

Agreed. They make some vehicles that look very nice when new. But try to count the number of surviving Hyundais or Kias after 10 years.

 

'94 Toyota Camry
'98 Toyota Sienna
former with nearly gone transmission
second with electrical problems, leaking coolant system, and blown head gasket
only one working battery between the 2

 

That's what tells the best story. I have friends with 20-year-old Fords, Chrysler and GM products, and they can't keep them running anymore. 20-year old Toyotas or Hondas are still good mechanically. I have a 1985 Toyota SR5 pickup back on the farm with over 300k on it and it still runs fine. Rusted all to hell, turbo not working, but it runs perfectly.

 

My brother has a Hyundai Santa Fe. I don't know what year it is. Consumer Reports Magazine had an article about it, mentioning it is short on headroom. I got in on the driver's side to get a feel of the seats. I had to bend over to get in the car because the one that he has is very short on headroom. Don't know about the later models. I think I'll stay with Toyota.

 

Definitely it would be a headache for me.

 

2003 Ford Taurus.

I have about a year's worth of fuel data for that car, and I was averaging about 18 MPG city, about 24 MPG highway. I was filling up every 2 weeks or so, at about $50/fill-up.

Now, I'm getting a rough average of about 80-90 MPG, filling up every month or so at around $25-30/fill-up.

Compared to that car, my 2012 PiP saves me about $600/year, including cost of electricity. Not to mention the Taurus was at around 120k miles, so it was throwing out about $500 - $1000 repairs every other month (at least, it felt like it...).

 

2012 Pius 2

 

The Taurus was a good car for me, until the head-warping issue led to it's premature retirement. A real pity, because in every other way, it was a great car.