Cartoon Math...?
Maria started
taking courses in a town about 30 miles away. The 60-mile
round trip in the Commander was consuming gas at a high rate,
with the consequential cost translating to several hundred
dollars per week... We sat down and did the math. At
the rate we were buying fuel, we reasoned we could afford a
fuel-efficient car, the insurance and maintenance, and still
save money at the end of the day. So we decided to seek
and purchase a "scooter" vehicle for commuting to school for
Maria.
There were
other considerations that came into our discussion. We
only have one vehicle that Maria can drive because my Jeep and
Crossfire are both standard transmissions, which she has not
learned to drive. The Crossfire is strictly limited to two
people including the driver which means I cannot use it to
transport the boys together. There are several instances
where this happens in the course of the week. The Jeep
handles this problem without issue but under some circumstances
that's not very attractive (it's also not fuel efficient...)
Then there's the problem if one of our cars goes out of service.
The Jeep isn't really a daily driver anymore, Maria can't drive
it or the Crossfire, so if the Commander goes in for service or
something, we're a little pinched.
Maria has
always liked MINIs. We have a friend from the Volvo Club
days who has a classic MINI and Maria always loved it.
When the new MINIs came out, she really liked them and always
commented on them when we would see them on the road. So
it became a natural option when we started thinking about fuel
efficient transport for her.
We started
looking online (CarMax, Vehix, Auto Trader, etc.) and quickly
came up to speed on the features, options, and costs for MINIs.
We were disappointed to learn that the budget we set for this
expenditure did not allow us to consider a supercharged version.
I decided we'd avoid any vehicles older than 2006 with more than
20,000 miles. That meant the vehicles we had available for
consideration really pushed against the limit of our budget.
Added to our budget constraint and age/miles limit was the need
to get a vehicle with an automatic transmission.
Above and
beyond those basic criteria, we hoped to find vehicles that had
at least some options and hopefully one that was in good
condition. In the end we narrowed down the search from
hundreds of vehicles on the market, to those that met our needs,
those within a reasonable trip to evaluate and purchase.
This led us to
the car we purchased from a large dealer in Springfield
Virginia. I called the night before we went, talked with
the sales rep, made arrangements to come see the car, and then
off we went to stay overnight and arrive at the dealership the
next morning. Here are the pictures of the car from the
Auto Trader listing online.
The salesman
was pleasant and we soon struck a deal. The car was taken
away for a while to be detailed and prepped for us to take, and
Maria did the paperwork while I did some work on the phone.
When everything was done I took a couple pictures of Maria and
Ted (it was Ted's birthday) and we hit the road for home.
Along the way
we stopped for a pit stop and to let Maria go on alone since she
needed to continue past our home exit on to school for a class
in the afternoon.
As we drove,
Ted and I made some movies of Maria as she drove along Route 68
in the hills before reaching Cumberland.
Movies
Once we
finished filming, we stopped at DQ for ice cream and she
continued on to her class. She reached home after the
260-mile trip with a little more than half a tank of gas (about
7 gallons) left. On the other hand I had only traveled
about 170 miles and nearly drained the 21 gallon tank. We
already can see the difference this will make in our fuel
budget!
9/7/09
Update
The car has
been working very well for Maria, though there are a few things
that need to be attended to.
Tires -
One tire is a mismatch and appears to replace a Continental
touring tire that shoes the other three wheels. I believe
the main concern here is the different tread compound would make
for a handling problem in an emergency/spirited driving
situation. I have not yet decided if it needs to be
replaced but want to watch it.
Tire
Pressure Warning System - The warning light keeps coming on
but there does not appear to be a pressure problem. But
this is based on visual inspection only. So I will get a
pressure gauge for the car and we can track it for a while to
see if there really is a problem or if the system is just
false-alarming. Also there appears to be a calibration
procedure so I will try that too.
Wipers - The wipers that came
with the car are probably the factory originals (with 18K miles
on them...) and need to be replaced.
I picked them up and
will put them on later today.
Oil and Filters -
I have no idea when the last oil change was done and only
slightly trust that the correct oil was put in the car/
This will need to be done. I have ordered the oil and
filters.
Cabin Filter - It
seems certain the driver or frequent passenger of this car was a
smoker. The car has a terrible smell inside of cigarette
smoke. The first line of attack was to thoroughly clean
the seats and surfaces of the car. I have ordered a Cabin
Filter to take it to the next level.
Done.
Music -
The factory stereo is a basic AM/FM/CD player stereo with a few
speakers. It sounded typical for an entry level factory
sound system. I don't plan to do massive upgrades (Maria
isn't as fanatical about car sound as me) but I do see two areas
that can be improved by spending about $100:
Auxiliary Audio
Input - The factory stereo has provision for a 6-CD
changer. The same plug will take an Auxiliary Audio
Input plug that provides a 3.5mm stereo jack for plugging in
stuff. Done.
(Easy!) I plan to use this to plug in:
Hands-Free Phone
- I wanted to get Maria Bluetooth coverage for her phone so she
would not have to be fumbling the phone on the drive. The
unit that works so well in the Wrangler is on order.
Auxiliary Fuse Panels -
Applying lessons learned from the crossfire, I assembled and
installed two fuse panels that provide plug in power for
battery-supplied and switched 12-volt power. This makes
installing the drive + play, XM Radio, Hands-Free Phone and GPS,
considerably simpler and neater.
With these
things taken care of, the car becomes on a par with the rest of
the vehicles in the fleet and extends the already great features
that come standard!
Factory Shots
