[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You know, here's the thing. I'm NOT immune to the allure of a new car. Something with nice lines, sweet leather...I'm not. I'm just NOT willing to finance a depreciating asset. Ixnay on that. I did it once--in 1985, and never again since. Every vehicle we've bought since then, new or used--we pay all cash. If I can't afford it, I can't have it. Period.

And that sort of thing bemuses me about leasing. Effectively, you are renting, not buying, so you pay the same sort of charges but don't actually own the asset when the lease expires.

A late friend of mine recounted getting an Amex card decades back. He went out and bought a Mercedes with it. He already had the money saved, so he simply paid the charge in full when the statement arrived. He got a fawning letter from Amex telling him they were upgrading his account.

After all: I mean, really, what is the actual difference between, say, a Mustang and a Jag? Other than, what, $30K? They are both CARS. They both depreciate. They are vehicles that take you from A to B in relative comfort. After that, you're paying for snob factor. (And...I confess, even more: I like expensive cars. I do. I'd take an R8 in a heartbeat.) But my left-brain just won't let that right brain splurge on a silly thing like a bloody CAR.

Depending on the car, it can be more than snob appeal. Really high priced cars tend to have special things you pay for, like speed. Consider the Bugatti Veyron, whose first model would cost you over a million dollars. But it had a 1,200 horsepower engine and could do 0-60 in an eyeblink.

A friend who was a hot car fan drooled over the Veyron, and was startled when I told him VW owned the marque and it was a VW product. He'd managed to miss that, and granted, it's not what you expect from VW. He owns a lovingly restored 1967 427 Corvette. When he got it to the point where he could drive it, he discovered he had to reacquire his hot car driving reflexes, because he popped a wheelie stomping on the accelerator.

(Along those lines, Ford had a race car called the Ford GT back in the 70's. To be legal under USAC rules, it had to technically be a "production" car, so British Ford Special Products division made 50 for sale to the public. A GT in full race tuning could do over 200mph. How much over was uncertain, because it might take off and fly at that speed, and Ford lost a couple of test drivers finding that out. So someone thought about drivers trying to open it up on unlimited speed highways, and the version sold to the public was detuned to give it a maximum speed of only 160mph...)

Yes. And even everyday cars can last a remarkably long time, IF you take care of them.

And if you do your homework and buy a good model in the first place.

Every car I've had has lasted not a day less than 25 years. Some have gone on to other family members, or whatever, but, bygod, they last.

Maintain them properly, and they will.

Well, yes, but that also means that Gus can't fix his own car, either.

If he has a computer with the right software to plug into the car's diagnostic port he can. And even if he doesn't - it will simply take longer to diagnose what the problem is.

Yeah, I kinda miss that.

The techniques have changed, but the process stays the same. I have friends who are network engineers who do things like hook logic analyzers to the car's internal network bus to capture and decode message packets being passed around. (It's not Ethernet and TCPIP - autos have their own networking standard called CANBUS)

GREAT. You've convinced me not to inhale. LOL.

Depends on what you are inhaling.

In the case of "new car smell", you won't be inhaling enough to do damage. There are various air freshener products for autos intended to give that new car smell, but to the best of my knowledge, none of them really nail it. That's likely because they have to leave out the toxins to legally make and sell the stuff.

(It figures, you would be the one to know that.)

I have a magpie mind, read incessantly, remember what I read, and am interested in pretty much everything. My SO commissioned a mutual friend to create a calligraphic button for me with the legend "Ohhh! Shiny facts!" after watching me spend a couple of hours chasing down Google rat holes.

So I wind up with all manner of curious mental flotsam and jetsam, and most of it comes in handy at some point. I don't pretend to know everything, but I do tend to know more about things being discussed than those I'm talking to.
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Dennis