(no subject)

[inahandbasket]

I hate cars.
Anyone know of a cheapish reliable car for sale? Wagon or hatchback that can fit an upright bass strongly prefered...
Used car dealer recommendations also hereby solicited.

/me sighs heavily and heads towards craigslist

(Silver lining? Now we can get a car that fits my wife as well as my bass for gigs...
And we were considering buying this year anyway but it appears that our hand has been forced.)

Comments

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

eek! good to find out that way rather than have the engine fall out onto the road i guess! No specific cars to offer, but suggested ones to look at maybe.

We still love our 2005 Scion XBs, but the room in back is more cubic than long- would have to measure to see about the bass. Mileage about 30-34 for the 2005, new ones are less (bigger engine and body, grr). I used to have a subaru legacy wagon and it was The Thing in terms of form factor- BIG cargo space! Old Saab hatchbacks don't suck either, and are sturdy as hell. Al over at ABJ Auto in Somerville sometimes has one to sell at a reasonable price, or knows someone who is selling. Lastly, my parents have a Kia minivan for transporting their large dog, and they've found it very reliable. You can always run around with the back seats removed for scads of cargo space!

[inahandbasket]

I would love to find one of the early body-style xB's in our price range, the only one I've tracked down so far is at a dealer for $8k with 70k miles. Might be manageable if we can talk him down...

I thought Saabs were a bit expensive on the maintenance side... no? That would definitely be an option if I have a wrong impression about that...

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

yeah the early XBs have kept their value, being essentially Toyotas- Mine has been entirely trouble-free and is now just above 70k miles. They were $14k base model, new. If it has records of regular maintenance i'd still call it a good value.

The Saabs I had were cheap to buy ($5k) and ran very well but eventually (after several years of owning them in New England and *cough* driving the way I do) they started needing frequent small repairs. While the engine and drive train were still in excellent shape, it would have to go in occasionally for headlights, door locks, axles, all those little moving parts that start to fare less well in an old car in this climate. ABJ kept the costs pretty low, (they give you a choice of fixing things top-notch dealer spec, or cheap and kludgy but safe) but living where i do i could no longer drop it off there and bicycle home, so each small fix ate a whole workday.

I must say having the new XB has been a relief in terms of NO time and money spent for repairs. I never had a new car before!

[cutieperson]

dude. if you don't want to go for it please point us at it?

[inahandbasket]

Will do.
There's a couple out there for under $10k at MA dealers, do a cars.com or vehix.com search for used xB's in xxx miles of your zipcode.

[inahandbasket]

Oh, and the bass in the xB is easy, the neck slides up between the front seats iirc.