Vrooom!

[my_daroga]

The time has come. I've had my Saturn for almost 10 years and 179,000 miles, and I'm told the engine is FAILING. Every day I drive to work is a day I may not make it! Well. In a reasonable amount of time anyway. I have never bought a car. All my cars have been hand-me-downs or, in this case, a graduation gift. I thought maybe some of you fine automobile owners might benefit me with your experience.

Basically, here's what I'm looking for, and I realize I won't get all of these things:

*good gas mileage - I am spoiled by the 33-35 the Saturn gets
*room for dogs/band equipment as well as people - so we're probably talking hatchback/station wagon
*NO SUVs
*money - I don't have much, and what I do have is supposed to be going to keeping us afloat with a reduced income
*a reasonable amount of assurance I won't be doing this again in a year or two

I'm not all that picky when it comes to cosmetics--my current car is liberally held together with Gorilla tape, which is the beauty of having a (black) plastic car. I just don't want to make my normal impatient mistake ("This will work, I'm done!") and regret it or have to do it again really soon.

Any advice?


And just a reminder, I've signed up for help_pakistan, if you're interested.

Comments

[revena]

You might want to look into used station wagon models of Toyota Corolla. The Corollas tend to be very sturdy cars with excellent mileage, and they aren't super-expensive, especially used. I drove one for several years, and it served me very well. My high school boyfriend's family had one that lasted them something like sixteen or seventeen years before they traded it in towards purchasing a Prius (which is what I drive now, too, akshully, and I adore it).

[my_daroga]

I had an '86 Nova hatchback for awhile in college, and I loved it (it was tiny, spacious, and zippy) but I wasn't aware of the station wagon models. I'll have to check that out. I won't be able to afford a Prius, obviously, and I'm sort of afraid that everything I like will be too spendy or old enough that I won't get another 10 years out of it!