Older Cars

Erika Ruth

New member
I just wanted to say "thank you" to all of you, on something I should not thank you on.

In my community, EVERY mom in my Mom's club bought a new car when baby 1, or 2 arrived. They all drive SUVs or Minivans. They all cost well over $30,000. Some, even more.

We are not buying a new car for at least a year, maybe 2. I am pregnant with #3, and drive a '98 honda accord. Yep, 9 years old.

I feel like the ONLY one with an old car, but lots of you ladies drive older cars. It makes me comfortable to know that I can be fanatic about making sure I have good seats, and making sure they are in correctly, and drive an older/less expensive car.

Erika
 
ADS

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I know exactly what you mean. Quite often there is this attitude that with a new baby must come a new car with all the latest safety gadgets. It's my opinion that it doesn't matter how safe your car is if you aren't using the seafety features you already have available to you correctly and do not drive defensively and safely.

It's also my opinion that as long as you have children in harnessed seats, and even boosters to some degree, you can scrape by with older vehicles than you can if you have booster or post booster kids. Once your child is out of a booster, there are minimums that become vital (specifically lap/shoulder belts in all positions and head restraints for all passengers) that are only available on newer vehicles. :twocents:
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
We bought an 05 elantra when ds1 was 2, knowing we were going to be trying for #2. We downsized from a 98 chevy venture that was more trouble than it was worth.

However, after ds2 was born, my parents gave us their 99 buick century, which obviously has more room and more trunk space, so I use that with the kids 99% of the time. DH commutes about 1/2 an hour and uses the elantra which gets better gas mileage.

When we have #3, we will look into a van, but it will be used because we can't afford even a $20,000 vehicle, let alone the $30,000 8 pass. sienna I want. Hopefully by the time we want a larger vehicle, there will be used siennas in our price range with the features we want.

About the moms clubs- same thing here. I know one lady that upgraded from an acura sedan to the 7 passenger mdx when #2 was born because it was a little too difficult to get the double stroller in the trunk. (I would have bought a smaller stroller, personally!)
 

scatterbunny

New member
Hey, I just went from a 94 Mazda MPV to a 99 Ford Windstar, so I know what you mean about older vehicles. We do the best we can. :) I'm not about to break our family's bank to get a brand-new vehicle. I'd have to go to work, I know me, that would mean either putting Hayley in daycare (which would cost money) or putting her in public school (which is free but brings a host of other issues I don't want to deal with).

The quality of our family life--me being able to stay home--is more important to us than having a brand-new vehicle. I keep her as safe as she can be in the vehicle we can afford. I seek out (on a very limited budget) the vehicle that provides safety features we can live with. Headrests and shoulderbelts for all the passengers out of harnessed seats are a MUST. A car with decent crash ratings is a MUST. Other things, like side airbags, are just out of our financial league right now. Maybe when Hayley is out of boosters in 5ish years there will be affordable options for us with the extra safety features I'd like to have.

But for now I'm happy knowing that I'm making the best car safety AND the best financial decisions I can make for my family. :)
 

mominabigtruck

New member
I'm more bothered by the fact that I see women driving around 30k cars or vans with expired ohs seats or crappy tourivas in. Not that I have anything against tourivas, you know the older sceneras with the partial wrap but come on you could afford the van, couldn't you upgrade your seats. I've also noticed this when I garage sale in the nice communities with 250k homes, they have the crappiest baby stuff. I'm sorry, but if you feel like you can afford all the other stuff then why are you cheaping out on your kids?
 

arly1983

New member
I'm more bothered by the fact that I see women driving around 30k cars or vans with expired ohs seats or crappy tourivas in. Not that I have anything against tourivas, you know the older sceneras with the partial wrap but come on you could afford the van, couldn't you upgrade your seats. I've also noticed this when I garage sale in the nice communities with 250k homes, they have the crappiest baby stuff. I'm sorry, but if you feel like you can afford all the other stuff then why are you cheaping out on your kids?

Oh, you have seen some of MY FAMILY. Arn't they just the LOVELIST people you ever met. :rolleyes:
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Yep. it's extremely frustrating to see a brand new Escalade with an OLD, OLD, OLD *yucky* OHS in the back seat. Just goes to show money can't buy class.
 

remken

Member
2 of Remy's car seats each cost more than the previous car I had before getting the car I have now. A 2005 impala wich I'm hoping to sell to pay off the loan so I don't have to worry about the payments and insurance on it. Then buy something cheaper after I have some money saved up after summer is over, since I've been walking most places now instead of driving.
 

Niea

New member
I bought a new car a few months ago, but before that I happily drove my '98 Cavalier. Same age as your car, but at least your Honda is higher quality than mine. LOL

Anyway, I didn't buy a new car because of DD but for other reasons. And since I drove DD around in my Cavalier for the first 2 years of her life, I obviously didn't think upgrading was mandatory.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
We've destroyed our credit just from having too many new cars (well, having them repossesed...long story, lol)...DH has a small addiction to that new car smell, unfortunately :p

Since you're saving money by not buying a new car, that means you have a few extra bucks to spend on the perfect trifecta of seats for it, right? ;)
 

cdncasper

New member
I am another old car(van) owner. Late last year we upgraded from a 96 Caravan to a 99 Caravan and I thought that was great. We are not planning on another vehicle for at least 2-3 yrs baby or no baby.
 

Morganthe

New member
Let's see, when dd was born, I was driving a German specs 1989 VW Passat sedan. By that time, it had over 275,000 kilometers. I bought it in 2000 for $950, put about $450 into it and it ran great for the 4 years I owned it. On resale, it was the lowest I'd ever sold since it needed a complete brake job. It went to an auto repair manager for $500. Hey, I was happy :shrug-shoulders: It cost him only parts to repair it. It would have been $550 for me. I had put another 25,000 k on it since dd arrived, so it had very high milage and was in still great condition :D

The only reason I sold it instead of repairing was that I had found a 1992 VW Passat wagon for $1700. :D It had 'only' 175,000 kilometers on it + A/C that they were selling as inop. $450 repaired the A/C, put new struts on the back & legally tinted the windows. It was a great car and I was sorry to sell it before I left Germany for $1700. For anyone who doesn't want to upgrade to a minivan or SUV, I completely recommend a wagon. I had a quilt in the back end on one side & the stroller slid in on the other. Great to change clothes, relax, feed, etc.... I miss that car :(

My current car is a 99 Camry. Since the alignment & wheels have been balanced, it's much peppier. But I still miss the stick shift control. I might think it's dull and bland, but it's paid for and I can afford to keep full coverage on it. :thumbsup: I won't have it forever. But for now, it will do. :cool: So I"m keeping up the tradition of owning 8-10 year old cars.

In 2000, dh and I made an agreement and have kept to it. No more cars made before we graduated High school, no matter the 'cool' factor. :p
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Fifteen months ago, I bought a brand new car. However, before I bought that car I was driving a 1994 (so 12 years old) Honda Civic. :)
 

Suzibeck

Active member
We usually drive older cars too. I say usually because we just bought a 2003 Jetta; it was only in our price range because it has over 200,000 miles on it. Since we have been married, we have never spent more than $5600 for a vehicle. We save tax returns, bonuses, and lacrosse money to buy them so we won't have payments. Dh refs lacrosse in the spring and that brings in quite a bit of extra for us. Our regular budget couldn't handle a car payment unless I went back to work, which isn't going to happen.

My main vehicle is a '97 Olds Silhouette with just over 180,000 miles. It's electrical system is trash, it leaks, the automatic door and back windows no longer work, but it has a solid, rebuilt, transmissin and a good engine.

It will be at least a year, probably two or more, before we can get a newer van. Our current goal is to get a bigger house with at least 1 1/2 bathrooms. With 3 girls getting bigger, one bathroom just isn't cutting it and add to that frequent overnight guests with no guest room... Well, we just really are feeling crowded these days.
 

southpawboston

New member
i don't see anything wrong with buying/driving older vehicles, but only to a certain extent. i would have been perfectly fine driving our 2002 elantra with no ABS brakes or side curtain airbags and mediocre crash ratings... we only got rid of it because it was having too many problems. the way i see it, a cheap 5 year old car with modern safety cage design and some modern safety devices (air bags, for example) is still going to be more crashworthy than the very safest cars of 20 years ago. even today, a brand new bottom-of-the-line toyota yaris or chevy aveo is going to be safer in most crash conditions than a 20 year old volvo or mercedes.

but my big reservation about driving older cars is that many people who drive around old cars with lots of miles sometimes figure it's not worth maintaining them properly. they assume that if they press the brake pedal and the car stops, then the brakes must work fine. but that doesn't mean they are working to 100% of their capacity. that alone could be the difference between a stopping distance of 125 feet versus 175 feet. that can be the difference between avoiding a fatal accident, or death. or they neglect other aspects of their car's safety features, such as making sure all the lighting systems are working and no bulbs are burnt out. that's why i believe in mandatory annual state inspection programs (subject of an older thread) to make sure that people keep up on those things.

i think it's just as important to make sure that all the critical systems on an older car (brakes, suspension, tires, lights, seatbelts, airbags if equipped) are in top-notch shape as it is to have a carseat properly installed and not expired. if an expired carseat is a "deathtrap", then so is a poorly maintained, uninspected car. remember, they don't crash test used cars in bad shape... only new. so if you don't keep your car properly serviced, you and your passengers are... as the saying goes, CRASH TEST DUMMIES.
 

Morganthe

New member
but my big reservation about driving older cars is that many people who drive around old cars with lots of miles sometimes figure it's not worth maintaining them properly. they assume that if they press the brake pedal and the car stops, then the brakes must work fine. but that doesn't mean they are working to 100% of their capacity. that alone could be the difference between a stopping distance of 125 feet versus 175 feet. that can be the difference between avoiding a fatal accident, or death. or they neglect other aspects of their car's safety features, such as making sure all the lighting systems are working and no bulbs are burnt out. that's why i believe in mandatory annual state inspection programs (subject of an older thread) to make sure that people keep up on those things.

i think it's every bit as important to make sure that all the critical systems on an older car (brakes, suspension, tires, lights, seatbelts, airbags if equipped) are in top-notch shape as it is to have a carseat properly installed and not expired. remember, they don't crash test used cars in bad shape... only new. so if you don't keep your car properly serviced, you and your passengers are... as the saying goes, CRASH TEST DUMMIES.

I completely agree!! In fact, I had a very close 'relationship' with my local mechanic shop in Germany. I told them that I wanted to always be able to 'stop as fast as I can go'. That tickled their funny bones :p I always want my vehicle to be in tip top condition. It also helped that the shop was located only 4 blocks away so it was easy to drop off a car, then walk home along a nice pathway. There was also a little cafe with 2 Omas who were always thrilled to see dd and would spoil us with food too :rolleyes:

The most difficult thing I had with our mechanic was paying him. When we were dropping off our cars right after one another for seasonal tire changes, he'd put off our paying him until EVERYTHING was done. It didn't matter that it could take 2 weeks longer for dh to drop his car off. Kind of a 'whatever & whenever' thing :rolleyes: He was such a sweetie. I gave him a Thanksgiving turkey for his family one year for just being great to us :D

Now it's a real pain to get our cars worked on. :( I miss the convenience & trust so much. :crying:
 
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musicmaj

New member
I am driving a 17 year old corolla. It was given to us when we really needed a second car so that I could get my ds to his speech and occupational therapy sessions. It is in great condition and runs so well- but I do wish we could afford a newer car with better safety features. I am, however, very thankful to have this car and to be able to fit our three kids in it so that dh and I can both work and get around right now.

We do have a newer odyssey - but dh usually drives it because he needs it for his job. He has to pull a trailer oftentimes, and he just can't do that in the corolla. lol I end up driving the kids in the corolla 75% of the time.
 

mominabigtruck

New member
My car is somewhat newer but dh's truck is 20 years old. I joke that when the carseats are installed it doubles the truck's value:D The truck itself runs great, unfortunately that's the only good I can say about it, no radio, no guages work, no ac and only one window goes down and that's only part way. But it was free and we needed something at the time so it does what it needs to.
 

MommyofBoogieBear

New member
we drive a '97 montero sport...and a '98 honda accord...that is actually a salvaged car. :)
i feel no need or pressure to have anything nicer than we already do.
 
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