Mongrel wrote:Of course as you know all too well, car ownership is mandatory for some 80% of the American workforce. The truth is that you didn't really have a choice and the anxiety about the financial insecurity that comes with that is perfectly understandable.
Originally I actually had a job that required me to drive, but eventually I got another job that allows me to work from home (for exceptionally shitty pay). So in theory the car isn't a necessity at the moment, but I think selling it and going back to 0 on that would be a bad step. There's something to be said for running errands for the family as well.
Grath wrote:If the upkeep on a Premium-guzzling older Subaru gets egregious, I believe the conventional wisdom is "used Toyota Camry" since they tend to be simple and cheap to keep running.
So the problem is that the weather around here, 50% of the year, will fuck up a lesser vehicle. AWD/4WD is basically a necessity when shit gets buried under ice and snow. I'm not too mad about the amount going into it, because the car was still a pretty good deal. 2005 Turbo Subaru in pretty good shape for under bluebook with 161k miles.
My only actual regret about the vehicle is actually that it happened to be one of those rare vehicles that has some weird ass electronics configuration that means I can't replace the head/stereo unit without going in like $500 because I have to order a special part from Japan.