My COAL series ended a couple years ago. Since that point, I’ve bounced around a bit, and I thought it was a fine time to share where I’ve been and where I’ve currently ended up. Let’s go back to 2008, while I was daily-driving The Mythical Beast. I had a significant increase in income and could afford a toy, and everyone said it was The Answer, so I bought……a 1994 Miata.
It was, indeed, what The Internet said it would be, except that I must have bought the worst possible example on the planet. It had enough electrical troubles to make any MG or Triumph blush. While I was busy chasing down the source of the problems, I was also continuously replacing electrical components that were killed by the problems. Cooling fans, HVAC fan, horn, wiper motor, headlight motors – they all failed one by one. I got sick of it, and fast. I couldn’t even bring myself to dump this set of problems on an individual, so I cut my losses in and traded it in at a Mazda dealer. What did I buy?
This extremely low-mileage 2005 Scion xB. It had a 2004 build date, and when I bought it in 2009, it only had 22,000 miles on it. I got it for a fair price, while surreptitiously dumping the Miata on the unsuspecting dealer. (It was running fine the day I traded it in!)
Much has been written, here and elsewhere, about the first-generation xB – even our esteemed editor owns one! Therefore, I won’t bore you with a rehash of facts about this car. Rather, all you are going to get are my opinions.
The xB was simultaneously the best car and the worst car I’ve ever owned. In the city and suburbs, it was fabulous. The interior/exterior size relationship is fantastic. It was quick enough, nimble, and easy to park. Despite an EPA rating of 27MPG city (by current measurements) I could get 35MPG all day long in cool weather, and it only dropped to 33MPG with the A/C blasting. Best car ever made… until it came time for a road trip.
On the highway, the xB was the worst car I had ever owned. Sub-optimal gearing made the engine rev to 4000RPM at 80MPH. As a (slightly) glorified economy car, Toyota/Scion didn’t give any thought to, or spend any money on, any sort of soundproofing. The drone was virtually unbearable.
The boxy shape, so useful in town, was a tremendous detriment on the highway. Passing semis or cars caused it to get blown around almost as badly as an old VW bus. On top of that, the winds of the desert Southwest are almost constant, requiring continuous steering corrections even without nearby traffic.
The nonexistent aerodynamics made for lousy fuel economy, too. The xB is the only car I’ve ever driven that got worse mileage on the highway than in town. While I could get 33-35 in the city, I never exceeded 30MPG on a road trip.
Nonetheless, I kept the xB for 6 years and 70,000 miles, making it the longest I’ve ever owned a car by choice (as opposed to poverty) in my driving life. By the time I was ready to move on, I had already acquired the Unintentional Acura, so I was free to daily drive that while I sold the Scion privately. I got a pretty penny for it, too. Besides being a good car, the xB is a bit of a cult classic, so it held its value well, and remains the best overall value per dollar car I’ve ever owned.
Driving the Acura around town was fine, but it was never really intended as a daily driver. I spent months scouring the Internet for a new driver, and one day I came upon…
…this 2013 Chevrolet Sonic LT. Chevys depreciate horribly, so I grabbed this one with 28k on the clock for under ten grand. I thought I got a bargain, but it turns out I overpaid. I don’t know if I got a bad one or if it had been abused by the previous owner, but it had far more failures than any sub-50,000 mile car has a right to. The final straw was a somewhat severe coolant leak that wasn’t caused by anything obvious, and one I didn’t want to pay to track down.
Also of note: during the tenure of the Sonic, I decided to let the Integra go – I wasn’t really using it, and I just lost interest. It went to a Honda/Acura enthusiast who simply wanted it more than I did. As predicted in the original COAL post, I sold it for about $1000 less than I had into it, which was fine by me.
I took a huge financial bath on the Sonic, but I needed it gone. I headed over to the nearby Toyota dealership, and traded it in on this creampuff…
2008 Toyota Prius. Yes, I’ve given up. I have lost my enthusiasm for cars. I bought the car for people that hate cars, and the car that enthusiasts love to hate. In the Internet age, I can enjoy my old-car passion vicariously, through this and other websites. I’ve reached the point where chasing electrical gremlins or lying on a concrete floor hold absolutely no interest for me, and I’m not the sort of fellow who wants to write checks for someone else to do it.
So far, I sort of like it. I am still remembering how to drive a car without a clutch, which is something I have not owned since the Biiiiiiig-Pimpin’ Cadillac. The cabin is light and airy, not unlike the Scion. The low beltline makes for great visibility, aside from the split-glass liftback, which I’m still getting accustomed to.
I’ve only put about 1100 miles on it so far, but I think it will be okay. 50MPG doesn’t hurt, either.
I understand the feeling. I don’t know that you gave up, or just accepted what you are willing to do (or not do) to drive a car. At a certain point, we know what we like versus what we don’t like. When you are in your 20s, and broke, you don’t mind a beater and accept that it will have issues that you have to fix. When you are in your 40s, with other responsibilities calling, you do mind. Obviously, you (like most others over a certain age) start to hate crawling around doing repairs on cars to enable us to get from point A to point B. A hobby car, as a secondary form of transportation, means we can putter around and fix what we feel like fixing, and when we want to, not because otherwise we would have to walk to work. We also learn that we like comfort and convenience, versus having to wedge ourselves into and out of cramped, uncomfortable seats. We like not having to think about whether we will or will not make it to our destination. That is why we end up with cars like a Prius, or Accord, or any of the “appliance-like” vehicles that sell so well.
A good friend of mine, in his early 30s now, has commented similarly re: giving up. He had a Subaru WRX for a number of years, but he ended up with a regular Ford Focus SE.
His comment: I’m an adult now, so it was time I bought a grown-up car.
It made me very sad.
I’m an adult now, so it was time I bought a grown-up car.
That is the most childish statement I have ever heard.
LOL at the commercial! Forgot about that!
I wonder if it’s something about bugeye WRXs. A coworker had the same vintage WRX, and when he got rid of it we went with a new Camry, in relatively basic spec.
Both of them are enthusiasts, and one of them is an auto tech in his day job, so he knows how to fix. And they both went for anonymous sedate transportation. Neither are married, neither have kids.
FYI, a regular Focus SE isn’t the super lame vehicle people think it is. Ford didn’t do a heck of a lot to change them into ST models:
https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/track-tests/2013-ford-focus-st-suspension-walkaround.html
“I’m an adult now, so it was time I bought a grown-up car.”
My Dad uttered this exact quote when just recently at 79, he traded in his beloved 2014 Mustang that he bought for himself at 75 for a 2017 Accord.
At 56, I bought a 2016 Honda Civic to be my DD, but I kept my 2007 Mustang.
I guess I haven’t totally grown up yet, thankfully. ;o)
Don’t forget! The time your not under some project vehicle, is time you can spend on other things your interested in. Like wakeboarding. Or hiking. Or teaching your cat a new language. Whatever. Having had several Prius iterations, now a Lexus Hybrid, I totally get it. You haven’t sold out, got old, given up or become the driver everyone hates. I still miss my ’97 Miata, but would rather do other things now. Chill, its ok.
And if you need to start a self help group for former gearheads and autojunkies, I’m in.
I’m at that place in my life right now, trying to pare down the automotive fleet from ten (including three parts cars) down to four.
When I was 14, and all I had was a non-running 1941 Chevrolet sitting outside my bedroom window, my (now-departed) mother told me that some day I would tire (oof – unintentional pun there) of working on cars. Predictably, I told her that that would never happen!
But alas, my mom was a wise woman, and that day has arrived. I don’t mind routine maintenance such as oil changes and brake jobs, but I just don’t have the time any longer to pursue my hobby in the way that I once did, which results in several vehicles sitting outside in the rain for months/years on end waiting for me to fix them.
I’ve come to the point where I am seriously considering an electric car for my daily 45-mile round trip commute, just because I will have to do next to nothing besides plug it in a few times a week, and the usual washes/waxes once or twice a year.
Yours may be the first Lemon Miata story I have come across. I am sure they are out there, but you certainly don’t hear about them. What a bummer!
Your Sonic proves why I am distrustful of late model used cars. An older used car gives a better reading on how it was cared for during its life. It is also much cheaper so the cost of picking a bad one is much less.
I don’t mind doing some work on a car. I just replaced the hood release cable in my daughter’s Civic (Really Honda, there are 60 year old Studebakers out there with hood release cables that work just fine!?!?) but I am content to “pay da man” for more involved stuff. And not having more involved stuff is better yet.
Yes, the xB is not a good long-distance car. When I do have to take it on a longer trip, I have to wear my Bose noise-cancelling headphones and listen to classic jazz on them, due to my damaged ears being sensitive to the kind of road noise it transmits at speed.
You haven’t given up; you’re just continuing to experience a wide variety of cars, which isn’t boring or giving up at all. Variety is the spice of life, and I’m sure your next car will be different again.
I love cars and I’ve loved driving my two Priuses, mostly every day for 17 years. Only “mostly” because of my ’93 Miata and my 2017 Fiat 500e. I get off on technology and Prius has been the highest-technology car on the road for most of those 17 years. Incredibly useful, comfortable and reliable.
After owning a few Saab 96 V4’s, a Fiat 128, a few Peugeot 504’s, an Audi 4000 quattro, and a Saturn L200, I bought a 2008 Honda Accord EX-L a couple of months ago. The Saturn had been totaled, I have a commute, and I felt a need to find a car and put the matter to bed. Fortunately, Carfax (and a pre-purchase inspection) told me it had been well maintained.
Anyway, the Accord checks the refinement and (presumably) longevity boxes. First car I ever bought totally on Consumer Reports criteria and not at all on Road & Track criteria. It doesn’t check the individuality box. Not only are there many 8th-generation Accords out there, many of them are the same dark metallic gray as mine. At the mall, I have to check the license plate to make sure I’ve got the right one. It would make a good impression on a business associate or a blind date. It’s certainly OK as a grocery getter. I’m accepting it on its own terms.
This is exactly why I bought my present car, a silver 2007 Accord sedan. It is an adequate transport module. It is also completely boring, maybe even dangerously so. I may have gone too far that direction. There’ll be more detail when I do my tour in the COAL mine.
But hey, you’ve got a two-fer-one at the front end of your Prius: not only does it have headlamps hated by Consumer Reports, but they’re also H4s (unless you have the optional Xenons, in which case they’re expensively problematic, so cross yer fingers).
I don’t know if you’re saying they’re good or awful, but both the 1g Scion xB and the 2g Prius have/had H4 headlamps and I’ve found them both to be adequate at the very least. Likewise, I thought the 5 3/4″ H4 Cibie lights you sold me for my Volvo were also very adequate. One of the headlights on my “new” Prius is getting a tad foggy, but fortunately OE Toyota fixtures are only around $130 (same as they were on my Scion) and it’s a 20-minute job.
They’re adequate to fair. Can be made markedly better by using these bulbs (specifically), and it’s very well worth the hassle and expense to get them aimed with an optical aiming machine. H4 headlamps just aren’t very efficient on low beam, because you can only use about half the total reflector/lens area to gather and focus light (the other half being blocked by the low beam filament’s shield). On the other hand, because the lower zone of the reflector and lens are exclusively for the high beam, the focus of both beams can be optimized quite a bit better than other 2-filament systems (9004, 9007, H13…) where the whole reflector/lens is used for both beams and so both beams must be compromised.
Genuine headlamps for the win; all of the aftermarket units are junk, no matter how many fraudulent claims are made about “OE quality”, “CAPA certified”, “NSF certified”, “DOT/SAE approved”, etc.
So I did this backwards.
I traded a senior adult fuddy-duddy car (’03 LeSabre, loaded to the gills, of course) in on a 2008 Chevy HHR with millennial anti-theft device (aka a 5-speed stick).
I could write a future COAL article about the HHR….
Honestly, I’m getting tired of people dumping on the Prius as a non-enthusiast car. That is totally beginning to change as the Gen II Prii have become more affordable and are being snapped up by second owners who can see it as the perfect blend of economy and utility.
I have found my 2007 Prius to be fun and easy to work on. During my ownership, I’ve done all the labor myself, and there’s tons of DIY tutorials online that have given me the confidence to do so. I’ve changed all the fluids, filters, spark plugs, etc.
I think the Prius is more nimble than the ’99 Saab turbo I owned a few years ago, and I often use it to haul my musical gear far more often than the van I own because the utility and gas milage are terrific.
In short, I think it’s the best car I’ve ever owned. It helped to spark some of my DIY skills and I’m grateful for that.
Any car can be an enthusiast’s car if the own is enthusiastic. And 50 MPG is definitely something to be enthusiastic about.
Great read! My car choices have followed a similar path, as I have gotten older and wiser (or maybe just lazy). For years I had old VW vans and a few Jetta’s. Hardly a week went by where they didn’t need something and I was too broke or proud to take them in to be fixed. Without a garage I was usually out in the alley or in front of the house making hasty repairs to get me to work the next day. Then about 5 years ago I picked up a Toyota previa shortly followed by a Nissan Altima, after I sold my Jetta. The last time I was missing the old VW vans I passed one on the side of the road with the back hatch up and that feeling quickly passed.
Recently I have had a few niggling issues with the previa and I am thinking it might have to be replaced. Luckily I don’t have the same connection to it that I had with the old vans. And I won’t be dumping thousands of dollars to keep an old rust bucket on the road.
Four months ago, I was wondering the same thing, have I given up? Four months later, I realize that no, my priorities have changed. Four months ago I bought a 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage, the car that the automotive press LOVES to hate. I’ve put 5000 miles on it and still don’t get the hate. It’s surprisingly comfortable, and soaks up the bumps surpringly well for a small car. Acceleration is adequate though Interstate on ramps can be challenging and crosswinds will force you to slow down. I’m averaging 46 mpg!!! People have commented to me that depreciation is steep on these cars. I only paid $12,000 for it brand new. News flash, a $60,000 luxury MerCadilLincoln loses that on the first trip under your ownership. It’s far from perfect but it ain’t bad and the extra jingle in my pocket makes it shine to me.
Thank you for the depreciation reality check. An inexpensive small car might lose a greater percentage, but overall, still loses less total dollars in 1-5 year depreciation. After 5 years, most cars hit the 40-50% depreciation rate, which means your $12K car lost $6K in value, but the $60K lux model lost $30K. It comes down to what you want to do with your money, but I don’t see the value in the more expensive car for my purposes.
I’ve grown older(69 now)but still haven’t grown up.Bought a 1990 Miata one year ago.
Am the 3rd. owner,trouble free and replaced my motorcycle urge.
Come on Evan! You owned a brown Volvo. Although we at CC know better, most people would figure you to be a non car guy right there!?
Hello all, I’ve been lurking here for a while now and have enjoyed the site.
As I’ve grown older (50 this year) I’ve found myself doing more with cars rather than less. About 3 years ago I picked up a $500, 239K mile, 1996 BMW 318ti as my daily driver, replacing a 2005 Mazda3 that I bought new (handed it down to my daughter). It needed a few things but once they were taken care of it was a reliable and fun commuter. I really enjoyed working on it and driving it and put 25K on it in 2 years.
I replaced it with a 241K Acura RSX Type S for $1,200. It also needed a few things, but has been a blast so far. I’ll drive it for a couple of years and move on to something else interesting. As long as I’m able, I plan on continuing to do so.
I also have a Prius in my fleet, a 2007 Touring. It was bought for my wife in 2013 with 112K for $10K. She loved it and I both loved and hated it. I love the mileage, the reliability and the versatility of the hatchback. I hate the lack of power, the buzzy drivetrain and the numb steering. There’s so little feedback I found it especially maddening in slippery condition as you can’t really feel wheel slip until the car starts changing direction.
We replaced it this year with a 2015 Accord Hybrid which I find superior to the Prius in every way except for versatility. Slightly better MPG, more power, much quieter and solid, responsive road manners. It’s actually enjoyable to drive, something I would never say of the Prius. As a sedan, it’s less useful for cargo carrying to start but as a hybrid it’s even worse with the battery behind the fixed rear seat back.
The Prius now has 205K and is still going strong. It’s getting handed down to my youngest daughter.
Cool! I’ve got 3 Prius currently. An ‘04 and ‘06 and an ‘11. This coming from someone who was a Datsun 280z fan. I don’t know what the draw is but for some reason I can’t own just one. Keep rolling!