I am re-thinking my decision to keep my 2005 Honda CR-V

[Digit]

I love it since I can sit up high (I am only 4'11" tall), and see the traffic which keeps me safer.

I only drive 12 miles round trip to work and pretty much stay in the vicinity.

Guess that is why I have very low mileage at less than 19,000. It would have been less, but for a year I was commuting 42 miles round trip to my old job.

Maybe I am recalling the days of Beta VHR, which I purchased, and we all know what happened later.

I know they are still very popular with it being a 4 cylinder vehicle.

I would probably sell it on the open market and buy a used Toyota Corolla stick shift.

The Honda Civic is too low for my driveway and scrapes, same for the Accord.

Do I dump it before it becomes a dinosaur or what?

It is paid for.

[ananda]

1. hmm

I have a 1998 Honda CR-V for sale right now.

If I don't sell it, I will trade it in when
I get my Civic hybrid.

I just can't sustain the idea of using so
much gasoline. The Civic hybrid gets at least
double the gas mileage as that of the CR-V,
if not more.

Maybe you could get your driveway flattened
and repaved.....

[Digit]

5. My house is on a hill, that is why my driveway is hilly.

Then again, this is NC, and many of the driveways into businesses will cause your car to scrape if it is low to the ground.
My 1992 Honda was low, or so I thought, until I measured it against the newer models.

[MedleyMisty]

2. My mother drives one

First new car she ever bought - and she's constantly assuring me that if anything happens to her my name is on the title and it will go to me.

She likes it and it gets fairly decent gas mileage. And she gets some slack on the SUV thing because she lives on a dirt/gravel road - I remember one spring we walked the mile and a half out to the paved road where she had the car parked every morning and afternoon, because every night the mud would freeze and then melt during the day and refreeze at night and there were deep ruts and it was pretty much unpassable for the Buick Regal she had then.

If you like it, why give it up?

[Digit]

3. Because with gas at $4.00/gallon and rising rapidly, I am concerned

I am a single parent, partially disabled, and don't know what the future holds.

[Warpy]

4. If it's paid for and you're driving short distances

drive it until it dies. Make the minor repairs it needs, but if it throws a rod, bury it.

This is when you're paying yourself back. Even if you're wasting some gas with the additional weight, it's still not enough to justify getting something else if you drive so little.

Things are changing rapidly on the technological end. Ten years from now, when the CRV throws that rod, you'll have a lot more options and many of them will be affordable.

[Digit]

6. Your post opened my eyes

I don't expect to be alive in 10 years, sorry to be morbid, but my family just does not live that long.

Guess that would be another reason to hold onto it.

In fact, I purchased it because my daughter liked it.

[Digit]

7. Funny sidenote...I STILL have my BetaMax!

Still works, too!

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. It would take you forever, probably never.....

to justify the expense of buying another vehicle just for the savings in gasoline. Keep your Honda.

[Captain Angry]

9. Right now isn't the time to create new debt.

If you could find a Corolla that you trust in its used condition, it's probably a good investment. But you know exactly what condition your current vehicle is in, you barely drive it, and it offers the ability to carry more stuff if necessary.

I have friends trying to find commuter cars now, and the prices are skyrocketing on used cars like that one.

But I'd hate to go from no car payment to having a loan to deal with.


I'm driving an Escape Hybrid. Some times I think I should have forgone the union build vehicle for something with better mileage, but then I have days like today. I had to pick my sister, her husband and my niece up at the airport with luggage. Earlier in the day I moved a coffee table and other stuff. If I had a Prius, it would have been difficult to do the airport run and impossible to move the table.

[GainesT1958]

10. I have a 2003 CR-V...

And it gets really good mileage, both city and highway. Of course, it doesn't get near the mileage of a Civic Hybrid, but then, a Civic Hybrid is expensive--and like yours, DIGIT, mine is paid for. Plus, I can't do without the considerable space it has inside--especially for a small SUV. And height is good, especially for someone like me with a bad back--and who's 6'3".

I'd keep it if I were you!:D

P.S. What color is it? My favorite that model year is the gold, followed by the light green metallic (rare). Mine is white w/black interior.

I just looooove the Green Tea color on the current CR-Vs; wonder why Honda doesn't offer it on more models? I'm in N.C. also, BTW!

B-)

[Digit]

12. Mine is silver, like everyone else purchased after I did!

I see tons of them on the road!
I had a gold Diesel Rabbit for many, many, years, so I wanted something different.

I am in the Triangle, where are you?

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. They're *all* going to be dinosaurs.

Drive it until the wheels fall off or you can't obtain fuel for it.

[Digit]

13. Now THAT was uplifting!

About as uplifting as seeing, "Who Killed The Electric Car".

Can you imagine if the US actually brought back the Electric Car how popular it would be?

Now THAT is an uplifting thought, at least for me.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. You can't possibly save enough in gas to...

justify buying another car.

A Corrolla with a stick gets something over 30mpg overall, and since you drive so little and the car hardly warms up, you'll get less. One stickshift Corrolla I had got over 40 mpg on the highway, but the automatic one I have now is doing around 26mpg overall with little highway driving. A stick on this one wouldn't help much.

So, say 6,000 miles a year at 30 mpg is 200 gallons (if you actually get that) or 800 bucks a year in gas at 4 bucks a gallon. If you're getting around 20mpg in the Honda, you're spending 1,200 bucks on gas now, so you might save a whopping 400 bucks a year with the Corrolla. Probably less.

400 bucks a year might be significant, but it doesn't pay for another car. Besides, if your Honda is reliable, the Corrolla might not be, and I know from bitter experience that Corrolla repairs are not cheap, so there is something of a gamble here.

And Corrollas sit you very close to the ground, so you don't see squat-- at six feet I can't see around anything that's bigger than my car, which is everything else.

I'd keep the Honda unless finding some ready cash when I'd get a Yaris-- it sits you higher, doesn't scrape the driveway, gets great mileage, holds a lot of stuff, and costs only $13,000 well equipped.

[Nay]

15. Listen to TreasonousBastard. I have a 1996 Lexus that gets 20 mpg.

I did the calculations to see if it made sense for me to sell it and buy a car that got at least 35 mpg. Like you, I mainly drive to work (9 miles) and back, and run short errands. The savings in gas expenses was so relatively small that buying even a good used car wouldn't pay off for at least 7 years. And, like TB said, I KNOW my Lexus is in perfect shape, it is very comfy, and I can ferry the grandbaby around without fearing for his safety, as I would fear if I bought a very small car.

So, I have decided to keep this car until the tranny falls out, it throws a rod, etc. Plus I have become even more vigilant about combining trips, eliminating unnecessary trips, etc.

[FarCenter]

18. Those very high miles/gallon numbers are for long trips

For local driving, the mpg difference between a CR-V and an Accord is not that great.

A Civic or a Fit would do better, but you are unlikely to get 35-40 mpg except on longer trips.

Keep a careful log of gallons odometer reading at every fill, keep the tires a little on the hard side, accelerate slowly, and plan ahead so you coast to stops instead of braking hard.

[lectrobyte]

16. I'd be much more concerned about being out of debt right now. Better

to have a reliable and relatively economical car and no car payment than a new Corolla and a car payment. A 2005 model with 19K miles is like a new car to me, anyway.

[bean fidhleir]

17. 2 suggestions ...or maybe only one

To keep from scraping, try going in at an angle so that the front wheels are on different parts of the slope (did that make any sense?). Many cities and towns in Mass have high curbs, so there are a lot of parking lot entrances that are very steep so as to avoid cutting a slope through the pavement where people walk. I've found that if I made a normal turn in, the bottom of my car scraped, but going in at an angle, I sort of "wallowed" my way in. Worth a try, anyway.

I'm guessing that a CRV is an SUV? If that's so, you might be able to offset the extra fuel price by putting up informal notices at the nearby grocers, laundramat, churches, library, etc. that you're willing to carry things that are too big for a "good" car at so much an hour + so much more a mile/km, but that you don't do anything but the driving (i.e., they load/unload/shlep). If you can make it worthwhile yet cheaper than their hiring a truck, you might get a lot of business.