[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] so what kind of car do you want
[speaker001:] well I think we're we have pretty much narrowed it down to a Mazda minivan
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] the new uh the uh M P V
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] the uh the one that's the all wheel drive
[speaker002:] do you have a family
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] uh that helps
[speaker001:] well we're we do it mainly because we travel we do a lot of traveling and I want to do it in comfort
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] right now we have we have we have a four door you know sedan but it's just uh it just doesn't have quite as much room and it's not very comfortable to drive long distance in
[speaker002:] you you sound like you've been looking recently or you're buying soon
[speaker001:] well we've we've been looking for about you know two years to decide but you know with the style changes you know they're they're a lot of them are changing right now and we're trying to wait until we see what what it's going to you know the style going to stay for a while
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and uh supposedly the Mazda is going to change this coming year and we'll just we'll wait till the ninety twos come out
[speaker002:] that won't be much longer
[speaker001:] no so that's that's pretty much uh you know where we stand now how about how about you
[speaker002:] yeah well actually I haven't it's funny I haven't been looking at all I mean because um I'm a grad student and and my wife's got an eighty seven Olds Ferenza and I have an eighty two Bonneville which basically our our our our plan is to wait another year until I'm done with graduate school and then sell the Bonneville for whatever we can get for it and go out and buy another a a new car some place else and I think we probably I'm sort of stuck I want half of me wants some sort of little sporty thing just for the hell of it because it may be the last time I can drive one for a long time and the other half of me says be pragmatic and get some sort of um probably small economical car for a couple of years and then get something bigger like a minivan when when when we have kids and stuff or or or when we travel a lot
[speaker001:] yeah yeah you pretty much have to take advantage of the uh the wild and crazy while you can and then you got to turn into the practical
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] that's kind of the way I've had to transition I was into you know the sportier cars and then uh when when when it comes to putting car seats and all that kind of stuff in it you know you just don't uh can't get away with it any longer
[speaker002:] yeah they don't work
[speaker001:] or then and then you got to wait until you're you know after your kids are grown and you can scale back down again
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but uh you know right now I have a pickup truck and it's one of the supercabs and you can get you can get uh you know kids kids and everything in there the only thing is it's it's not very comfortable
[speaker002:] right well it's a it's a it's note like the I've seen that Mazda van and and it seems like it would be the right thing then
[speaker001:] yeah well they've made some changes over the you know the last couple of years since they've come out this year they're coming out with a new transmission a little bit heavier duty transmission which the Japanese are not well known for but uh
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but they're supposedly getting a new uh transmission in fact I think Board Warner's the one that going to going to design it for them
[speaker002:] oh okay that'll be nice
[speaker001:] and that'll that'll help some and uh they're going to change the interior to where the backseat itself can either be removed or laid laying down into a bed whereas now it can't
[speaker002:] oh okay
[speaker001:] you can lean it back a little bit but not all the way
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] so we're looking at those type things also
[speaker002:] that's just yeah it's thinking ahead
[speaker001:] yeah plus you know the the uh the wheel base uh
[speaker002:] it's real good
[speaker001:] the way it is right now the all wheel drive it's a little bit higher up off the ground but they're going to raise it three more inches up and a little bit more clearance
[speaker002:] that'll give you a little extra yeah
[speaker001:] and uh you know not that I really need it for any but I like sitting up high so you can see
[speaker002:] yeah it's actually a real nice feeling I uh grew up driving the Suburban and then recently I test drove for some strange reason I test drove a Range Rover
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] not because I was going to buy a forty thousand dollar Jeep mind you but just but but because um my my wife works for a temporary agency and they and and they had a job and they called me basically I basically I was shopping the agent to make sure you know he was doing good things by Range Rover you know they sent me out as a to sort of act like I wanted to buy one basically and then report back to the company as to how the salesman is doing
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] so I had to act like a buyer and uh
[speaker001:] that's kind of interesting
[speaker002:] yeah it's a neat little um it's it's it's it's it's sort of like being a scab I guess in a sense but uh but I used you know I mean he did a wonderful job so I just went back and said wonderful things about him you know but we went and part of it was test driving a Range Rover and I realized afterward you know it's a real nice ride because it's nice you're nice and high lots of clearance and stuff like that like you said but
[speaker001:] forty seven thousand dollars is
[speaker002:] forty thousand dollars yeah that's just way too much for for a jeep in my opinion
[speaker001:] it's a little stiff yeah I agree I don't think even if I had the money to spend on it I don't think I'd buy one
[speaker002:] no I wouldn't I mean I would get if I wanted to pick out a car like that I'd go for a Bronco or or or you know Blazer or something I figure it's
[speaker001:] plus nowadays you know you it cars are high anyway you know can't hardly get anything decent for less than you know nineteen or twenty
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and that's that's a pretty big investment even nowadays and I want something that's going to last me for at least seven eight years
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh I just can't see you know these people spending these thirty five to forty five thousand dollars on BMWs and Mercedes and then trading them every year or two
[speaker002:] oh yeah this this is nothing I mean he um he was showing me they had this I was you know they had they had a beamer there that was seventy eight thousand and a Mercedes that was ninety
[speaker001:] God that's so that's silly
[speaker002:] you know and the man claimed that he sold fourteen of these Mercedes the previous year
[speaker001:] I uh I like I say I don't I think even if I had the money I wouldn't want something like that it's just not within my it's just it's impractical
[speaker002:] it was amazing yeah it totally impractical and I I can't imagine what's that much better about them that
[speaker001:] too many other good things you can do with the money besides waste it uh I just uh you know there's too many people that need things and
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] you know places that you can put it
[speaker002:] yeah I agree
[speaker001:] not not to waste money like that
[speaker002:] it'd be nice to think that I could afford it mind you but
[speaker001:] yeah I mean it'd be nice to be able to afford it but I I'm just not I even if I had the money I I'm I know for a fact I just wouldn't I wouldn't buy one I just can't bring myself to do that kind of stuff
[speaker002:] yeah no I wouldn't
[speaker001:] but uh we try to keep our cars on an average of eight to ten years if we can if we can get by with it we have a Volvo right now that's I t's seven years old and it's got uh about eighty five thousand miles on it and it still drives like it's brand new
[speaker002:] I was going to say a Volvo at eighty five thousand miles is still being broken in isn't it
[speaker001:] about that's about right and we we anticipate on keeping that car for hopefully another five six seven years if we can if we can make it go that long
[speaker002:] I mean yeah those aren't aren't those the ones that that have is it Volvo or Saab that has like the three hundred thousand mile club and
[speaker001:] well Volvos uh there's a lot of them that we in fact we have a mutual friend uh my my wife and I that uh they uh they just passed three hundred thousand miles on theirs
[speaker002:] and the car's probably still fine right
[speaker001:] it's still mechanically fine now you you know there's there's money to invest in it during during that three hundred thousand miles you know uh timing chains and and various other things but
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] all in all if you if you take it mileage uh based on what you spent over that life of the car
[speaker002:] it's wonderful
[speaker001:] relatively cheap
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so uh you know I I so far I can't complain it's been a good car and and we're going we're like I say we'll try to keep it for a long time it's been paid off for several years
[speaker002:] the that's that's nice to have no payments yeah
[speaker001:] yeah and uh the the only other thing is you know the the pickup truck's nice but it's impractical for for traveling and family so we'll get something that we can haul stuff in if we have to and then have it for you know trips and and everything
[speaker002:] um-hum that's great you've really thought this out it sounds like I mean I'm sort of you know I sort of look around and go yeah that's a nice car that's a nice car but I haven't really
[speaker001:] well nowadays it pays to shop because you're going to have to live with it for a while you know if you if you're paying for it for three or four years
[speaker002:] right uh
[speaker001:] uh that's a long time right there in itself and then you don't want to turn around and and you know the next time you buy a car it's going to be more expensive and uh you don't want to start another payment that's going to be up around four or five hundred dollars a month
[speaker002:] to be paying for a car that's true
[speaker001:] so uh it it's it's crazy so
[speaker002:] that's that that that's real true actually
[speaker001:] but the little that eighty two Bonneville that you have that that uh that's probably a pretty good car
[speaker002:] that's that's actually it's got um it's actually it's low on mileage given that it's eighty two it's only got seventy five thousand on it and uh or seventy four or whatever you know and it's it's in uh it's a funny coincidence that my my cousin sold me the car and she's up for the weekend now so she's out babysitting in the next room sort of perfect coincidence it's a perfect time to be talking about that car um but yeah it's just it's just you know I have little problems here and there you know um stupid things start to go like the uh I can't open it it has electronic windows unfortunately electric windows and doors and the uh and the passenger window is gone you know it doesn't open any more but I'm not going to fix it because I'm going to sell it in a year
[speaker001:] yeah well you know uh things like that that go out you know if you replace them it's just so costly anyway
[speaker002:] yeah it's it's it's seventy five dollars for the motor alone and then another seventy five to install it you know so that can that that's crazy or like the air conditioning went the air conditioning sort of blowing warm air so I went down to the you know my local mechanic and for forty dollars they did an air conditioning check and they
[speaker001:] it's crazy yeah
[speaker002:] went through everything I told them to put in a shot of Freon and they said yeah it needs a shot of Freon but then he came back and he said well the reason you're losing the Freon is because you have a leak in this condenser line and when I and that's a hundred and fifty dollars to fix that and then while we're in there we have to change this this and this and you know and so it would would would would have wound up costing me close to four hundred dollars but he said look if you're selling the car in a year don't bother doing it all he said I'll give you a shot of Freon every now and then and and you're you're fine you know so
[speaker001:] well and your wife has what kind of car
[speaker002:] she has an eighty seven um Ferenza I it's an Oldsmobile yeah it's an Oldsmobile
[speaker001:] oh Ferenza yeah okay that's Pontiac okay or Olds Firenza yeah
[speaker002:] yeah no it's Olds actually olds yeah that's actually a real good car I'm finding it's uh mechanically is very sound um unfortunately the body was rust proofed by a company called Rusty Jones
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] which I'm not sure if you've ever heard of or not but uh Rusty Jones went out of business because their rust proofing wasn't very good
[speaker001:] so now you've got some rust
[speaker002:] and now I've got some I mean the eighty two has no rust at all and the eighty seven has some pretty big rust spots on it so it's
[speaker001:] that's terrible that's one that's one bad thing about living in an area where you have to put salt on the roads
[speaker002:] so and yeah actually we're we're looking forward to getting out of here
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] we're yeah in a year I'm done and then we're moving south or west or southwest