Keep the Tacoma and buy Civic???

Sounds like your mind is pretty much made up.

 

Not trying to hijack your posting, but I was also considering buying a Honda Civic for another reason. I need a car to tow behind an RV I am considering purchasing. I also will need a car for my daughter in a couple of years, so I figured I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I can then keep the miles off of my Tacoma by driving the Civic daily. Thought?

 

That is 4 wheel down towable from factory?

 

Good calcs, but I started to think "this guy forgot resale on the civic"
I see you threw that in at the end, but my experience is that civic hold their value very well. I just sold one with 196k miles, beat up pretty good for $1700. I guess it all depends on how good a deal you get on that 3k civic. Is it a 2005 3k civic or a 1998 3k civic, cause obviously in 3 years the 2005 will still be 3k while the 1998 will be 1k.
(I like how you put all federal holidays plus 2 weeks PTA in)


Now I got a 2004 civic and i got a killer deal on it. I only got it cause it was a good deal, but having it around as a spare car has been awesome. Each time my sisters or parents or uncle complain about an issue with their car, i say "drop if off and take the civic" And I live near DC, so when we go into the city, it is Civic all the way for easier parking.

 

I can vouch for a TSX. Well worth the investment.

As for having multiple cars. I don't see why most people have a problem with it. I have a 03 Civic Si and a 03 4Runner. I used the 4Runner as a daily/work commuter and the 03 Civic Si as a weekend toy. Then I added a 07 TSX and a 08 CBR. Insurance only went up by a couple hundred. Along the ways I had a 89 Chevy S10 for a few years and recently a 90 Toyota Pickup for a couple of years. Now I have a 13 Tacoma along with the Civic, TSX, 4Runner, and CBR. So I don't see whats wrong with multiple cars. Having a designated commute car saves the mileage on the other cars. The Civic and TSX are less than 25k and the only high mileage car is the 4Runner at 150k. Also cars don't need to depreciate in value. I bought the Chevy for $700 and the Pickup for $1500. Resold each truck at $2000 and $3000 respectively.

 

I don't disagree with multiple cars. I actually miss my old yellow s-10 truck. It was a magnet for stupid drivers who kept hitting me at low speeds. I was originally viewing from a economic sense. My future weekend car tastes will get worse MPG than Tacoma. It's not worth it to me investing in a cheap car for better MPG when my ultimate goal is a muscle car.

I'm keeping the Tacoma for a DD. Can't go wrong with a Taco!

 

I am not sure if this was brought up yet but one thing to keep In mind is that the initial cost of the civic really isn't $3k. The cost of the civic is $3k less whatever you get back for it when you sell it (which is probrably close to what you paid for it). So if I were you and you planned on keeping the truck forever, I'd go for the civic

Edwin

 

I thought about resale value of car. Plus VTEC engines are always in high demand. A good friend of mine states TSX VTEC drivetrain with 200+ HP are going for $3500 all day long. Demand is from SCCA Mod race classes and weekend races/time trials.

One category I haven't shared but should be added into this is TIME. Family, Wife, Kids, Kids sports, Night classes for college degree, and dozens of other demands don't allow me spare time for upkeep on high mileage car. Even if I got a used Civic for free some of the smaller issues could be neglected.

I'm keeping the Taco for DD but others who are looking into 2nd car for better MPG would need to consider spare time for maintenance. 10 years ago I had the spare time for my 2nd car an old CJ7. Not to get too deep, but with my family I would rather spend my weekends hiking, tossing the ball, skeet shooting, or evening out with my Wife than fixing an issue till 1am (thanks to 1998 Intrepid; piece of junk!).

 

A civic is a great car to save money on gas, and they are very dependable.

I have gone through 3 different civics 2 of them between 1992-1995 and the latest one i had was a 2007 Civic Si that was paid off for that i traded in for my taco i wish i would have kept it for for a DD, but Toyota gave me a very good price on trade in even though it was in 2 accidents. One thing i did notice about any civic is that they hold a good value, even if you bought the civic for 3k i bet you can sell it back in for at least 1k or even more down the rd.

They are very cheap to maintain, parts are cheap, and u can find a millions of used parts with low miles for them. I have been working on cars for a while just as a hobby and i enjoy it plus i'm one of those people who rather figure out the problem and fix myself instead of paying someone else for something i can do, and out of all the cars i have done work on a civic is the easiest even up to my 2007.

I don't know how things work in your state, but on my first 2 civics (92-95) i had just liability insurance on them which was super cheap, cant remember exactly how much though. It was probably around the same price as filling up a tank of gas in the taco lol.

 

I just did this, except I bought a 97 miata. I think the answer is: do it if you want a car to play with.

It's really nice having a second vehicle that saves gas, is fun to drive, that I can autocross, and plus if I break the truck offroad or my beater dies, I can drive the other one and make it in to work.

The finances aren't really there, I wouldn't do it to save money. I would do it to have a toy, though, because it's a pretty cheap toy.

Insurance on the miata is around 250/year for full coverage, and it may get you a price break on your truck insurance if it gives you a multicar discount.

The big factor that the answer you linked to ignores though, is resale. I will resell this miata in a couple of years for about what I paid for it, and that makes a huge difference. If you buy a $3000 car, two years later, you'll sell it for $2800. There isn't much room for depreciation, so as long as the vehicle is running, it's still going to be worth at least a couple of thousand bucks.

All that said, I wouldn't do a civic. There are very few cars you can find for 3 grand that are actually reliable. Civics are massively overpriced, IMO, and you won't find one as far as I can tell in decent running shape for that little. I went miata because I wanted something fun to drive, with good mileage, cheap. It was about the only car I could think of that fit all 3 criteria.

 

I hate this thread now I am pricing out some Mazda 3's for a DD.

 

I have the same situation. I have a 13 tacoma and a 02 4dr civic (paid 3K for). The civic interior is in great shape, the exterior needs paint but it reduces wear and tear on the truck, saves gas, and the tacoma with much less mileage it will be worth more in the long run. All i have is liability on the civic and its only $26 more a month. With the civic i get twice the gas mileage as the tacoma and dont care if someone hits with a car door in the parking lot...the security of having 2 vehicles is always a good feeling to have. I say go for it and if you take time to fix the civic up a little and you can sell it for more than what you paid for it down the road.

 

We think alike. I just bought a 97 Miata for the same reasons. I've been driving the miata more locally and the Taco gets used on long trips with the fam. Im doing an autox event next month.

 

i'm doing this in 2 months. on rainy days i'll still drive my truck

$3k for a civic in good shape isn't a bad deal at all and will save you money in the long run. you're not putting so many miles on your precious truck. instead you're putting it on a car that gets much better gas and is cheap to work on as well as easy. though for 3k you could get something with better mileage like a jetta(40+mpg) but they are more $$ to work on.

 

I give the vote to the Honda Fit for the beater! I drove my '08 for about 30k miles. The only issue I had was the crap for crap Dunlop SP31 factory tires.

The L15A1 engine is very efficient and smooth as glass. I was getting 40-44 mpg (best 48) once the engine broke in. On the smooth-as-owls-snot stick shift it isn't exactly slow either; it'll move from stop to 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds.

It's good for tall people too. That roof is REALLY high compared to the seat. I'm 5'11" and had about 6" between my head and the headliner. Besides, the amount of stuff it could hold in the back was absolutely insane. For example, not many vehicles can take a fully assembled la-z-boy through the back hatch and have it sit on its feet. One time I moved a 6' tall pantry, an ottoman, and a bench seat.... in one trip.

I know I'll be very tempted to hunt down a good used one if I go the two-car route in the future, if the insurance prices come down for it. For some reason it was cheaper to insure than Tacoma than the Fit.

 

This is my beater, a 88 bmw 325. I get 25-30mpg consistently. Fun to drive and cheap too, I auto cross it as well. Plus it Rwd and not Fwd like a civic

 

I see your point about the car being worth something still, but still let's say the civic is worth 1500, that cuts your payoff years basically in half, was it worth parking your truck and driving a civic to work for 2 years to save $1500? Not to me at least

As I mentioned above yeah throw in the resale but I still don't see the payoff for 1500 over a couple years. And yeah, actually my company had 254 eligible work days in 2012, when you manage 75 people these types of things pop up when running the p & l and productivity models.

 

WANT!!!

 

I wish the dude that had my tacoma before me had a civic. 2006 with 198k.

 

Any issues with your 06 Taco? Anything wore out, like seats, center console, etc?