The A8 went in today. 8 hours and $1700 later it has a new fuel pump, fuel filter, 2 injectors, an oil separator and doctor's orders for $4500 worth of suspension work, which in fairness could be $1000 if I got the parts myself and had the time to do it. But I don't and the money I'd lose in time spent doing it would far outweigh the money saved.
But the writing is on the wall... The A8 has to go. I'm not about to put $6000 into a car with 145,000. No fault of the car... It's actually been amazing for the short time we've had it and nothing that's wrong with it is in excess of what you'd expect to see out of a car with that mileage. I just thought I'd have the time to work on it but I don't. I will miss the Bang & Olufsen stereo more than any singular possession I've ever had. It is amazing. It is more than amazing. I wish I could find a junk A8 so I could tear that system out and stick it in my house. It is just magical.
So we have a couple choices and I'm open to input as well. I still love the BMW but mileage kind of blows. Between the A8 and the 535 I'm spending like $500 - $800 a month in gas a month. I wouldn't necessarily mind having a more expensive car that is more fuel efficient. We also don't pay for electricity at our house so I wouldn't mind a full plug in EV.
That said, here are some options, add yours to the list. Tell me why I'm crazy or if you think you have a better idea. The only stipulation is that we don't want to spend more on cars (payment, insurance, gas) than we do now. So within those constraints here's what I've come up with.
535 and MKZ hybrid - I have to concede that this would technically be my wife's car and she cares so much less about drivability than I do and aside for the abysmal engine the MKZ is an amazing car that we could lease for nothing. Combine that with 38mpg and it's perfect for my heavy traffic driving during the days. Cons are that it just straight up sounds like poop. I could get by this to have a full in warranty car though and for the same monthly money were paying now we could have it fully loaded.
Tesla Model S - I'd need to go with the 60kwh model to stay in budget and it would be our only car. My wife leaves the house on her own maybe twice a month so a second car is really a luxury/ me getti to have variety type of thing. Upside here is that I can take actual expenses as deductions towards my business and out of pocket cost would be less than the MKZ/ 535 combo come ax time.
If you're only in this for the fun options those are the only two so stop reading or come up with your own recommendations. Onward we go...
2014 535d for the he/ used mid 2000's Prius for the she - I'd love a new body style 5 and I'd love the efficiency of the Diesel engine but the downsides are that the car would be slower than my 535, handle worse and be more expensive. So while it would be more efficient there really wouldn't be any savings.
Other cars in contention would be the all electric Focus, Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, etc.
So between my options let's here some opinions and then after that if you got a recommendation that I haven't listed feel free to mention it.
We could also theoretically get the Tesla and grab a used Prius for cash if we absolutely needed to. The good thing about the Tesla is that they've had a nearly 0% depreciation so if we got it and decided it wasn't for us we could flip it easily. That said, I feel like the MKZ is the practical decision while the Tesla is what I actually want to do. But with the MKZ I'd still have my 535 for when I'm feeling frisky.
But the writing is on the wall... The A8 has to go. I'm not about to put $6000 into a car with 145,000. No fault of the car... It's actually been amazing for the short time we've had it and nothing that's wrong with it is in excess of what you'd expect to see out of a car with that mileage. I just thought I'd have the time to work on it but I don't. I will miss the Bang & Olufsen stereo more than any singular possession I've ever had. It is amazing. It is more than amazing. I wish I could find a junk A8 so I could tear that system out and stick it in my house. It is just magical.
So we have a couple choices and I'm open to input as well. I still love the BMW but mileage kind of blows. Between the A8 and the 535 I'm spending like $500 - $800 a month in gas a month. I wouldn't necessarily mind having a more expensive car that is more fuel efficient. We also don't pay for electricity at our house so I wouldn't mind a full plug in EV.
That said, here are some options, add yours to the list. Tell me why I'm crazy or if you think you have a better idea. The only stipulation is that we don't want to spend more on cars (payment, insurance, gas) than we do now. So within those constraints here's what I've come up with.
535 and MKZ hybrid - I have to concede that this would technically be my wife's car and she cares so much less about drivability than I do and aside for the abysmal engine the MKZ is an amazing car that we could lease for nothing. Combine that with 38mpg and it's perfect for my heavy traffic driving during the days. Cons are that it just straight up sounds like poop. I could get by this to have a full in warranty car though and for the same monthly money were paying now we could have it fully loaded.
Tesla Model S - I'd need to go with the 60kwh model to stay in budget and it would be our only car. My wife leaves the house on her own maybe twice a month so a second car is really a luxury/ me getti to have variety type of thing. Upside here is that I can take actual expenses as deductions towards my business and out of pocket cost would be less than the MKZ/ 535 combo come ax time.
If you're only in this for the fun options those are the only two so stop reading or come up with your own recommendations. Onward we go...
2014 535d for the he/ used mid 2000's Prius for the she - I'd love a new body style 5 and I'd love the efficiency of the Diesel engine but the downsides are that the car would be slower than my 535, handle worse and be more expensive. So while it would be more efficient there really wouldn't be any savings.
Other cars in contention would be the all electric Focus, Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, etc.
So between my options let's here some opinions and then after that if you got a recommendation that I haven't listed feel free to mention it.
We could also theoretically get the Tesla and grab a used Prius for cash if we absolutely needed to. The good thing about the Tesla is that they've had a nearly 0% depreciation so if we got it and decided it wasn't for us we could flip it easily. That said, I feel like the MKZ is the practical decision while the Tesla is what I actually want to do. But with the MKZ I'd still have my 535 for when I'm feeling frisky.