Best Purchases

After nearly 8 years of ownership and having spent only $10,000 plus tax and registration for the car new in November of 2017, I consider the Mitsubishi Mirage to have been one of the two best transportation purchases I have made in my life. The other was a Moped I bought at a yard sale for $125 that I used to commute to work for 10 years and 10,000 miles, averaging 100mpg. The Mirage has averaged 47.5 mpg and has been totally reliable for over 105,000 miles. Besides normal maintenance items like brakes, tires, and fluid changes, the only items that have broken or worn have been the driver side window motor and the passenger side sway bar. The car still has the original battery, and all electronics and powertrain components are working normally. I am considering purchasing an all wheel drive Subaru Crosstrek which will enable me to sleep in the back occasionally when travelling, but I am tempted to keep the Mirage because it has been so economical to drive… As I consider a new car, Toyota refuses to negotiate when selling its hybrid SUVs, and other hybrid makers do not have the same experience, efficiency and reliability. The difference in gas costs between a 30mpg car and a 45mpg car over 100,000 miles at $4 per gallon is some $4,500-hardly worth the exaggerated prices charged for hybrid vehicles. As for carbon emissions, I am quite sure that after a life of driving motorcycles, driving small gas efficient cars, using bicycles and walking thousands of miles,I have emitted less than half the average American. More carbon than many in the world no doubt, but I have earned my old age.