Originally Posted by
Jigsaw
Here's my situation. My wife and I are seperated. We have a 4yo daughter. We live in a pleasant surburb just north of Chicago. I usually bike to work or to the train when I need to go into the city and use the family car for shopping and taking/picking up my daughter from preschool.
She's going to get the family car, which is fine with me. I've been biking more and more and it's feeling really good (haven't used the granny gear in weeks!), but I'm worried about winter coming. For those of you not the Chicago area, winters here are long, cold and snowy. Last year I biked to work until mid-December, then used the car until late March. I predict I will want to do the same this winter, so I'm thinking about buying a cheap used car for myself. I just don't know if I want to shell out a payment every month.
Anyone want to talk me out of it? Talk me into it? Should I look into renting a car during the winter months? What are some of you doing in this situation?
Many thanks in advance.
I wouldn't buy a four figure car........I have been driving a 1981 Isuzu diesel and it has 200,000 miles on it and is still going strong. You can buy a decent car in my area for $1500 and even less if you don't care about looks. Good tires and brakes and something that runs is all you need. If you primarily bicycle, you don't even need to worry about fuel economy, especially if you only drive five miles one way, as many do. I live 28 miles from work so mpg is important to me. If I lived in town or drove less than 15 miles a day, I wouldn't care about fuel economy much. My newest car is a 1992 Suzuki Swift (38-47 mpg) that I am rebuilding. It should be a decent commuter but I plan to bicycle part way as I have this past year. It might be semi-important to have a fairly decent ride, depending on your ex's viewpoint. You don't want any flack about driving your child in some unsafe beater. Just get something safe and reliable unless you want to pick up 'wenches'.
