loky1179

Our dog Chewie in his Chariot. Of course, that was a year ago. Now he's 85 lbs and I'll probably have to cut a hole in the roof to accommodate him.

loky1179

I have a '96 Saturn. We have two vehicles in the household, so we're not super car-lite, but I put more miles on my bike than I do on my vehicle, so I guess that counts for something.

I've always been of the opinion that the longer you can make something last, the cheaper it becomes. Buy a car every 20 years instead of every 10, and you'll save a lot of money.

Not having to rely on the car means that when it breaks, I don't have to rush out and fix it. Last April, my exhaust system started to fall off. In Minnesota, when your exhaust system starts to go, it usually means it's already gone. In this case however, I didn't need my car, so I parked it until June when the weather was warmer. I managed to bolt the rusted junction back together with some stainless steel bolts from the hardware store and an exhaust gasket from Amazon. A temporary fix, for sure, but it has lasted a year now.

In my non car lite days, I would have been out $400-$500 immediately for a new exhaust system.

We're looking at newer cars, since my wife's car is also 17 years old, but I'm not excited about it. As I posted on another thread , all I want is a new car that has the features of my current car - 38 mpg highway and a rustproof body. Apparently, I ask too much. We're leaning towards a Prius. At least we'd get the mileage part.

zeppinger

I recently became car-lite after being car-free for the last five years. Moving to a small, midwestern town with not-so-hot mass transit and brutal winters (Lansing, Michigan) was tough after living in large, urban cities in California and Korea. I had no interest in buying a car but a relative was getting rid of their Toyota Tacoma and were going to trade it in for a $500 on their new SUV. I offered them double that price and got the truck. Its probably worth 5 times that so it would have almost been dumb not to buy it.

It sure was useful having a 4x4 during the recent ice-apocalypse. I still ride to and from campus everyday, even in the winter. I use the truck about once a week, sometimes more sometimes less. It gets terrible millage but I use it so little It doesnt matter. I am on track to put about 5,000 miles on it per year. Its not the kind of car I would buy if I had my choice but when it came available it was a good deal for me. I miss the simplicity of being car-free but where I live, car-free can be pretty limiting.

mconlonx

I used to have a '98 Honda Civic Si hatchback, which was fantastic. You could fit 8' boards and posts front to back with the hatch closed, if needed. Excellent gas mileage, super fun car to drive, and decent in the snow with the addition of studded snow tires.

When it died, we went car-lite, 02 Mazda Protege5 split between me and the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. mconlonx. Another sub-compact which gets good good mileage, fun to drive, even better to stuff stuff into. Downside is that the stupid low-profile tires on 16" alloy rims meant no winter tires available until we got an extra set of 15" rims.

She's keeping the car. I bought a 98 Ford E-350 van with utility body. 5.4l V8, heavy, aerodynamics of a barn door. Currently planning to build it out so as to live in it, vandweller style. I'm going the other way: home-free.

surreal

That's incredibly awesome; zero sarcasm intended. I wanna cargo van pretty bad, but I can't justify such a purchase as of right now.
But when I see a van with only 3 windows (including the windshield), looking like a box on wheels, I have to admire it for its purity of purpose.

To answer the OP: I drive a 4cylinder 5speed 2wd 'Yota Taco. I like it b/c stuff can fit in it. I tend to drive it to work on a Monday with a bike in the bed, use it from work as-needed for work- (and, sometimes, lunch-) related missions, and then drive it home with Friday's bike in the bed at the end of the week. I also use it to move furniture, bike frames, clients' bikes, etc for other ppl or myself. I'll throw a couple bikes in the bed and ride distant trails from time to time; it's been awhile, but spring has sprung. I think I use it sensibly and sparingly, but I cannot shake a ever-present yearning to ditch it and make do without it.

noglider 

I have a station wagon and leave it at our house in the country. I use it on weekends when we're there. During the week, and on weekends when we're in the city, I ride my bike or take the subway. I also walk a lot.

no1mad 

You might draw some inspirations for your home on wheels from here- Roadtrek: #1 Selling Class B Motorhomes (Camper Vans, Class B RV) in North America since 1990! www.Roadtrek.com

mconlonx

I would so love a Roadtrek, but so pricey... You are correct, though, good for inspiration. I like this site Cheap RV Living.com | | Home and there's a decent yahoo group for vandwelling as well.

noglider 

Living in a van like that is going car-heavy and home-light, isn't it?

loky1179

My sister lived on her boat for a couple years. I'd imagine being a vandweller would be similar. You REALLY have to pare down your possessions. I admire that; but being the packrat that I am, I don't think I could pull it off.

cooker

How do you get to the country house?

350htrr

Depends on how much he actually drives it around...

noglider 

We use my wife's car. She drives almost every day for work. I can also get up there by bus, but I don't often have occasion to do that. The bus stops right next to the bike shop in Rosendale, and I might eventually keep a bike there.

mconlonx

\

Exactly!

I do wonder about the environmental economy of the lifestyle.

Plan is to run solar and/or recharge a house battery off the van charging system, plug-in "shore power" recharging as backup. 250w panel with 200ah worth of batteries will very much limit electical use. I'll probably only go solar if I bother with a 12v refrigerated cooler or 12v oven; house system charging off vehicle electrics would be fine for lighting and electronics use. I'd still be using electricity at work, out on the town, recharging things where convenient, but much less at "home" and either renewable or ancillary charging.

Being able to be closer to work will cut down on commuting gas or my share of bus fuel, but having to move the van on a regular basis coupled with poor mileage might not ultimately mean less gas used. Especially if I get migrant and travel with the seasons.

Heating a much smaller space with propane will definitely be an engergy saver. Water use will be limited to scrounging off a 7gal reservoir, but plan is to utilize showers at work and gym, toilets outside the van as much as possible. In-van backups of Luggable Loo top to a 5gal bucket for a dry-toilet setup and sponge baths.

Extraneous purchases should drop to nil as there is just not much space to put anything.

Ultimately, I think I'll be living an environmentally frugal lifestyle, much less impact than I used to have, but I would not be surprised to find some in a fixed location doing even better.

I totally have packrat tendencies, and it has been a struggle. Did a big life purge about a decade ago, going through a rather extreme purge now. And I'm not done yet. Goes against my better judgment to be tossing so much stuff, but I've kept some real important (small, portable) keepsakes, and have a couple places to store a few boxes I just can't bring myself to get rid of.

noglider 

I think having a smaller space to heat is going to be the biggest way to save money and energy. Second is traveling less.

350htrr

My son lived in one of these for 1 1/2 years and loved it, probably only put about 1,000 miles on it the whole time... Much better than a van IMO. 12v Heating and 12v fridge not really worth/doable IMO, a solar panel certainly IS worth it, I lived in my camper for two weeks and never plugged in and used as much power as I wanted.

EDIT; I would consider 1,000 miles in a year and a half car light... Even in something like this...

no motor?

I've put about 15,000 miles on my 2005 Elantra in the 4 years I've owned it. Between living close to work/shopping/gf, walking and bicycling when I can I use it more than I'd like but still enough to make me feel car lite.

FenderTL5

We were a two car family.
A healthcare emergency/crisis in 2010 changed our lifestyle.
I sold the more expensive to own and operate vehicle opting to keep the one that was A) paid for and B) still under warranty (at the time).
It's a 2003 Kia Spectra hatchback.

Simple logistics put me on the bicycle. My son needed to go to a job interview mid-day. He couldn't do that if I had the car parked at the office. So I rode my bike to the bus stop. The biking expanded from there.

As of February, we have a second vehicle once again. my father-in-law passed away and we "inherited (not really but close enough)" his 1991 small-sized pick-up. I'm still riding the bike most of the time but the option of having a 2nd vehicle is ever present.

Roody

Just curious--if you were doing well with one vehicle, why did you decide to go back to two?

wahoonc

I lived in one of those for 8-9 months... mine didn't move I had a hand pumped water well, used gas for heat and light. I also had 12 volt lighting I would keep a couple of batteries charged up by hooking them up to the charger at work. Shower was an old tractor inner tube sealed on the ends with a hose adapter on it, it was on top of the camper, pump it full of water in the morning and by evening the sun would heat it up to around 115*

Aaron

FenderTL5

As I mentioned, it came somewhat inherited. My youngest "acquired" the truck for himself at next to nothing. There are 5 of us in the household, 3 with jobs 1 in school headed in different directions every morning. It took quite a bit of pre planning with irregular work schedules. My wife is disabled. However, the two vehicles combined are driven less than 30 miles a week.

loky1179

Off topic, but that's a great solution for hot water. I've looked into solar a bit, and if houses were built with any kind of rational design, every last one of them would have a solar water heater on the roof. As your solution shows, it is stupidly easy to heat up water using the sun. It makes my head hurt to think that in the summer, my water heater is parked in my very air conditioned basement, when my roof heats up to ungodly temps on a daily basis. OT off/

wahoonc

We have several different solar water heating solutions over the years. One of my favorite was the 1930's beach house we lived in down in FL, Sunset Harbor, Siesta Key. It had a huge cedar water tank in the attic painted flat black, they put a glass roof panel over it. Worked great. We have had active solar too where there was a pump to move water between the storage tank and the roof mounted panels, worked good until the control board crapped out and the company that had built it was out of business. To have someone rebuild the board was going to cost more than 3 years of gas to heat the water so dad went the gas route.

Solar is great stuff, but it is expensive to install and can be expensive to maintain if you don't choose wisely. There is a golf community down the road from us where solar panels and satellite dishes are against the HOA requirements. Won't find me living there. Hope to get something back up and running for my own use here soon. Current water heater is electric.

Aaron

Nightshade

The vehicles we use ,being car light, are a '93 Chevy Silverado Suburban 2x drive and a '96 Chevy Silverado ext. cab 4x4 drive pick up.

We find this to be an ideal combo for the less than 5,000 miles we drive each year going to doctors, grocery stores, meals out (few) etc. that lets us enjoy our retired lives by always having the right vehicle for the job........a "limousine" for personal travel and chevy pick up for chores. Since the total miles driven each year is so low I never worry about fuel cost.

350htrr

I used to think I was driving my truck "car light" putting only about 6,000 miles a year on it and driving nothing else except my bike... Now, not so much. Since we got the Prius C I now realize that I could drive it 25,000 Miles and use about the same amount of gas, or drive it 6,000 Miles and use 1/5th as much gas...