Posted on by vrummer

My Cheap Daily Driver: a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx

This quality unit is my winter beater, and I am awful proud of it, for a car that cost a mere $1,000. Aside from the cheap price, it was also the newest Chevy Wagon I could find. You may think, “I bet it needed a ton of work though”. Quite the contrary! It was due for an oil change and new rear rotors and pads, but that’s about it. I did get new winter tires, as front wheel drive cars do’t tend to do well on unplowed, snow-covered roads without them. If it wasn’t for the obvious rust throughout the car’s body, the Malibu would be worth much more.

So far, the Malibu has served me very well, even though I ask a lot of it at times. I’ve already got it stuck twice. The first was in an overflow parking lot at a ski resort that turned out to be an old field. The second was off of a section of road in a blizzard. There was heavy snow in the parking lot of a former gas station that was, like the roads, unplowed. There was tracks from a large truck that almost got through, so I figured I’d make it, seeing as my vehicle weighed probably half of what his weighed.

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I got myself quite stuck. A passerby offered to pull me out with the tow chains I always kept in the trunk, but realized he didn’t want to be responsible for anything that broke on the vehicle when he did so. Nobody else stopped to help, so I got out the shovel I keep in the trunk and started digging. Before long, I had myself a path that would get my trusty steed out of there. I hopped in, backed up as far as I could, and hit the throttle. Sure as Surfers in California, I got out of there and headed home.

My clapped-out, rusty Chevy Wagon has served me loyally, and I intend to drive it until it catastrophically fails (or I can get my hands an a cheap 4×4 Chevy truck!).

Posted on by vrummer · 2 Comments

The Top 3 Cheap EVs you should go test drive NOW

Many in the automotive industry agree, EVs will be most or all of our transportation future. While the cars I suggest in this article may not be fast, they are very environmentally friendly and practical. They are also, as the title suggests, cheaper than you may expect.

#1: The Chevrolet Bolt- Pictured above is, in essence, a Spark with batteries and electric motors slapped under it in place of a motor. That said, It is a decent value. While It is on the expensive side, starting at $37k, it has an impressive range of about 259 miles. The Bolt could be an even better deal at the dealer, since the model will soon be refreshed, meaning that dealers will have a bit of stock left over that they’ll be eager to get off their lot.

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#2: The Tesla Model 3- Tesla’s budget-oriented sedan keeps a profile similar in appearance to that of the Model S, its upmarket cousin. It, too, is a good value if you believe the Model S is priced well. While the 3 is about half the price, starting at $40k, it suffers only a 50 mile range decrease, with a range of 322 miles. It also would be a go-to on this list if you like touchscreens, as there is a massive slab in place of a traditional center stack that controls a large number of the car’s functions like A/C, audio playback, and others.

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#3: The Nissan LEAF- One of the all-time best-selling EVs, the LEAF is very popular. It starts at around $32k with a maximum range of 226 miles. The only foreign automobile on this list, the LEAF comes hails from the Land of the Rising Sun.

My personal pick would be the Bolt because, as you’ve probably figured out if you read my other posts, I’m a Chevy guy. I welcome your arguments in the comment section.