It's no Prius at the pump; bought 2009 Acura MDX as 2nd car

Now that we're settling in here in Laughlin, NV, we needed a second vehicle for taking visitors down to the Colorado River, the casinos, over Christmas Tree Pass, etc. Budget was $8,000 cash; we don't do car payments. The goal was a comfortable SUV, 4x4, under 125,000 miles, 25+ mpg., clean record with regards to accidents and service history.

Couldn't find too much we could be comfortable with. Rav4s, CR-Vs, Foresters, etc. we could be comfortable with quickly fell by the wayside due to higher resale prices. We began compromising on our search parameters. In the process I spotted this 2009 Acura MDX at the dealer we bought both Prii from.

2009 Acura MDX For Sale in Covina, CA - PREFERRED MOTOR CARS

Well, it was love at first sight for my wife. When I pointed out the sub-20 mpg, need for premium gas, need to install a transmission fluid cooler out here, etc. she didn't care. Fortunately our long-time mechanic is not too far away from that dealer so off it went to get checked out. After a thorough inspection he gave it a totally positive review, including the transmission. So, we're now the owners of a really nice vehicle that gets about half the gas mileage of anything we've owned in the last 20 years and uses premium gas. Thank goodness we won't put many miles on it and we can take advantage of lower gas prices across the river in Arizona.

I guess after 41 years of marriage I finally have my wife right where she wants me.

 

If and when I get a chance to drive it I will. Guess who's driving it right now from SoCal here to Laughlin? Big hint. It's not me.

 

I've been reading things from a few different Acura dealer sites and they do point out that the premium is recommended but not mandatory. I figure I'll use the mid- or premium grade gas anyway. The fuel price difference is only $4-6 per tank and the car will be in the garage most of the time; only needing a fill every two to four weeks. At least that way I won't have any concerns over pre-ignition or knocking.

 

I was very surprised we were able to get this one down to almost $7,000. The fact that we have been customers there multiple times before and have referred others to that dealership probably had a lot to do with the final price.

The sub-20 mpg mileage would have been a deal breaker if we still lived in CA or elsewhere in NV. Out here gas is a full $1 per gallon cheaper just 7 miles away on the AZ side of the river, making the mpg bearable.

 

Let the spending begin! I can't get her out of the Acura and back in the Prius. They went back to SoCal again this morning and my wife insisted on taking the MDX. She called this afternoon to tell me she doesn't care if it does cost around $60-70 more each trip she's going to take the SUV every time she makes the drive. She loved the comfort and performance that much. At least that means I get the Prius all day, every day.

Fortunately we'll be saving a ton on our electric bill soon. The installers were here to put in a solar panel system on the house today. Now we just need the county inspector to come out next week to approve the work and NV Energy to come out in January to install a new meter before we can turn the system on. Once that's all done we should save an average of $200 a month on the electric bill.

 

Knowing we were moving to a very hot section of the desert we really prioritized putting solar on the house. Since our budget allowed for a certain price for a home we limited ourselves to $30k below that so we could pay cash for the PV system. The leftover part of the $30k + some money we already had built up in our car fund paid for the Acura in cash. Our federal credits for the solar installation will go directly into the savings account since everything else is already paid for.

I see you're in New England. Is solar really that cost effective where you're at? Out here we'll recoup the cost of the system in 7-8 years and it's warrantied for 25. I'm guessing your cost recovery time must be lengthier because of both the weather and the less intense sunlight further north.

 

One step closer to solar. The county code inspector went over the installation and signed off on it this morning. Final payment was given as per the contract once the inspector signed off on it. We also signed off to have the power company replace our meter with a two-way meter. Once that's done in a couple of weeks we'll be able to turn the system on.

We're really looking forward to drastically reduced electric bills when the temperature hits 115*F out here this summer.

 

Well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose when you buy a used car. With the transmission coolant line still routed through the radiator we've decided to replace the radiator before corrosion winds up mixing transmission fluid and coolant together. Add to that the fact that the catalytic converter just went out and needs to be replaced. $2,000 worth of repairs and preventative maintenance we didn't originally plan on. Hopefully this MDX lasts a long time without any other major bills cropping up.

 

I just realized I haven't updated things here for a bit.

The Acura - Things have settled down a bit. I still can't get my wife out of it but it looks like all the maintenance, repairs and accessories have been done for the time being. Fortunately there are only two more trips to California on the books so the high cost of California gas will be out of the expense side soon. The car is currently at $2.03 per mile since purchase. For the last month it's only been $0.15 per mile so that two dollar figure should drop quickly. Even so, it will still never approach the Prius' low cost to operate.

Solar - Things are great. We received our first monthly electric bill that covers the panels working for the entire period. We sent them more energy than we used. The total bill was only the $19.00 charge for having the house hooked up to the grid. We will have a little bit of energy banked to offset some of the the high cooling costs this summer.

 

The latest update on the solar panels. They are quietly performing beautifully. We've been running the air conditioning units with the thermostats at 80*F along with multiple ceiling fans on low settings. It's been quite comfortable because it is so warm outside. Yesterday was our first day over 100+*F. The heat wave is supposed to stay over 100*F through next Friday. After that the weatherman is pretty much saying we'll be at least 90-115*F through at least the beginning of September.

We'll see where it goes but our last two electric bills were $13.00. This sure beats the hundreds of dollars it would be without those panels.