Pulaski

Don't expect to save a penny because of cheaper gas - becsuse of how much further you will drive you will likely spend around as much on fuel if you have an equally efficient car as in the UK, and more if you have an SUV or truck which is less fuel efficient.

You may find that many components last a lot longer - the set of tyres on my Accord will clock up 100,000 miles in December. The previous set did 100,000 miles too. We have had the Accord from new and it now has 338,000 miles on it, and although we replaced the engine at 296,000 miles, much of the rest is original, including the clutch and gearbox, shocks and springs, steering rack, radiator, and exhaust system (excl the cat). The prop-shafts were replaced at 325,000 miles. The brake pads were last replaced 256,000 miles ago, though it is a mystery as to why the original brake pads only lasted 80,000 miles.

mrken30

What is sales tax? That is such a foreign concept for us Oregonians.

petepete99

What's State Income Tax? Us (soon to be) Floridians have never heard of such a thing

petepete99

I did say "offset slightly". I don't know where people keep getting this idea that loads of Americans drive further. Maybe in Texas where everything is spread out. In Fort Myers where the average commute is 9 miles or something, it certainly beats the 75 mile ONE-WAY commute I used to make from Banbury to Brentford every day!

I wonder why the components last longer. Maybe not affected by chronic dampness from UK weather.

On that note, does extreme humidity affect the longevity of car components?

mrken30

Tires only last longer if you drive like a a Miami resident or like to run on stage coach wheels. If you have "grippy" tire they last the same length of time as they do in the UK. My last set of tires lasted around 40k on both my cars. However I do not have snail mode in my driving resume.

https://www.cars.com/articles/2013/0...do-tires-last/

Pulaski

I buy good quality Michelins, that match what we're originally on the car when we bought it new. And I drive faster round the bends than pretty much any car I see, all the time, and that means typically 10-15 over the "recommended" speed limits for bends and interstate cloverleaf ramps. I put my foot on the gas entering bends at the same point that most drivers touch the brakes. Brakes are for whimps, which is why the pads have already lasted 258,000 miles!

And more generally, having put 338,000 miles on our Accord in 15 years, and another 115,000 on my F250, I don't have time for doing any speed less than what I can get away with, pretty much all the time!

Pulaski

Because they do!

It's not necessarily the commute that makes the difference, it's the seven mile round trip to the grocery, the 12 mile round trip to the mall or Walmart, it's the 14 mile round trip to the cinema, ten miles for lunch, 20 miles for dinner, 30 miles to visit friends, 100 miles to visit family, etc., etc., etc..

Driving what would be considered insane distances in the UK can very quickly become normal in the US.

This pattern was true even when we lived in the suburbs of NYC, so it isn't just in Texas, nor NC either.

mrken30

You may drive further, other do not. We probably do combined mileage on all our vehicles of under 15k miles a year. I could never do 100k on my tires anyway before they reached end of life. I think 6 years is probably a good time to think about changing tires. Why drive , when you can fly?

Tires Expire in Six Years - Tire Safety Group

Chins

My thoughts as well. Would love an RS3 or M2, but spending enough getting here and putting my daughters through Uni prevents me.

Pulaski

Well it only takes us 4 years to do 100,000 miles, so that's OK!

And to your "sticky tyres" point, we only got 40,000 miles from the tyres on our Mustang GT. I couldn't find suitable Goodyears when the time came to replace them, and went with Pirellis despite them not having a great reputation for wear because they will almost certainly age out before they wear out, and they give a superior ride to the Goodyears it was shod with previously.

lansbury

I think it does matter where you live. Just off to physiotherapy in a minute a 6 mile round trip. To get there I will drive past all the places you mentioned, stores, cinema, big shopping mall and restaurants. Even going into downtown Portland is only 20 miles return.

Of course there are longer trips. 180 miles return to Corvallis for a Beaver football game, 6 times a year, or 500 miles return to visit Mrs Ls twin sister but both of us drive less miles here than we did in the UK.

Pulaski

Well many of my journeys are in the same direction, and I try to combine as many tasks as I can into one journey, but it is rare that it is possible to combine more than two or three things.

Giantaxe

I used to car commute to my job and regularly drove 20k-25k a year (even though I worked at home at least one day a week). Now I also work in SF and can use public transit/walk/bicycle to work. So my mileage is down to < 8k per year, a lot less than I drove in the UK. Of course, to offset that, gas here is the most expensive in the lower 48!

BenK91

I had an RS3 sportback in the UK very briefly. Fantastic car.

It is worth noting that the GTI, Golf R and S/RS3 are all the same 2 litre 4pot engine just with a different map. My stage one APR map took my GTI to significantly better figures than a Golf R. I would like an RS7 one day though!

Englishmum

A couple of days ago I saw a guy who lives in our neighbourhood driving a BMW with Munich registration plates on it.

I know that some of the European motor manufacturers (eg. Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo etc.) will sell US spec cars to US residents who go over and inspect the cars over at their European factories. The car manufacturer pays for return flights and a night in an hotel. You then go on a tour of the factory and drive away your new car (can be most places in Europe inc. the UK in most cases) for up to a couple of weeks.

You then fly back to the States and your car is shipped to you free of charge. From what I understand, the car is considered ‘used’ rather than ‘new’ and the import duties are a lot less. I assume the guy in my neighbourhood must have done this with his BMW and would soon be registering the car at our local New Jersey DMV. (Btw; the sea port in Newark is only about 12 miles away, very close to Newark airport).

I think you still purchase these cars via your local dealership but though a special programme (easy to google it eg. BMW European Delivery - BMW USA)

Actually, my Brit friend moved from New Jersey to Switzerland a couple of years ago (when I was still resident in Switzerland) and they moved just around the lake from our place. She decided to import her Toyota RAV4 as it was cheap to ship it....it was nice to see and go out with her in the car with the NJ licence plates on for a few weeks until she re-registered it!