[Silly Little Cars] 2002 GO-4 Interceptor 2 - $3500 - and the true cost of ownership.

Thu Aug 11 14:07:54 PDT 2016

CS could you please email me info on the westward dealer I need a few parts maybe he can assist thanks

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 11, 2016, at 4:44 PM, mhlop via Silly_little_cars <silly_little_cars at lists.sillylittlecars.com> wrote:
> 
> Charles, I watch these forums and I have 2 go-4s and 5 cushmans.  I find it incredible that anyone wants to know how you justify your selling price.  Anyone who has owned one would be glad to find a nice running machine for $3500.00.  I paid over 4k for one of mine and was glad to get it for that. Its worth it in parts alone.  I appreciated your detailed break out of the costs.  It certainly doesnt account for your blood sweat and tears.  If we could sell these with that cost in mind you couldnt find one under 10k.  Just my 2 cents.  I always think its funny when you have to justify a selling price to anyone.  If you dont like the price find another one!!!!  After all it just a silly little car!   Marc
> 
> 
> 
> Sent via the Samsung Galaxy Note5, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Charles Marshall via Silly_little_cars <silly_little_cars at lists.sillylittlecars.com>
> Date: 8/11/16 3:12 PM (GMT-05:00)
> To: sillylittlecars at sillylittlecars.com
> Subject: Re: [Silly Little Cars] 2002 GO-4 Interceptor 2 - $3500 - and the	true cost of ownership.
> 
> All,
> I’ve received a few emails from folks asking me to justify the price I’m asking.  I wrote this up for one of them, however after spending a bit of time digging up all the info I think it’s valuable for folks to understand the cost of ownership of these vehicles.  
> 
> As I understand the life of my vehicle, was as a fleet car for a municipality, as such it has had a long life 44000+ miles.  I was hesitant to start driving the car, and thereby trusting my life to it, without having it be completely gone over and repaired such that I could trust it as my daily driver commuter.
> 
> I post this partially as a cautionary tale, but also as someone who has throughly enjoyed repairing and driving the vehicle.  As I say below, I love the vehicle, but I can’t justify keeping it after switching jobs and having a *much* easier commute 😊.  
> 
> <<<BEGIN EMAIL>>>
> 
> I’ll break down the cost for below, but I spent nearly $4700 on the vehicle, and make it reliable and in my opinion reliable for a daily driver car.  
> 
> Vehicle (not running)			$1250.00
> ECU						$1162.70
> Left Drive Shaft				$653.56
> Parts for Fuel/SP/Gasket		$248.71
> Labor and Source-able Parts		$1372.00
> Total						$4686.97
> 
> I bought the car for $1250.00, not driving due to a broken computer 
> 
> The ECU was $1162, the go-4 uses a generic Hyundai ECU (think the cars computer brain), but a special part number as it’s flashed with special firmware just for the GO-4.  I spent several hours using google translate on Korean parts sites to determine this, and went so far as ordering 2 different items from Korean suppliers, however the parts were cancelled later due to a lack of availability, as they had the same ECU, but not the same flashed version of software.  
> 
> Finally I found a westward reseller who would sell parts to an individual (several refuse to sell to non-municipalities).  
> 
> <<EMAIL>>
> 
> <<EMAIL>>
> 
> Then on further inspection we found that a wheel bearing was worn, and was in danger of seizing, in this version of the go-4 the wheel bearing is part of the whole left rear assembly, so it was 653.56.  Yes, I could have tried to replace the bearings individually, but that could be more dangerous than just driving on them about to seize.
> 
> <<Wheel BEARING assembly>>
> 
> <<Wheel BEARING assembly>>
> 
> Also:
> the fuel gauge wasn’t working properly
> the engine wasn’t running cleanly, due to worn spark plug cables
> the main engine gasket was leaking 
> 
> That was another two rounds of parts, (63.38 + 185.33) = 248.71
> 
> 
> I’m up to 3264.97, that’s with no labor, the car was at the shop for several weeks, had itself disassembled completely, with all evaluated.  
> 
> With labor, and parts that they could source on their own, the repair bill was *another* $1300.00.
> 
> 
> 
> So in total we’re up to $4686.97 by my math.  I’m not counting things like having it towed, nor my time and labor (I spent several hours consulting repair and maintenance manuals and searching online etc)
> 
> I used the car for a year, so I took that to be a 25% depreciation rate (a little over zealous IMHO, but I want to be fair).  I regularly have seen go-4s on the list and on craigslist, and based on the age and the fact that it’s been picked over pretty, I consider it a fair price.
> 
> I’d love to keep it, but after switching jobs where I can easily commute to work on public transit and shuttles, I can’t justify it based on the infrequency of how often I drive it.  
> 
> CS
> 
> 
>> On Aug 9, 2016, at 22:20, Charles Marshall <charles at wozi.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Much loved 2002 go-4 which I bought off another person on the list in the Seattle area and nursed back to health.  New ECU, wheel bearings, fuel pump, and full rundown of all systems less than 2 years ago.  Was my daily driver until I switched jobs and stopped using it everyday.  It's been well taken care of.
>> 
>> https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/permalink/3496338240638700/
>> 
>> <image1.JPG>
> 
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