Drive your car to death, save $31,000

CNN Money/Consumer Reports ^ | August 31 2007

[bluefish]

You can probably save a lot of money by never eating out, clipping coupons, waiting for the movie to come out on DVD, and living in the worst part of town too.

But there is no fun in that.

It may be great advise, but only for those who need to follow it for pure budgetary reasons.

[Eye of Unk]

I bought my 2002 Silverado 3500 4x4 dually in 2004 for $31,000.

Its fully loaded with the 8.1 496 cubic inch gas motor ( I happen to be a diesel mechanic but prefer a gasser)and I have more emotional attachment to this truck than to the opposite sex, I too live in Alaska and its a constant battle trying to protect it from the elements. I won’t trade in and I may possibly buy another only when there has been a big enough technological advancement in areas to make it markedly worth the investment.

I was literally sick to my stomach this early morning when I backed out of my repair shop where I service equipment right into one of our diesel trucks severely damaging my rear bumper, just last week I replaced the rear tailgate and heavily modified it with a new paint job, new emblems (racing) and sequential LED light strips. It wasn’t damaged but it cost me almost $400 in new parts and in about an hour I am going to replace everything, I cannot be seen driving a damaged truck, not this one.

[JennysCool]

But there is no fun in that.

Au contraire. Life's nothing without adventure!

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Well, I guess that I am stuck with my 91 Chevy Astro for a few more years. It has 257,000 miles on it. The engine and trans are original.

We still are able to pull our trailer and the BSA troop trailer on trips. While the Mom mobile isn't as peppy as it was when it was new, it still has enough power to pass other vehicles on a grade when pulling a trailer.

[PeteB570]

I got a 1999 Saturn. I stopped giving the recommended maintenance around 40,000 miles and just gave it regular oil changes about every 5,000 miles.

Had the water pump replaced about 170,000 miles, on it’s third set of tires and just last week had to give it a tune up costing $200 to replace a bunch of little plugs and filters to get it running smooth.

Oh, its got 205,000 miles.

I guess I got my money’s worth.

[Right Wing Assault]

'95 Plymouth Voyager minivan - needed to replace the transmission at 65,000 miles, and again at 115,000 miles. I refused to replace it the second time, and dumped the vehicle.

I have a '97 Voyager with 160k (bought used with 37k) and no tranny problems yet. As long as the body stays decent, I keep it. I figure once the car is payed off if I pay less than an average of the car payments for a year ($3600+?) in repairs, I'm ahead. I'm way ahead. Even if you've replaced the trans twice, I bet you are still ahead. Find a good mechanic and treat him well. Never ever take it to a dealer. They will rape you.

Also have a '95 with a rebuilt trans ($1000 by a reliable shop) at 90k. Way ahead on that one, too. I dumped our original '87 died (snow belt body cancer) at 13 years. Way ahead on that one, too. The savings have put three kids through college with money probably left over.

I don't really care about new features in a car. Give me a radio that works and a heater and I'm happy. I can live without air when it dies since we don't get that many hot days. If I were rich, I might buy more often, but I see new cars broken at the side of the road every day so there is no guarantee.

[SamAdams76]

I agree. File this under pennywise and pound foolish.

$31,000 savings over 15 years comes to about $2,000 a year. Not exactly what most people would consider adequate compensation for driving an old, crappy car over much of that time.

It might make sense if you don't drive around much, make a low salary or are on a fixed income. But most people would rather upgrade their car every 4-5 years and don't mind paying a little more to do so.

For myself, I drive about 40,000 miles a year for my work. I suppose I could theoretically put 600,000 miles on my car as I maintain it well. But the prospect doesn't appeal to me.

[spinestein]

My 1978 Mercedes Benz 450 SEL set me back $300 a few years ago. After a tuneup it ran great and became my daily driver.

I wasn’t happy with the gas mileage, though, so I’m installing a user programmable fuel injection system* into it, right now. I plan to drive the car for the rest of my life (or until they take my license away).

Other cars I’ve owned that had more than 200kmi on the odometer when I sold them:

‘81 VW Scirocco - 220kmi
‘86 Ford Escort GT - 330kmi
‘91 Subaru Loyale - 230kmi
‘93 Ford Escort GT - 250kmi

* http://msefi.com/

[djf]

Got almost 200K on my 94 Sentra. Keep the fluids changed and those little 4bangers can do a good job for ya. Still gets about 26 city.

Blazer S10 has about 150K. Don’t drive it much, but when ya gotta haul something, ya gotta haul it. Also live in a pretty hilly region and even though snow/ice is an infrequent factor here, it does happen, and a 4WD is indispensible.

‘66 Impala has 97K original. Only gets about 14mpg but that sweetheart is FUN TO DRIVE! And she shur is purty...!!

Two of my three rigs will still start after the EMP pulse burns out most ignitions! (or solar flares, take your pick!)

Total investment in vehicles: about 26K over the years

[Drango]

if I did that, I’d be sending my mechanic’s kids to college.

[Wonder Warthog]

"1994 Acura Legend Coupe...123,000 miles and plan on another 100,000 easily (hope no tranny problems).....engine is a masterpiece in that thing."

1992 Acura Integra, 134,000 miles. Ditto that next 100,000. Cracked radiator, replaced master cylinder, and new thermostat were only "non-routine" maintenance.

[Las Vegas Dave]

My 2001 Camry 4-banger has always had Mobil 1 100% synthetic motor oil since the first oil change, I have approximately 190k on it (34k/year average), and it runs just fine. 2008 Honda accord is a looker, maybe I need to think about a new car..?

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Nice...

I have a hand built ‘88 M5 BMW... talk about extremely fast and reliable.

[RightOnline]

I am blessed to make a very good living and we have three cars......but all are ‘older’: a ‘93 Suburban with almost 200K miles, a 2000 Saturn with about 125K miles, and a ‘97 Acura with a like amount on it, too.

What do they all have in common? They all run just great........and they’re all paid for.

I went through the stage in life where we were swapping out cars on a regular basis. No more. I realized just how much I hate having a car payment. :)

[wideminded]

So there are many of us with cars that are at least 15 years old, and we tend to drive them until they die,

Sorry about the language, but it must really suck to have your car die when it's 40 below.

[Ben Chad]

I bet there’s a few ‘Millionaires-Next-Door’ on this thread. I’m getting there in my aged Saturn.

[Mad Dawg]

1983 Volvo Wagon 300,000+ miles
1993 ditto 200,000+ miles
1994 ditto 200,000+ miles,

The 1983 runs a little rough. It’s our backup. You also pay way less personal property taxes on cars like these.

[RetSignman]

I bought my 1996 Geo Metro in 1998 for 4000.00, put up with a lot of teasing when gas was under $1.00. it stopped when gas was $2.00 a gallon.

Runs as good as the day I bought it.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

My car looks just like this... California car...

My problem is finding metric tires to fit the original rims. The beads will tear if I use an American size.

I have different BMW wheels that take a close match on the tire size, but not having anything that is all factory bugs the crap out of me...

[L98Fiero]

“I got a 1966 Mustang for sale anyone want to buy it and try to kill it?”

Got one of my own on the operating table right now.