Boxy but good.
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I didn’t realize how much telecommuting saved me (in mileage) until reading this thread. My current car is the only one I bought new - 2003 Toyota RAV4. I just did the 60,000 mile maintenance in January, and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off*.
*Got zinged at inspection last year and had to replace all 4 tires. Two were original, and the spare has been under cover on the back since the day it rolled off the lot. 
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Of course; they are based on toyotas.
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I’m not sure about the beater label, but my philosophy is to buy used, reliable, and cheap. I drove an 86 Toyota pick-up for 20 years–the only “car” I ever bought new. Then I drove a 91 Mazda Protege for about 5 years. In between I lived where it snowed, so I paid $50 for an old Subaru GL wagon and drove that in the winter when the pick-up couldn’t hack the snow.
Now I have three kids, so I drive an 07 Focus, the one with the Mazda designed engine. My partner drives an 05 Malibu, and that thing is amazing. Combined MPG of 30-35, comfortable for long drives, and fairly reliable. The Focus gets the same MPG, but with less comfort.
My dream car is a Corolla, or maybe a Camry. But those things hold their re-sale value too well. (I refuse to spend more than $5,000 for a car.)
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Awesome!
A trailer. A boat. A van. What’s not love?
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That may be true for modern cars, which actually have incredibly low exhaust pollution. For a decades old beater, I’m not so sure.
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Needs a new paint job
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I’ll say there’s certain beaters you should avoid. For one that I’m certain of is the Ford Probe. Damn things have bad fuel pumps. They may be fast cars but that fuel pump issue isn’t worth it. Otherwise, just get a Japanese maker beater those things usually last forever, plus you can get replacement parts usually cheap. I’ve moved onto a used Hyundai Accent and I’ll likely drive it into the ground.
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If I ever hit the lottery (or cashed in all those savings from not buying new cars every few years), I might be tempted by this hybrid:
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Did you do anything with the sound system? I was surprised with how well the factory speakers performed and kept those in when I installed a high-end Pioneer head unit; I insisted on great sound, given the daily use and my love of music on the road.
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In the early 2000s my dad sold me his 96 Buick Park Avenue Ultra for $1,500. It was loaded…and half the features didn’t work by then. Plus dad drank, so any exterior beauty had been dented or scraped away.
Then some woman backed into me and dented both passenger side doors. I kept the beater look and used the $2,500 insurance check to help pay for a family trip to Disney World.
Drove that car until it stalled going down an icy hill in rush hour traffic and wouldn’t restart because the crankshaft position sensor was faulty. Try wrestling a 3,500 pound chunk of steel to the shoulder with no power steering or brakes.
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Try a Nissan Versa.
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Finally got rid of my '03 Accord (bought in '05). You can’t kill a Honda no matter how hard you try.
I wanted to get a car with a rear view camera.
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Or its Compact SUV version the Nissan Kicks
wow! very cool… what’s the average annual maintenance like on that?
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Nissan Sentras have crappy transmissions. Usually they die by 80-85K miles
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I know. I thought I detected a tone of “who would want this PoS car?” in your post and replied that there is at least one party that would like a used Prius. Looks like it does about as well as one’s shank’s mare does- ok in snow, crap on ice.
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It’s not that farfetched an idea, to post the embedded carbon emmision score right up there with the dollar cost. I see calorie counts on the menu board at Subway sandwich shops, and it seems like they’re barely scratching the surface.
(I’m mostly kidding here, it should not be up to the consumer to decide how much environmental degradation to tolerate, it should be up to the government agency that regulates that market)
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It’s so meta because ALL cars are just wheely metal boxes burning fermented Devonian plankton. The actual bar is pretty low but humans like to embellish.
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