I am still rocking the factory deck, though the CD player cashed out long ago. Shockingly rich bass for a factory kit!
I’ve considered putting in a CarPlay deck (pretty slick imo) but, y’know, 02.
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1993 Toyota Corolla sedan with automatic transmission. Bought it new, only has 137500km on it and only needs service every few years. I bought it with the intention of it being the last vehicle I’d ever buy. So far, so good.
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60k miles on the original tires?
You are a brave woman.
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Gospel and amen!
1986 Chevy suburban 1.2 million miles (never actually died it was retired because it had a fifty gallon tank @ 4 miles per gallon, ouch)
2002 Infinity G20 340,000 miles then traded for:
2003 Lincoln Town Car Executive L 832,000 miles (stopped passing smog and new catalytic converters are bank)
2000 Mercedes Benz e430 289,000 miles and counting
Total purchase price of all was less than $6,000 a song sung with feeling and a double handful of fresh herbs for 2.5 million miles plus of travel. Honestly I spent more on dog/people food and gas than the wagons ever cost me.
Plus when your car is “beater detailed” properly people yield more readily in traffic. They are terrified of a scratch or dent and it’s clear I cherish my fouled body work.
I agree that buying new is for suckers unless you are getting a Tesla.
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Superior? Really?
As in the judgmental bullshit this brings to mind because someone else prefers to drive a new car instead of a ten year old one?
As @tekk says, used Subarus are unbeatable and as common as ticks here in the Northeast. As long as you avoid the ca. 2000-2008 (iirc) head gasket issues, they are easily and cheaply repairable and are easily the best winter cars I’ve ever driven.
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I know people like to shit on the PT Cruiser, but I ordered one brand new when they first came out in 2000. I traded it in in 2017 with 204k on the clock. The only time it ever went in to the dealer was for the free oil change I got when I bought it. The only major service I had to do was the 90k timing belt change (which I did at 151k and was admittedly a giant PITA), a couple of radiators, and the watts link bearing. Even buying it new, I got my money’s worth.
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Liquidating possessions here, our 2005 Honda CRV is on craigslist.
Timing chain (not belt!), one single 3" dent (back door hatch).
And kbb.com thinks it’s worth about $3000 to sell to a private party (not to a dealership).
Truth.
185K miles.
Has never failed me yet.
Will be sorry to see it go, TBH.
It drives better and handles better than the 2009 Toyota RAV4 bloat-boat that I inherited, which has 78K miles on it–the sole redeeming feature. Really hoping we’re lucky with that Toyota engine. It’s been a stack of repairs this year. We’re tapped out.
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My used-car buying relies on buying stuff that’s pretty good that most people don’t know about. That’s why I only dream of Toyotas. A lot of people around here (southeastern US) like the Versa, so its price is higher. In general, Nissan does pretty well around here on the used market, same with Hyundai and Kia.
The Ford Focus has a pretty bad rep. Before 05, they had that horrible problem with valves. Then more recent ones have transmission problems. That’s the auto transmission; you can’t even get a stick. And if you do find a stick Focus, it’s going to have had the hell beaten out of it by some boy racer. Anyway, the Focus had a sweet spot of a few years when it didn’t suck so much,* so it’s easy to get for cheap with relatively low miles.
*They had that Mazda-designed engine which is pretty good, and they had a reliable three-speed overdrive automatic. I think it was from 05-09.
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Just hose it off with fresh water, give it a spritz of WD-40, and it’s all good! No, really. The maintenance video makes me wonder how it compares to small boat or SUV upkeep (gotta check my annual receipts):
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I had an '83 Sentra manual transmission. That car was an unstoppable tank at 250k, it had 140k when I bought it. I still miss it sometimes because it was so damned reliable, but I had the opportunity to buy a '77 280z, so away the Sentra went.
@Little_Rat: My particular Prius is a POS, but I know other people with the same model year and they haven’t been stuck with half the repairs I’ve been stuck with. I’m sure there’s a good one out there for you, but I’m serious about making sure this particular car causes no one else misery. I sprung for the JVC stereo, which is nice, so I’ll have boomin’ beats at least!
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They tend to rust out just in front of the front doors, though, making it look like they’re about to fall in half.
So true. Live out of sync. You will be better off in the long run.
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Fusions of that era also. That’s what Mrs. V drives, an '09 SEL. Mazda 2.3 engine & tranny. 220k on it & still going strong.
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The Sentra or the Z? The floor started going in the Z, but the doors were OK up until we parted ways in the early '00’s.
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I had an '86 wagon I got for a song back a ways.
I knew at the time there was an issue with the turbo - no boost. Otherwise it ran fine, just struggled a bit on hills (my commute took me over the Altamont pass.
Until one day when something opened, the turbo spun up and a fat grin spread across my face. Of course, it was still a Volvo, but at least it could get out of its own way.
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The VW Rabbit.
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LOLZ, I didn’t look to see which comment you were replying to!
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I see a lot of beater 1990s/2000s BMWs, Audis, and Mercedes Benzes driving around and think: nothing good can come of that.
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I do not consider myself vain. I’ve driven more beater cars in my life than most any twenty people combined. I easily drove two dozen different cars in high school, because my dad’s idea of “road worthy” was “can be made to temporarily convey itself on a road” - the idea being that driving shit cars would teach us how to fix cars (it worked, but I think he was just cheap/poor). We had so many VW Rabbits at one point that we lost one for the summer - just could not remember where it was because we didn’t realize it was missing for a couple of weeks.
I bought a new Camry in 2000 because I was living in an apartment and wanted something reliable since I had no tools and no place to work on a car. I drove it for 19 years. I consider myself to be above mere vanity, but I gotta say that in the end that car was just downright embarrassing. It was consistently the worst looking vehicle in whatever parking lot it was in, mainly because of the damage to the passenger side from a hit & run and the horribly peeling clear coat. That had been a point of pride, even, when working at a big corporate job, but when I struck out on my own doing freelance software development, I couldn’t help thinking that it was simply not reflecting well on me. I ended up buying a 2 year old Volvo sedan, and it feels so good to have a nice looking, nice driving car.
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