I found beater cars to be an advantage in traffic as well. They’re like a super power.
As a further safety measure, instead of a security system I just kept a lot of crap inside it. If it looks like a would be thief might end up sticky from digging through your car then you could keep the crown jewels in there and leave the doors unlocked.
(Yeah, I was a kid then. Nowadays I complain about the state of my daughter’s car.)
I know it’s 10 years old, but it’s hard for me to consider a Prius a beater car. They’re premium smaller cars that very slowly decline in value. I intend on driving my Prius into the ground as well, but that’s a whole different thing that when my dad drove his Dodge Omni GLH into the ground in the 90’s.
Yeah, on average there aren’t that many beaters on German roads. Most beaters end up migrating eastward, or return with Romanian plates (migrant workers).
That said, I used to buy my cars used, and keep them for about ten years. Often the reason for moving on was that something expensive like the catalytic converter was about to go, meaning the poor ride wouldn’t pass inspection any more. Now I simply use public transportation, and ride sharing for the occasional trip where I need more cargo capacity, and rentals for longer trips away from Munich. The Live-In SO has a 2012 Smart Fortwo, but since it isn’a abused it still looks pretty nice for its age.
Yeah, I’ve been following David Tracy’s minivan saga on Jalopnik and was a bit surprised about his problems at the TÜV. Especially considering the rustbuckets I’ve driven. Like the 20 year old Opel Corsa I bought for 300€ at a “garage” that is officially a scrap dealer. Housed in a former movie theatre. Or the time when they let my Fiat Punto pass on the promise that I’d get a new silencer PDQ. (I look very trustworthy, apparently.)
A good way to do the Hauptuntersuchung is to not go to the TÜV (or DEKRA, or GTÜ or wherever) but have it done by one of their roving inspectors at your regular garage. That way minor issues can be fixed right away. Also, the inspectors will have to work with the test equipment the garage has - which has to meet standards and is tested itself, of course - but isn’t as fancy as what they have at their own test centres.
Oh, and always make sure that your paperwork is up to scratch. Some aftermarket parts don’t need to be listed in the Fahrzeugschein, but you’ll need a letter of confirmation from the manufacturer that it’s got an ABM (or doesn’t need one).
Especially with the tyres, that’s a common thing with motorcycles. Like my 1996 Africa Twin: back when Honda got the type approval for the bike, only two types of tyres were approved with it (Michelin T 66 and Bridgestone Trail Wing). I can drive the Michelin Anakee (much better in the rain) because Honda issued a clearance certificate for it later on.
You should also have those certificates handy when the police pulls you over.
BTW, David Tracy’s assumption is correct, the steering wheel lock thing is to make sure that owners can in the case of an emergency turn their car off without losing steering. Probably something of a leftover from the days when engines and brakes were less reliable than today.
So, better or worse than this…
Everyone in here praising Subaru’s. And here I just replaced both rear wheel bearings on my wife’s 2013 Outback with 85k miles on it. I can spin a wrench decently enough, so with some tools from a former mechanic coworker it wasn’t bad. Not to mention Subaru is nearing in on a decade of CVT use now. I mean they aren’t Nissan, but I question the +200k mile CVT.
My previous vehicle was an 04 Corolla with a manual, bought new. I had it for almost 14 years and 209k miles. Somewhere around 180 the catalytic converter was shot enough that it kept tripping codes. Finally the C59 five speed manual let go and basically exploded internally. At least that what it sounded like as I shifted into 2nd. I mean I’m sure a lot of you could have reached 250 or 275k miles…I beat the shit out of it daily. Honestly it was a reliable and good car. I’m still surprised the 4 speed auto holds up better.
AIUI, it’s not very true even for more modern cars.
And then there’s safety, of course. The advances there over the last couple of decades have been massive.
I was fairly proud of my past record of cars, though to total service cost combined with purchase price probably turns out to double the cost in the end. Maybe that’s still not too bad. Here are my cars, for the record:
1989 Golf Mk2 166,000 kms, $1,500 CDN
Badly rusted, it lasted 3 years around 1999-2001; by then the floor was rotten, and the engine gave up
1999 Golf Mk 4 133,000 kms $5,000 CDN
West coast car, it lasted 10 solid years, reaching about 220,000, when I wanted to move from 2 doors to 4 doors
2007 Golf Mk 4 City 94,000 kms $3,000 + $2,000 CDN repairs
Another West coast car, I got this example in 2017 in relatively good shape with low miles, but it needed some neglected maintenance.
The nice thing is, IT’S THE EXACT SAME CAR I had before, going from the first to last model year. My goal is to drive it for 10 years, 100,000 kms+, which should be easy. We’ve already gone 50,000 kms in just 3 years, so half way there, with 7 years to go!
IF it lasts 10 years, my three cars will have cost $500/year in capital costs, OVER THE COURSE OF 30 YEARS! That’s my target cost for a car, which I think fits the beater definition well. Each car got successively better over time, and so the term ‘beater’ may be a bit misleading.
I like what a lot of you have already said; a slightly more obscure car in good condition, maybe around 60,000-70,000 miles, and you could be off to a good start.
I really wish there were more vehicles designed to fit this utilitarian hole in the market in the first place. The Golf and Jetta City brand was a good effort, extending the old model year for an extra year, to offer a very base model car at a lower price. But then they went and changed the body panels for the very last year, which made no sense to me.
The Nissan Sentra is another good example of this niche; I think the VW Fox had tried to fill this void earlier but was less successful.
I’m going to stray a bit from the fundamentals of beater cars to discuss my ‘fantasy cheap cars’, which aren’t that cheap, but might still be found for around $10,000.
First, IF ONLY the Gwagen wasn’t such a status symbol, the old base model utilitarian variants would be my dream choice for a beater car. But of course, now I’m just fantasying. A beater Gwagen is the ultimate oxymoron.
And one more oxymoron fantasy beater…take an old Maserati Quattroporte, but with a completely dead drivetrain. Then do an engine swap with an electric engine, and turn the car into an Uber!
Even if I never get to do the above powerplant swap, I kind of wish someone would step in and do it for me, and then blog all about it. Then I could live vicariously through their blog posts, and I would be very proud of them.
I too am jealous of the lax rules in the US, here in DK we have to have safety tests every 2 years. We do have a lot of old clunkers on the road though, since, unlike Germany, we have the most expensive car-taxes in the world. Bought my beautiful beater almost 2 years ago, a Seat Ibiza '02. No locks, no blower, side-mirror held on with gaffa-tape, but drives like a dream and cheap at 12.000 dkr ( about $1.900). Need its checkup in a few months and I hope I can afford the repairs, since it’s the most fun car I’ve driven. Also jealous of the fact that in the US and UK you can relatively cheaply convert fossils to electric cars (very cheaply if you can assemble your own battery). Here in DK, it costs at least $20.000 to get a converted electric approved for the road (plus the conversion). This is mainly for an extensive EM radiation test (this is needed, since in the US all these converted electrics are apparently stopping pacemakers left and right /s)
Should clarify, not really mad at the 2 year checkup rule, from a safety standpoint it’s quite good. Also very happy with the high car-taxes, since most of it goes towards supporting our welfare-society. People driving $50.000+ cars is what keeps us going 
In fact, the rise of electric cars is a real problem, since presently we can’t tax them as high as fossils. That will have to change eventually though, or we’ll go bankrupt.
Sometimes the beater version is better compared to the newer one: the off-road performance of the old Panda 4x4 is superior compared to the newer one, because has higher attack angles and is lighter: power steering isn’t necessary so it could afford snowy roads better.
I had a series of, er, elderly cars as a uni student, including an Austin 1800, a Fiat 128, a type 3 VW notchback, and a Datsun 1600 before my first “serious” car, an (Aus) Ford Falcon XD that I took for many an annual inspection in Canberra (which we didn’t thankfully have in Victoria when I started driving).
Apart from the inspectors knowing exactly what to look for in the Falcon (you don’t check interior door handles unless you know just what you’re looking for), the thing that impressed me most at the annual inspection was the year I pulled in behind a very fancy Ferrari. I think I saw at least five inspectors take turns driving it around the block.
Those Ferraris must be really, really safe, judging by the inspection attention they get.
Fortunately in the UK, MOT’s are done by the same garages that do repairs, and if your car fails, a retest is free (I think it has to be within a time period). So usually, the garage will test your car, fix everything that failed, then retest.
Although they’re all supposed to test to the same standard, certain garages seem to be more lenient than others…
My brother’s father in law owns a garage, and is a qualified MOT inspector. Because he’s based in the Cotswolds, where many a rockstar and celebrity have their retirement houses, there’s a lot of exotic classic cars around the area, that need their MOT’s doing from time to time.
According to him, it’s an essential part of the test procedure for a Ferarri F40 to take it for a quick hoon round the local back roads. ‘Sorry Mr Mason sir, that’s just the way of it…’
Also, as a way of avoiding his extended family over Christmas (including me I guess), he’ll often go an MOT his and his wife’s cars on Christmas afternoon. Last year he was renewing his testing certification, and as they were being lectured on the computerised certificate system, the lecturer noted “and from the database we can see that one sad bastard even did an MOT on Christmas day last year”. I’m not sure if he owned up…
My newest baby, bought at the end of july:
‘89 yota SR5 w/ <130k mi. it was 
at first sight, runs like a champ, and never known salt. i figure with reasonable maintenance i should be able to put another 400k on it. already crossed the country once, and in a month or so i’m headed out for a giant circle around the states. in the process of building out some cabinets and a pullout sleeper in the bed, as well as a PV system so i can cook and otherwise live in there when necessary.
Is that a bowling trophy for a hood ornament? Awesome if it is!
You should know that the brand new Chevrolet Corvette is only available with an automatic transmission. Does that mean it no longer qualifies as a sports car?
Yes.
Did it ever?
