Post by: Monkeyleg on October 14, 2006, 01:16:43 PM
I took the 1991 Saturn that she had been driving as my daily driver.
Mechanically the car is sound, and doesn't look bad from the outside. Inside, though, the carpeting is worn, the headliner is sagging in a couple of spots, the air conditioning doesn't work, the power sunroof has given up, and one of the speakers sometimes crackles.
The thing is, I've almost always driven beater cars, while my toys--my sports cars and my Harleys--got all of the loving attention.
Would I like to have something like a new 5 liter Mustang convertible? Sure.
But I mistreat my cars. I throw empty cigarette packs on the floor, almost never wash the cars, leave junk sitting on the seats for months on end, and other dastardly deeds.
For me, a car is a way of getting from one point to another.
I got fifteen years of use out of my old pickup truck. By the time I sold it for $250, the tailgate didn't work, the body was rusted out in several areas, there were dents all over, and it generally looked like a Clampett-mobile.
Does anyone else view their cars/trucks as I do?
Post by: onions! on October 14, 2006, 01:31:03 PM
More or less,yes.
I put vehicles into three categories:toys,transportation,& work vehicles.
My 1991 Caprice gets 15-20 mpg,is ugly as sin,& starts every time.I have under 1K into it & expect it'll make it through another year w/ease.If it needs more than $500 for repair it goes,& is replaced w/another $500 car.
Work vehicles should be both new(er) & kept well maintained.You can take the bus to work but you can't deliver the goods from a cab.Besides,renting a delivery truck is insane money.
Toys?Well>smile<,they are worth whatever you can afford to spend on them.I know more than a few guys that'll drive around in Geo's & Cavaliers all year so that they can play w/the 4x4's & Camaros on the weekends.Heck,even my folks do this.Mum drives a red titled '03 Focus & s-dad drives an '88 Caravan to work.The '03 Ram sits & looks pretty to haul the camper around.>shrug<
Post by: Moondoggie on October 14, 2006, 02:09:47 PM
I'll freely admit I'm a neat freak.
We have an 85 Skylark with only 48K on the clock. The driver's seat shows wear, but everything else is pretty much like new. Body is 100%, replaced all 4 speakers last summer, put in a new Pioneer deck. The A/C compressor leaks, I'll have it replaced next summer. This is our "puddle jumper"...we only drive it around town and nowadays put about 1K/yr on it.
We have an '02 Camaro in the garage with 21K on it...it never goes outside if we think it's going to rain. Winter?...forgedaboudit. This is SWMBO's midlife crisis mobile...she'd always wanted one and '02 was the last year. It's paid for. It's immaculate inside and out.
My "toy" is an 04 Tundra double cab SR5 with a solid tonneau cover. It has 20K on it and is also immaculate inside and out. I bought it when they were doing the zero% loan thing....24 payments to go. This is what we usually drive when we go out of town (shopping/medical appts) cuz you never know what you'll find a deal on and wish you had a truck to haul it home.
My '98 Freightshaker 18 wheeler has over a million miles on it, and is also kept immaculate...Hey, I live in there 2 days/wk! I do calculate when to plunk down $70 for a truck wash against how long I think it will be until it rains, but it generally gets a bath once a month. I have a dirt devil in the truck, and vacume frequently.
Kindly note that we have 4 vehicles and only 2 drivers. The Skylark was inherited.
I've owned many cars/pickups in my life, none of them would qualify as beaters.
Post by: Mannlicher on October 14, 2006, 02:37:40 PM
Post by: 280plus on October 14, 2006, 02:54:48 PM
Meanwhile momma drives the '05 Monte. So it sounds like we're all a bit alike.
Post by: Declaration Day on October 14, 2006, 03:02:40 PM
Right now I have a 2001 Hyundai Accent for whenever I don't need my truck. It's my beater. It gets 40mpg. I keep it very clean. I am a neat freak.
My truck is an '05 Silverado 2500HD, which is used daily for lawnservice and landscaping, and snowplowing in the winter. I keep it clean inside and out, as much as possible. There may be some empty cans in the bed and some trash from customers' lawns by the end of the week, but hey it's a truck bed.
Post by: Guest on October 14, 2006, 03:30:13 PM
Post by: Ben on October 14, 2006, 04:16:15 PM
My other car is a 2002 F150, bare bones, vinyl seats. I use that on my daily work commute, working on my rentals, doing beach dives, or whatever other stuff that can wear down a vehicle pretty well. I just hose it off inside and out, and don't worry about dings or scrapes in the performance of its duty. I don't go out of my way to bang it up, but I just shrug my shoulders when something happens (used to work with a guy that would purposely do things like throw big rocks into the bed of his truck and put big dents in it "it's a truck ! ha ha ha!" Don't see the point of that). I'll drive it till it drops, then get another bare bones truck. This one replaced a Jeep Commanche that I got new in '86 and did the same thing with.
Regardless of how I treat the outside of my vehicles, I'm very meticulous about mechanical maintenance. I've never kept a vehicle for less than 10 years. Except the Mustang Mach1 that I had in High School. The "speeding ticket-mobile". That one lasted 5 years before I matured and bought a truck.
Post by: garyk/nm on October 14, 2006, 04:53:45 PM
Me: 06 MINI Cooper
Wife: 06 Escape
Daughter: 06 Focus
No car payments.
My insurance agent, however, sends me gifts.
Post by: Stand_watie on October 14, 2006, 05:10:37 PM
Quote from: garyk/nm
Sorry, but no.
Me: 06 MINI Cooper
Wife: 06 Escape
Daughter: 06 Focus
No car payments.
My insurance agent, however, sends me gifts.
Are you a lawyer or a drug dealer? (apologies in advance to the drug dealers on the forum)
Me: 06 MINI Cooper
Wife: 06 Escape
Daughter: 06 Focus
No car payments.
My insurance agent, however, sends me gifts.
Post by: Stand_watie on October 14, 2006, 05:15:13 PM
I think later model vehicles are being made better than they were when I was a kid.
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on October 14, 2006, 05:31:46 PM
Actually, these days I've been doing most of my commuting and shopping on my new Surly Cross Check. Bicycles are cheaper, healthier, and more enjoyable than cars. Freeways, trafic jams, and parking lots are also for suckers.
Post by: brimic on October 14, 2006, 05:32:18 PM
Quote
But I mistreat my cars. I throw empty cigarette packs on the floor, almost never wash the cars, leave junk sitting on the seats for months on end, and other dastardly deeds.
Me too. Wife's car and the newer truck get TLC, my beater truck gets hard use. I can't even count the number of times that I've driven 10 miles north to a quarry to have a front end loader fill the back end of my truck with sand/stone/gravel until the suspension was bottomed out for doing landscaping work around my house. Empty beverage cans get stuffed under the seat until I get home and get around to throwing them out. I have about 3 years worth of pennies that have accumulated on the floor, along with various pieces of brass and assorted ammunition that has found its way into the glove compartment.
Post by: Standing Wolf on October 14, 2006, 05:33:32 PM
Post by: Twycross on October 14, 2006, 06:04:10 PM
Oh, and the oil leak. It's tiny enough that it's not really worth fixing right now.
I almost never have any passengers, so its full of trash, hunting/shooting gear, school supplies/books. I believe that I have washed her exactly twice in two years. The floor is stained, and the interior trim is in bad shape. The driver's window is unreliable, and the paint job is pretty bad.
But I didn't borrow a dime to pay for her, she has never let me down (outside of routine maintenance), and she will do 102 mph on the flat.
Post by: Parker Dean on October 14, 2006, 08:15:24 PM
1991 Caprice daily driver
The soon-to-be-painted new toy
Post by: Stand_watie on October 14, 2006, 08:33:59 PM
I've seen several stories here that make me think they may make a decent car... I know Honda and Toyota are top rated of the Nippon brands.. I was driving a '94 Mitsubishi (which gave me 125k with no problems, just that my wife got herself into a "baloon" payment deal before we got together) and got advice from a guy driving a Nissan truck when I bought the '98 Sentra - he claimed he had +400K miles on it with no problems. The price beat Honda/Toyota by several thousand bucks.
Are you in south Texas parker? That's where it looks like from the trees.
Post by: Parker Dean on October 14, 2006, 10:17:50 PM
Quote from: Stand_watie
Are you in south Texas parker? That's where it looks like from the trees.
Tell that from the trees, huh?Anyway, yes. The two pics were taken a few feet from the other in Odem. The yellow building in the Caprice pic is just in front of the Regal. It's a friends place (in the hat behind the Caprice) and for some reason I always seem to rig the camera out over there.
Post by: grislyatoms on October 15, 2006, 05:05:17 AM
Right now is an '88 F150 4x4 that was very well taken care of. Guy I bought it from only drove it in the winter. I'll be driving this one for awhile.
I take care of them when I get them.
Post by: Jamisjockey on October 15, 2006, 05:31:50 AM
BTW it's a 2003 Hyundai Elentra. Bought in '05 with 18,000 miles for $8900. Its got power everything, AC, and is a 5-speed. My payments are less than $200 a month. I get about 35mpg. It's got a bike rack on the roof, and often is used to transport my bikes to the trailhead, or me and my flyrod to the river. And I've got 45,000 miles on it now. Damn thing runs like a timex.
Post by: mfree on October 15, 2006, 06:44:26 AM
That's funny though, because my "toys" are a '91 dodge shadow that's had 300 pounds of car stripped out of it, including the dashboard (I read the cluster itself, which is ziptied to the firewall) and an '86 dodge omni GLH which at the moment needs an all-around bushing replacement party and four new konis.
My FATHER, oh, he was beater car King. If I'm remembering correctly, back in the late eighties he replaced his '64 F100 (it was getting collectable) with a '72 mercury comet with nearly 200K miles on it that had been a rural postal delivery car. For the next ten years, the cycle was that if anything wore out, including the motor or transmission, he'd drop by the local "get it yourself" junkyard and pick up a replacement. He'd usually get two years out of a $50 motor and transmission, and swap it again when something major broke.
It was finally retired at somewhere around 420,000 miles when one of the torque boxes cracked and broke free of the unibody.
Sad though, that car was pretty fun during the 3 years it had a 302 and four speed in it. the 250 with three speed was quick and sounded cool, but the 170/auto was a dog.... think there was a 289/auto in there for a bit too before he decided it was too nice and got pulled for a mustang project. That's still buried inthe garage somewhere along with the V8 crossmember.
Post by: Tallpine on October 15, 2006, 07:19:44 AM
Neither one is a wreck, but neither one is especially clean, either. Can't be when you're driving around on muddy and/or gravel roads all the time. Suburban gets used to haul saddles and 50 pound sacks of feed, and the pickup gets used for hauling firewood and local commuting.
IMO, new vehicles are an absolute waste of money, both in initial purchase price, plus higher license and insurance, not to mention interest.
Plus they are not as well made for driving on back roads as the newer ones, and are simpler and cheaper to repair.My "toys" are my land and my horses. Vehicles are just something to use.
Post by: CAnnoneer on October 15, 2006, 09:45:47 AM
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 15, 2006, 10:19:10 AM
Post by: MillCreek on October 15, 2006, 10:54:25 AM
My 'beater' car is a 1986 Mazda pickup that has 19,000 miles on it. Right after I bought the Mazda new, I got a job that came with a company car, which I had until April 2004, when I changed jobs and bought the Escape. So I use the Mazda for weekend hauling, trips to the transfer station and the like. It is actually in very good shape, with no accidents, rust, dents or the like. It still has the original tires. I have probably paid over the purchase price in insurance premiums by now.
I take very good care of my cars.
Post by: ...has left the building. on October 15, 2006, 01:24:02 PM
I'm planning on buying an EK Civic hatchback next year and dropping a B18 in it. Even though it won't be too glamorous, I'm sure I'll take as much care of it as the other car. In bushido, it is important to keep a certain level of cleanliness to things. From that viewpoint, not taking proper care of your things is just a sign that you don't take other things in life seriously. I'm not trying to crap on anyone, but I believe that if you can't or don't want to take care of the small/easy things in life, it is going to very hard for you to tackle major obstacles in life. Or maybe I'm just OCD when it comes to my cars
Post by: doczinn on October 15, 2006, 02:43:52 PM
No-one will ever steal it.
Post by: zahc on October 15, 2006, 06:40:26 PM
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on October 15, 2006, 07:24:11 PM
Quote from: zahc
My bicycle is worth 4 times as much as my car.
Amen, brother!
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 15, 2006, 07:58:30 PM
:neener:
Post by: cfabe on October 16, 2006, 02:00:17 PM
Post by: CAnnoneer on October 16, 2006, 02:45:44 PM
Quote from: Monkeyleg
CAnnoneer, I didn't mean to imply that my Saturn was unsafe. It's the cosmetics that have suffered. I keep up on all of the mechanicals.
Ah, okay then. It is a sore spot for me since as a gradstudent I drove an old Buick Century that constantly had something dying on it and in need of repairs worth an amount comparable to the value of the car itself. Later, when I bought my first new car, I could not be happier. It was a big stone off my shoulders.
A "beater" may be disadvantageous from another perspective. You get stopped more often as well as attract the attention of "neighborhood watch" etc.
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 16, 2006, 05:49:46 PM
While that was certainly true years ago, it isn't today.
As I mentioned, the car in question is a 1991 Saturn. Still looks good from the outside. Plus, I still have my wife's Endangered Species plates on it. Combine that with my receding gray hair and non-confrontational look, and most cops/regular folks probably think I'm some sort of anti-gun, anti-violence pacifist.
The only tip-off is the "Rice '08" bumper sticker.
One other advantage I've found about having beater cars is that they don't get stolen. In my case, I think potential thieves look at the junk inside the car and say, "eeewww, I'm not going in there."
Post by: Lee on October 16, 2006, 06:02:43 PM
Post by: Northwoods on October 17, 2006, 08:02:08 PM
My wife gets the '97 Camry that had been driven by her step-grandma until she had the keys taken away. Nice car, only 65K on it when we bought it ($4500).
I've also got a 2001 Ranger 2.3l. Plenty of Arizona pin-stripes from taking it hunting and hauling all kinds of crap. It is now officially the spare vehicle and only gets driven when we either need to haul something, one of the other cars is down for repairs/maintenance, or I'm going hunting. Once the Civic pukes and dies (might be a while yet) it'll probably become my daily driver once again.
Post by: crt360 on October 18, 2006, 02:05:29 PM
Quote
Looks like hell as the clear coat is gone on the hood and starting to go in a few other places. Oh yeah, it's also been broken into 3 times ($50 stereo's taken each time), stolen, vandalized, and sideswiped and rear ended while parked. But the damn thing still starts every time I turn the key (so long as there's enough gas), and as long as I keep up on adding oil (leak I think in the pan) and coolant (cracked radiator) there's no problems.
Mine's only been broken into and had stereo stuff stolen once, but it's also been sideswiped on both sides while parked and not only rearended, but the front has been backed into, and a body shop light fell on the roof while they were repairing one of the sideswipes. It leaked oil and coolant, but I had a gasket and the radiator replaced and it's been leak free (knocking on wood) since. A few months ago some a-hole in a new Dodge truck knocked my taillight out with their door. The A/C hasn't worked since the late '90s - I got tired of throwing lots of money on repairs that only lasted a few months at the most. It looks pretty ratty - seat cover is wearing out, dash is cracked. It has shotgun shells, phone books, bottles of water, oil and various other things drifting around inside it. I took it hunting Sunday and it didn't mind that I came back wet and muddy. It runs well, handles well, and is still pretty solid - it just has A/C and cosmetic issues.
Post by: Felonious Monk/Fignozzle on October 19, 2006, 08:17:07 AM
1989 Volvo 240 sedan in gold; 118k miles, clean and quiet; the best one I've ever owned. Mine, but the wife drives this one until I replace her mini-van early next year.
1991 Volvo 240 sedan in black; 179k miles; lived for 12 years in Maine and has rust issues; it's the beater, but it's also the fastest and best-handling of the 3 (I've done a few things to enhance that)
1992 Volvo 240 wagon in silver; another cherry with 128k miles on it. Daughter drives this one.
I'll buy SWMBO a Chrysler Town & Country, low mileage and roughly turn of the millennium model year once I'm finished with this MCSE I'm working on and go back full-time into the workforce. It's her preference, and I've learned the value of making mama happy, so everyone else is happy.
Post by: Art Eatman on October 19, 2006, 08:22:58 AM
I figured out one time that between 1962 and around 1981, to own three cars was a total capital cost of maybe $50 a month.
I bought my 1985 toyota 4WD PU new in January of 1985. I've done all my own work. The total cost of everything, purchase, insurance, repairs, tires, gas/oil? About $0.14 per mile. 290,000 miles on it. $160/mo seems affordable.
That doesn't include the scar tissue, of course...
Art
Post by: mtnbkr on October 19, 2006, 08:26:18 AM
Otherwise, I keep my cars for a long time, but I keep them in good tune mechanically and reasonably clean. I'm not as uptight about it as Daniel Flory, but I'm no slob either.
The 97 4Runner has roughly 135k on the odo, the 03 Camry has 85k. Barring any unforseen issues, I'll keep both till at least 200k, probably much longer in the case of the 4Runner (it's my hunting and camping vehicle).
The 95 Nissan? It had just over 100k when I traded it in this March. It had a bad oil leak, a bad water leak via the water pump, slipping transmission, dead airbag sensor, and rattled like crazy. The O2 sensor bung rusted out, so that was held in with jb weld. After redoing that twice in a year, the sensor died and I was left with a permanently on CEL. Any one of those problems would've been worth fixing, but the fact that all of them occured within 15k miles was a sign to me that the car was on it's way out.
Chris
Post by: Art Eatman on October 20, 2006, 03:06:42 AM
If it's a V-6 and the bearing in that plastic shroud of the fan system craps out, the bearing can be replaced, instead of buying a $700 shroud assembly. A trifle bit tricky, but doable. A dealer won't do it, of course.
Art
Post by: mtnbkr on October 20, 2006, 05:28:24 AM
What do you mean by fan shroud bearing? Do you mean some bearing in the fan itself? Sorry, I can't quite visualize it. I haven't done much poking around the fan portion of the engine...
Chris
Post by: ...has left the building. on October 20, 2006, 12:43:14 PM
Quote from: mtnbkr
Otherwise, I keep my cars for a long time, but I keep them in good tune mechanically and reasonably clean. I'm not as uptight about it as Daniel Flory, but I'm no slob either.
Yes, yes...it is admittedly an illness I'm sure people enjoyed watching me pick every leaf off my car in the parking lot as I left this afternoon.
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 20, 2006, 01:41:01 PM
Post by: mtnbkr on October 20, 2006, 02:47:49 PM
Quote from: Daniel Flory
Yes, yes...it is admittedly an illness I'm sure people enjoyed watching me pick every leaf off my car in the parking lot as I left this afternoon.
That's ok, I do that too. Mainly because I HATE seeing a leave trapped near the windshield fluttering in the wind... I'm sure people enjoyed watching me pick every leaf off my car in the parking lot as I left this afternoon.Chris
Post by: Kharn on October 20, 2006, 04:08:37 PM
But, in return, I'm 25yo and own my own house.
With that said, I am looking to buy a ~2002 Tahoe or Suburban (I need a bigger vehicle for taking friends to the bars/range and road trips for work) this winter when I recieve my next promotion. The Blazer will remain my beater, I'm not trading it in anytime soon.
Post by: ...has left the building. on October 21, 2006, 06:35:53 AM
Quote from: Monkeyleg
It could be worse, Daniel. When I had my black Jaguar XKE, I kept a quality feather duster in the car. Damn near wore those feathers down to the quills.
haha! nice I'll be jacking the S2000 up in a few minutes to clean off my canisters!
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 21, 2006, 11:41:46 AM
One of the reasons I sold my Jag was that I couldn't drive it without getting it dirty, and I didn't have the time to be constantly cleaning it.
The engine bay was completely detailed, and keeping that clean was more work than keeping the exterior clean.
Once, at a car show, I could see that rain was coming. I pulled the car into an underground garage, and called for a flatbed. I covered the car with plastic, and had it towed back to my studio. Driving in the rain would have messed up the engine bay so bad that it would have taken days to clean.
I'm nearly as fanatical with my Harley. I've ridden it through every type of weather imaginable: snow, sand storms, dust storms, hail storms, thunderstorms, etc. But those times were when I was travelling, and had no choice. And, when I'd get home, I'd spend a full day or more cleaning the bike.
Around town, I don't take the bike out if it looks like it's going to rain. Too much work to clean.
Post by: Leatherneck on October 21, 2006, 02:07:16 PM
My fault - I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize I was so close. Why do they put those things there anyway? You can tell that darned thing has been a nuisance to other drivers by the dings and paint on it. At any rate, I felt awful and stupid and came home with my tail between my legs and "fessed up. I couldn't blame it on anyone else could I?! So now Leatherneck has a beater truck and it's all my fault and needless to say he is not a happy camper!!
Post by: Monkeyleg on October 21, 2006, 06:39:05 PM
I just hope divorce is not in the future.
When I kept my Jag at my studio, it was wayyyy at the back of a 5,000 square foot space.
Now, I don't know what kind of tender loving care Leatherneck gives to his truck, but let me tell you this: I spent a full year priming and block-sanding the paint on that Jaguar before I shot the color coats.
Then, I spent another several months block-sanding the color coat before finally buffing it out.
The result was the one of the smoothest paint jobs I've ever seen. You could use it as a mirror for putting on makeup. That's how perfect it was.
One day, while sitting in the office, I heard a crashing sound. My assistant came into my office, with a look on his face that immediately told me he was anticipating either being fired or shot, or both.
He had knocked over a heavy light stand onto the hood ("bonnet," to be proper) of my Jag.
Nice big dent.
If you want some advice on how to deal with Mr. Leatherneck, email me. I'll put you in contact with my EX-assistant.
Post by: Tallpine on October 22, 2006, 07:25:56 AM
Um, well - when the mud get 4-6" thick on the underside of my pickup or suburban, I try to hose it off, assuming the weather is above freezing
That extra ton or so of mud really weighs down the vehicle
Post by: lupinus on October 22, 2006, 07:42:05 AM
There are go over anything toys *cough*89 k5 blazer with extras*cough* fast enough to beat the hell out of those little jap wet fart mobiles *cough*87 camaro with extras*cough*
And then you have beater things you don't care for *cough and crindge*95 plymoth voyage*cough*
So yeah I think most of us at one time or anotehr ether have a beater or a toy. Least I know I do and have
Post by: ...has left the building. on October 22, 2006, 04:39:10 PM
Quote from: lupinus
*cough* fast enough to beat the hell out of those little jap wet fart mobiles *cough*87 camaro with extras*cough*
*cough*run me at the track*cough*