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I've been doing a 80 mile roundtrip commute in a 2001 Toyota Corolla for nearly 9 years now. It was my wife's in college. She bought it CPO from a Toyota dealer with something like 28K miles on it when it was two years old. Now it's got over 225K! The only major repair it has ever needed was the exhaust (downpipe rusted through just before the cat so I replaced the whole thing)-other than that just tires, brakes, oil changes, and I flushed the transmission for the first time ever last weekend. The fluid looked brand new, there was hardly anything in the filter, and even the magnets didn't look too bad.
We live in a rural area so I'll always have a long commute and I plan on getting at least 300K out of this car, if not 350K. As long as I can keep it running with minimal maintenance expense I just can't see taking on a car payment for something new or even used. Everything in the car works, AC is ice cold, etc...so what more do you really need just to get back and forth to work? I am a gearhead and my '91 Toyota 4x4 is my real passion, but it's strictly a weekend four wheeling, camping, hunting and fishing rig-I only drive it to work when it snows. What's your commuting beater and how many miles are on it?
Last year I had to replace my 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer with ~255k on it when the oil ump appeared to be failing. That car had cost me nothing other than simple maintenance since it was purchased with 24k on it as a former rental. The replacement '12 Ford Fusion will be a more comfortable ride but still a modest car that will hopefully last similar to the Lancer.
Just gave a V6 1999 Mustang to my nephew that I always just sort of had floating around. I live in Phoenix which covers an enormous amount of land and I travel around the city a lot. It had 225k on it before we bought a Hyundai Elantra (new) that gets more than 2x the gas mileage.
The only issues it had beyond wear items were the convertible top had to be replaced 2x, and 3 of the Windows didn't roll down. I also had to replace the radio. It was a good car I still see a lot of them on the road.
I had a '99 Nissan Sentra that was strictly my work car throughout the week, and an '06 Mustang GT that was my weekend fun car. If not for some kid, who had just gotten his license, who slammed into the back of my Sentra and totaled it, I would still be driving it today as well as my Mustang. At the time, it had around 120,000 miles on it I think. I had just replaced the alternator, water pump, had brand new tires, rotators, and brake pads. The car had no power to it much, but it was just as smooth of a drive as it was when I bought it brand new.
Wound up selling it to a co-worker for a $1,000, and she took another $1,000 and got the car repaired. There was over $5,000 of damage to the car, but she "knew" somebody who could fix it for pennies on the dollar. After she had it fixed and started driving it to work, I kind of missed the car. Too bad that, later on, she gave the car to her son, who in turn, drove it out of state and wind up having the car stolen from him. When they found it later, it was stripped and crushed at the local car "crushing" place. So, they made money off of the nice stereo system I had installed in the car, as well as selling it for scrap. Kind of put a tear to my eye when I heard about this.
Instead of taking $2,000 and buying a beater to get around in (and keeping my Mustang), I wound up trading the Mustang in for a brand new Honda Accord. A move I have regretted ever since. Not that the Accord has been that bad of a car, but financially, it was a very stupid move. I've had the car for almost five years now, and it's just "a car" to me. I still owe on the stupid thing too. When I finally pay the car off, I'm driving it until the wheels fall off. I don't care how many miles is on it, it's going to be my work car from here on out. I'll have a weekend, play, vehicle someday, but not until I'm able to pay for it straight out.
So you're a gearhead, but not a driving enthusiast? I'm a driving enthusiast, so I drive my Z4 (58k miles) to work as often as possible. My beater truck (168k miles) is for hauling the kids around to soccer games on the weekend.
So you're a gearhead, but not a driving enthusiast? I'm a driving enthusiast, so I drive my Z4 (58k miles) to work as often as possible. My beater truck (168k miles) is for hauling the kids around to soccer games on the weekend.
I mean, sure, I enjoy driving, but it's not as if I'm tearing down the Pacific Coast Highway at 70 MPH on my way to work. I do 40 miles each way on a two lane divided state highway with lights where the speed limit fluctuates between 40 and 55 MPH, there's traffic, etc... Doesn't exactly make for exciting driving. I'm more of an off-road enthusiast anyway. I have way more fun crawling up a rocky trail geared 150:1 and moving at a fraction of a mile per hour than I do driving a fast car. The point of this thread is to salute the simple function over form beaters that get us from point A to point B as cheaply as possible.
My beaters don't have that many miles. My '5 Cadillac CTS-V has around 87k miles and my '15 GMC Sierra has around 11k miles. My wife's beater is an '11 Nissan 370Z and it has merely 30k miles.
Shouldnt really call it a beater, but my wife drives an 06 Buick Lacrosse for work. Shes a home health nurse, and puts some miles on a car. Her last Buick, LeSabre, had almost 300000 when it finally was retired. (Repairs would have cost more than the car was worth. Sold it!) The Lacrosse has, last I looked, 179000 and change, and it has been pretty trouble free. I think I had to repalce some kind of something with the cooling system, but I dont recall what exactly it was right now. Ive put 2 sets of tires on it, 2 sets of brakes in all 4 corners, and change the oil every 7500 or so, sometimes 10000, and it just keeps on going! Its got some small issues, like the seat wont move now, and part of the console is mess up, but its nothing major.
My commuter/beater is a 1994 Toyota Camry 4cyl - 200,000 miles. I look like a broke college student, but I love driving it. I can't put a price on the comforts of parking as close to the door as possible, hitting curbs and not caring, or backing into poles and laughing. I would be filled with anxiety or cry if any of these things would happen to my nicer car.
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