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All the so called experts say that financially it is better to just drive a car until it dies and it reaches a point that repairing it will cost more than its value. The most logical car owner will not sell or trade a car in, but instead will just junk it for $300 and feel fortunate that they got so many years of use out of it.
Do you agree and how many times did you drive your car until it was a piece of junk and had to be towed away?
BTDT with a 1976 AMC Pacer, yes, the bubble car. Loved it. The visibility was great. At 3500 pounds it held the road like a heavyweight. The bucket seats were long, i.e., they supported my legs ALL the way to my knees, we could ride in that car all day and not get that tired, beat-up feeling like one would if driving a VW beetle all day.
My job with the Army required a lot of travel from the DC area to Fort Lee, VA, Fort Eustis, VA and other Army locations. Point is that we paid $4700 for this car in 1976 and over the years the Army paid me about $3600 in mileage costs, damned near paying for the car.
It was a 3-speed manual, got 17MPG. A/C was made standard once they figured out how hot the car would be with all that glass. I drove it gently and took it to Jiffy Lube every 5k miles, though I took in with me 5 quarts of Exxon Superflo motor oil, as I really did get one extra MPG with that oil.
It died on I-66 one evening in late summer of 1987 on the way home from an Army business trip to Fort Monmouth, NJ. By that time it had been wrecked once (not my fault), rebuilt, had 185K miles on it, was rusting out, had lost the muffler that day. The fan belt broke about 15 miles from home. I decided to drive it until the engine melted. I made it to within 6 miles of home, coasting to a stop in a CLOUD of blue smoke on the exit ramp from WB I-66 to Rte 50 WB, near Fair Oaks Mall. The couple behind me stopped (in rush hour traffic no less) and took the me home. I called the tow truck folks and signed the title over to the driver right there on the side of the road that evening. A few minutes later, my wife and I were munching down at Taco Bell in Chantilly, VA and saw the tow truck heading west with "Old Blue."
I did much the same with my 1987 AMC Jeep Cherokee Laredo, getting 16 years and 187K miles out of it before totally it in a chain reaction minor fender bender on I-66 in the rain. The 1987 was the last year AMC owned the Jeep line. That Jeep was an amazing vehicle and that old in-line straight six engine is just flat out bulletproof. I have a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee with that engine as I decided against the V-8 which was a new engine that year (rule of thumb is to never buy a car with a "new" engine design the first year).
I expect to drive that 1999 Jeep until the bitter end, same for our 2004 Camry XLE. Both are driven gently, well maintained and I hope to get at least 20 years out of each one.
Along the way we have sold/traded some poor cars, like that 1992 LeBaron with the pitiful Mitsubishi transmission, or the 1982 Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham with the awful electronics (everything broke) and crummy small gas V-8 (but at least I didn't but the outright disastrous V-8 diesel with the too-weak bottom end).
As soon as we both retired, we got the heck out of the gridlocked DC area and that awful I-66. We now live in the wide open spaces of Colorado where we lived for 3 months before hearing a horn blow or a siren.
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Last edited by Mike from back east; 11-10-2011 at 01:17 PM..
My husband had a 1993 Jeep Cherokee that managed to go 325,000 miles! He loved that little green Jeep, named it "Grasshopper." It finally started to break down, needing repairs almost weekly, and the body and interior were starting to fall apart, so he gave it to a friend. After that he drove a little 1998 Ford Ranger, got 222,000 miles on it and would still be driving it if a tree hadn't fallen on it and totaled it (no one in it thank God!) Hubby commutes a long way to work, so the miles add up quickly!
I successfully killed a 92 Honda Civic. Actually, I didn't kill it, Bambi's momma did. I did however make it just shy of 400K miles before the great venison assault of 2003.
Engine was in fine condition. I had replaced the distributor, the altenator, and done the timing belt twice. Original clutch, never had the head off, never even opened the cooling system or the refrigerant system. Brakes, tune ups, and oil changes. The transmission bearings were all but finished though. Loved that little hoopty, but that deer was in an unholy alliance with Allstate, and they ganged up on me.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I drive junkers everyday, When I get tired of fixing them, they go under the bulldozer and off to the shredder (~ $300 scrap price for cars I usually buy for under $100).
I have been known to buy a cheap car at a travel destination (& not title it) then leave it at the airport (cheaper than renting)
Ironically, I have seldom had to junk one of my 'drivers', and they cost at most $200 to fix (Cylinder head) (Usually parts are under $10). I give the 50 mpg'rs every chance to stay alive/ It is the 'Sustainable' thing to do.
I have had 4 cars 'totaled' by insurance of other drivers (cell phone talking SUV's), They are all still on the road for under $200 in repairs and $2000+ each in the bank.
All the so called experts say that financially it is better to just drive a car until it dies and it reaches a point that repairing it will cost more than its value. The most logical car owner will not sell or trade a car in, but instead will just junk it for $300 and feel fortunate that they got so many years of use out of it.
Do you agree and how many times did you drive your car until it was a piece of junk and had to be towed away?
Never done that. I take care of my cars and when I sell them, it's either at a profit or for not much of a loss vs. what I paid for them. Even if i get a cheap car, it's never treated like a beater, with one lone exception in over 100 cars and 30+ years, and that car was got for a dollar and given away to a friend after I had it a couple years, and it was still used for a few years after that. HE drove it into the ground and junked it.
Most of ours are used to the point that the salvage yard is the only option. Usually something major like advanced rust or parts being unavailable are the reasons the final note is played. Engine and tranny replacements are no big thing if the rest of the vehicle is still useful. Remember though, as a rule we only drive older cars (15+) that were purchased in some cases for less than the average monthly new car payment and returned to safe driving condition. No, we don't beat on them.
I actually drove a worn out old VW bug (~ '66) until it threw a rod... but it was still running, you could see the rod up through the block scrapping on the fan... drove it carefully to a guys house that said in the past he wanted to buy it... sold it and warned him not to turn it off (and why)... he got it where he wanted it, shut it down and of course it never ran again.
I had a 1999 Ford Explorer that had just shy of 200,000 miles, the transmission went out on it. I would've fixed it but since I was using it for my business it really wasn't the ideal vehicle for my needs so I junked her for $150! I really kept up with the car maintenance religiously thats the main reason she lasted so long, there's no doubt in my mind.
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(cheaper than renting) 
