So since i'm back into the "zero properly working vehicles" status right now i'm having to consider whether to throw more money at repairing something I thought would last a bit longer vs replacing it.
Replacing it is the demon you dont know replacing what you have though. I've already lost thousands playing the "just one more repair then it should be good for awhile" game with three cars in the last few years and between them I could have already bought a car more than 3k if i'd known it would go that way. But you never know it will go that way. :-/ Am I really the only one existing on hope and debt and trying to not lose my house during cancer making me disabled? Poor is poor, and all the wishing in the world cant make me afford something I can't afford either as a vehicle or repair costs I am stuck with once I already have the vehicle. Like if i'd known my truck would dump its trans at 60k I would have sold it but obviously you never know.
I know you can always "luck out" but what is YOUR best strategy (and could you critique mine) for trying to find a car you dont mind your wife driving 250 miles away late at night in freezing winter back and forth? I can drive the beater around town, or I can risk my life dying so she gets the life insurance at this point in my life, but I need her to have the highway travel safe vehicle including that it wont break down at 3am in a blizzard.
I'm looking at the whole picture - total costs, not just the up front cost of a car. Buying a car that needs a $1000 timing belt in another 5000 miles makes a $3000 car into a $4000 car. Gas costs really add up. Maintenance costs add up. Consumables like tires - that 4cyl compact is alot cheaper to tire than an SUV tho a few hundred every few years isnt the biggest thing. Insurance sometimes can but I wouldn't expect anything 'sporty' and still high insurance for ppl over 40 to change much.
I picked $3000 because you used to be able to get a decent used car for that. The market may be radically different now but I haven't shopped in forever, maybe the figure is $5000.
My first strategy in the past was to look for a market disfavored car which was not about being unreliable. I don't care at all whats cool or trendy - give me one of those 96-99 ford tauruses with the ugly ovals. The used value of them crashed instantly. Or a Pontiac Aztek before breaking bad..
Market disfavored choices seem to include 4 cylinders in the age of the v6. I dont care about power - as long as the MPG is also reliable sometimes a v6 is more reliable in certain makes.
Toyotas and Hondas are great used but the price also shows that and everyone wants them - domestics have a big drop in value and I would argue your chances are better to get a good condition, lower mileage, good-chance-to-be-reliable car. As near as I can tell a Buick isn't much less reliable than a toyota, and doesn't cost much different to fix than a base model GM, but used will cost notably less. If I had plenty of money like 12k, sure, give me that honda or toyota. But I don't. So what do you look for at the lower end of the barrel?
I personally dont trust FWD automatics over 200k - a stick shift I can change a clutch in, and if a new clutch is in I can probably rely on it for another 100-200k. An automatic with high miles to me is a wildcard on borrowed time. Also no dodge FWD automatics of any age - have they ever made a good one like ever?
And none of these newer dang 5 speed or more automatics, they all cost twice as much to fix or replace for questionable gain IMHO let alone a CVT. IF you are able to wrench on a car (i'm medically not, possibly permanently, if I get better though i'll be considering this strongly) i'd rather have something I can pick up a class A quality junkyard pull trans to swap in for under $1000 or that brand new is under $2000.
I'm worried about timing belts cuz thats a known expensive cost - without documentation of it being done I assume it wasnt. I love cars with no timing belt to worry about - my old Saturn SL (if I can get it running again, it just needs a clutch but i'm crippled and its cold now) was great, I dont know which other 4cyls dont have that problem. Buick 3800's have a timing chain I think, all small block chevy v8's do but i'm less keen on fullsizes or SUV pickup anything for low total cost due to gas. But it's why I wasnt rushing to get rid of my Caprice if I could keep it going a bit longer. Feel free to braindump if you know others in this category that are free of this achilles heel. :^)
The most obvious of all - if somebody actually has one of those cherry or creampuff cars where some elderly person bought it, has full service records, mostly or always garaged, not abused or poorly treated, sometimes literally only driven to church on sunday. But not one of the fancy ones - the Cadillacs seem to ding you on costs again so Buick is as high as it goes. To me it seems like the ideal car is a grandma driven buick 4 cylinder with low miles and full service records but it's near 20 years old and because theyre so uncool nobody under 40 would be seen dead in it. :^)
I remember seeing buick century's like this on a not irregularily for $1000 with less than 100k miles cuz nobody wanted grandma's 4cyl - this is awhile ago mind you, but not forever ago like those iron duke 2.5L's that would go 300k you'd have alot of life left. With inflation that's the reliable $3000 car today tho. I'm not sure what cars have replaced this since it's been too long since i've compulsively researched it all.
I've also been partial to RWD domestics like a crown vic or caprice IF its well taken care of but the MPG seems to eat away at you one tank at a time, but otherwise i've always said those are the cars that will last you to 300-350k better than a FWD one usually due to better transmissions and no CV joints to fail by then. (you can tell me i'm wrong on this - these have just been my assumptions for a long time) Plus they can have a fender bender without screwing up a unibody frame even if you dont repair it often and it's light. But i'm learning age alone has it's problems as well - suspension bushings and wear points, even if your major engine/trans/powertrain issues are of less concern, and the caprice I have unfortunately isn't really a keeper. Maybe I should go look at ex-cop cars on auction, hmm...
Something like a hail damaged car can be a great value and has never bothered me - if grandma's buick was out in the rain and insurance already paid so they're selling it for less. This isn't impact damage on a unibody and it doesnt take away from mechanical reliability in any way.
More easily serviceable cars makes a difference if you can DIY - like I put a water pump in my saturn and it was almost less complicated than a brake job it was so easy. The one on a ford taurus is a nightmare involving removing the manifold and they fail ALOT just after 100k (and mine did making me have to park it) being another achilles heel. It's identifying those problem areas that's such a big thing for me, potential surprise points, and some of them a mechanics inspection cant tell you if you have a grenade. Sometimes the best thing is documentation that it already happened and someone serviced it so at least it shouldn't bother you for another 100k hopefully. :- P But dang those Saturns are easy to work on by comparison, i'd love to have another one.
Feel free to disagree with me on ANY point, i'd LOVE to hear feedback including about what i'm wrong about. I'm here to learn. Because i'll be buying 1 or more vehicles in the next 1-2 years and decided it's time to update my knowledge base.
I have my own reasons for my opinions, but there are probably people here with 10x my knowledge on the topic.
I'd mostly like to know additional points, or fleshing out this 'outline', or finding out what good engines, transmissions, makes, models change my analysis around. (like maybe kias or hyundais are reliable now but still cheap to fix or other things) Or other expense risks i'm not taking into account here. How low can you set the bar and still get a RELIABLE car that should last you another 100k miles or more with no huge issues (transmissions, engines, minimizing the $1000+ repair jobs)
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