how long is practical to keep a car?

[tbm3fan]

I would , and have, keep a car till it died a natural death. The cars I buy all have had similar traits. They all have been sticks as I don't believe any current automatic could last 250,000 miles and when they go they are expensive. The cars also are simple in that there aren't a lot in the way of fancy options. Prefer manual windows and basic stereo systems. Before my 2004 Focus was a 1986 Mazda 626 which lasted 375,000 miles. One head replacement, by me, at 250,000 miles. Never burned oil and still got 33 mpg at the end. Problem was another head was needed as they seemed to get eaten away at the combustion chamber via the water jacket so a leak. The suspension was shot in that every bushing would need to be replaced and you could feel the car was losing it on the road. So that was the Mazda's natural death 20 years later. Now it is the Focus for the next 20 years.

 

[rjundi]

My brother in law who is not great at finances (5yr lease) then 5 years of payments managed 341,000 miles out of his(SW2). A subframe rusted and he was done. It had issues but kept going.

Honestly it depends on how much you like the vehicle. Some folks would not hesitate spending $1500 on a high mileage car they love while other balk at mid mileage car they loathe in repairing it. Neglect builds up in a car people don't like much and the owners move on.

 

[dwcopple]

the problem most have is separating the emotional from the rational or logical. Most everyone "wants" and new vehicle. It is just sometimes a very poor decision to do so.

 

[Spector]

my 20 year old camry with 220,000 still runs great, leaks oil but insurance is peanuts, taxes are peanuts so until a major item goes bad (transmission or engine) I will probably hang on to it as the around town car.

 

[hattaresguy]

Depends how handy you are and how much money you can spend.

If it has to go to a shop for every little thing than the economics of keeping an older car on the road are going to look pretty bad pretty fast. If your handy than you can do it for a long time, look at what they do in Cuba as an extreme example.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Astro14


Miles don't matter much if it's running well and been maintained.


Agreed. Mileage is just a number, just like age is for humans. I've seen 50 year olds in better shape then 30 year olds. Same with cars that have lots of miles.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I have a new vehicle ... I want to get rid of it.

 

[Dakota1820]

^^ why?

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
I have a new vehicle ... I want to get rid of it.
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
^^ why?


Cause the Focus sucks, duh!

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I have a new vehicle ... I want to get rid of it.
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
^^ why?


Cause the Focus sucks, duh!

In coming!

. The Ford vehicles I've owned have been great. I still own my bought new 1996 Contour Zetec w/5sp manual and my 2002 F-150 4.6 5 sp manual. Rust on the truck is the greatest challange to stay on top of. The Contour's fine.

Whimsey

 

[Dakota1820]

why does your focus suck?

 

[InvalidUserID]

I'm going to keep my paid off cars until they are unreliable and cost me more to keep them than having a new one.

I've been car payment free for about 6 years now and it's a nice feeling. I'm having to put down close to $2K to repair my '99 Civic's head gasket but other than routine maintenance, it's been trouble free and drives perfectly fine. It's near 200k, and with the recent repairs (head gasket, timing belt/water pump) it should get to 300k with ease.

 

[morepwr]

My newest vehicle is a 1991 so you can see that I am not a huge fan of the newer cars! Everything I have is in good condition and isnt leaving me stranded or worried about taking a road trip so I just keep them. When they change over to unreliable status, then I will change.

 

[Dakota1820]

seems smart. society does make a lot of people want a new car though.

 

[JHZR2]

Your number of $1500 is arbitrary and not backed in anything.

If your car needed $1501 in work one visit to the shop, so you went and spent $1600 for a replacement, would you get a car that needs less or more work than if you had kept after your existing car and just spent the $1501 on the saturn?

If your car needed $3k worth of work, so you sold it and bought a $3k car, would it need less or more work to make it right then the repaired saturn?

If your car needed $1500 worth of work, and you went and bought a $4500 car, which likely would still need a new set of tires, brakes or other PM before too long, how would that compare to just having repaired your saturn?

Even a $4500 car isnt that much car really in terms of modern cars with the best safety and whatnot. So you need to consider what youre getting yourself into buying another car versus fixing what you have.

At some point there likely is a breaking point. But the car is worth what it costs to replace it, in the same condition or better.

200k is not scary to me at all. Of course we buy our cars new and drive them that long and they are well known quantities. Used cars can be anyone's guess, and to me, there is a lot more value in a known good used car that you are familiar with than selling because of some bigger ticket item, and then taking on risk with another one.

Of course if it is structural, rust, or somethign that impacts safety in a major way, that would drive considerations differently...

 

[SwampSurvivor]

When I bought the car I was traveling a lot for work.

Now I just drive 8 miles to and from work. Occasionally a 140 mile round trip to my parents.

Plus I'm a few thousand $$ "green" in the loan ... I want to get rid of it before I end up upside down in it.

 

[Dakota1820]

i mean if i had to put 2000 in the saturn i would rather take 2000 and put it as a down payment on a new or almost new car. but when i said 1500 i mean around. as long as its cheaper than a car payment its worth keeping if the car payment is less expensive i think its the better deal. i wouldn't just dump the saturn though. things just run through my head like head gasket clutch ect ect... i hate not knowing if those will last for awhile or break tomorrow.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
i mean if i had to put 2000 in the saturn i would rather take 2000 and put it as a down payment on a new or almost new car. but when i said 1500 i mean around. as long as its cheaper than a car payment its worth keeping if the car payment is less expensive i think its the better deal. i wouldn't just dump the saturn though. things just run through my head like head gasket clutch ect ect... i hate not knowing if those will last for awhile or break tomorrow.


Im sure youll get all upset about this, but compare apples to apples. If youre buying a new or nearly new car on payments, then it turns into being a LOT more expensive than another used car or your existing car. That turns into the equivalent of a lot more repairs that you could have done.

You have two cars, right? Pretty easy to deal with a car in the shop when this is the case. Head gasket or clutch isnt a super expensive repair, and IMO nothing to be that scared of. 200k or not. The best thing to do is be proactive about maintenance and then be planning properly for the long-term from the start. Seems that youre pretty proactive, so I wouldnt worry much. Short of rust or some substantial safety issue or an accident, to me keeping the car you have and dealing with repairs is the smarter move than taking risk on other used cars that were sold as somebody else's problem.

 

[Vikas]

chevyboy needs to start making the car payments *today*




Just make them to himself! Seriously, start putting the car payment money which you think you will have in the bank every single month.

If you think you will buy two new(ish) cars, start making two payments *now*.

 

[Dakota1820]

your right. my dad always said if a car was worth 2000 he wouldnt put more than half of what its worth because he wouldnt want to have more in the car than its worth. its stupid logic but its been spoon fed to me my whole life so breaking the thinking is hard. as long as it stays reliable i dont mind keeping it but if it ends up being a situation where im constantly spending money on it and wasting time fixing it i would rather buy a newer car. it worries me some because i start school in august and between work and school i wont have much time to be fixing a car . so if it becomes a nickel and dime situation i would have to get something newer. only because i wouldn't have the time to waste on fixing the cars all the time. it does seem to be pretty sound though. i didnt used to worry until i had a cavalier that was one owner and was cared for but it was everyday it would have something wrong. it would be fine then bam a problem. like the motor just started knocking one day for no reason. outta no where it was chunking a rod . that car showed me how unpredictable a car can be.