Can’t one say the same thing about any of the latest automatic transmissions?
What is the single best vehicle to buy if you're a tightwad?
- Thread starter macarose
- Start date
Whenever? I have another 7 years of battery warranty.
Or you can get the Supercab cheaper and get a real sized truck bed. Backseat space is fine unless you need to have people over 5'10" back there.
A 50cc moped. Not great for hauling Christmas trees.
4th gen Chevy spark
Any vehicle's cost to own depends on the owner's use case.
JHZR2
Staff member
Cobalt was my first thought, but I thought I remembered some of them having timing chain issues.
Something like a 4-cyl Ranger is good for hauling your scrounged firewood or secondhand furniture and appliances that you got cheap off Facebook Marketplace.
I have to be honest. I am VERY disappointed by these answers.
Where is the creativity?
Where is the flair for the dramatic?
Where is that inner tightwad who binds and gags our OCD driven BITOG culture?
And why the h, e, double hockey sticks has nobody even mentioned a 1993 Geo Metro XFi painted with three shades of rattle-can green and a salavage title? That particular one I bought for $125 at a wholesale auction back in 2006. I'm sure all of you remember that post I wrote 18 years ago. The tires were new. A/C was inop forever because it didn't have any. The steering required occassional recitings of Hail Mary. And the passenger side mirror was found in the back seat along with an extra full-sized tire.
What more could anyone ask for? Hmmm... maybe three co-owners who would each ante up $31.25 for an opportunity to own this blessed form of third-world transport.
Now I tried to convince my wife and next door neighbors that the four of us should also commute to the same exact place of work that happened to be three miles away. An exotic high end restaurant called... Panera.
Why? Because that's exactly how long it would take for that 1 Liter engine to properly warm up. Based on my calculations the car would last 127 years. Enough for multiple generations of our extended families to work at the nicest restaurant in Deliverance, Georgia.
Five days a week. Six miles a day. Thirty miles a week. One tank fill-up every three months. One oil change every two years. And again, no air conditioning. After all, who really needs air conditioning in Georgia? Just put sticks of deodorant in your arms. Suck on a popsicle made of heavily diluted lemon juice, and you're good.
Anyhow my neighbors didn't quite warm up to the idea, or my wife for that matter, but that's okay. They missed out on the deal of a lifetime (and a 99% probability of heat stroke). I ended up selling the Geo for just under $800 on eBay. A guy drove a good six hours and change from Arkansas just to pick it up. True story... at least the Geo purchase price and who bought it.
Where is the creativity?
Where is the flair for the dramatic?
Where is that inner tightwad who binds and gags our OCD driven BITOG culture?
And why the h, e, double hockey sticks has nobody even mentioned a 1993 Geo Metro XFi painted with three shades of rattle-can green and a salavage title? That particular one I bought for $125 at a wholesale auction back in 2006. I'm sure all of you remember that post I wrote 18 years ago. The tires were new. A/C was inop forever because it didn't have any. The steering required occassional recitings of Hail Mary. And the passenger side mirror was found in the back seat along with an extra full-sized tire.
What more could anyone ask for? Hmmm... maybe three co-owners who would each ante up $31.25 for an opportunity to own this blessed form of third-world transport.
Now I tried to convince my wife and next door neighbors that the four of us should also commute to the same exact place of work that happened to be three miles away. An exotic high end restaurant called... Panera.
Why? Because that's exactly how long it would take for that 1 Liter engine to properly warm up. Based on my calculations the car would last 127 years. Enough for multiple generations of our extended families to work at the nicest restaurant in Deliverance, Georgia.
Five days a week. Six miles a day. Thirty miles a week. One tank fill-up every three months. One oil change every two years. And again, no air conditioning. After all, who really needs air conditioning in Georgia? Just put sticks of deodorant in your arms. Suck on a popsicle made of heavily diluted lemon juice, and you're good.
Anyhow my neighbors didn't quite warm up to the idea, or my wife for that matter, but that's okay. They missed out on the deal of a lifetime (and a 99% probability of heat stroke). I ended up selling the Geo for just under $800 on eBay. A guy drove a good six hours and change from Arkansas just to pick it up. True story... at least the Geo purchase price and who bought it.
Bond Minicar, case closed.
A good used 1989 Dodge Aries. With the 2.2L engine. Seats six.
and yet, you are the thread starter. I had some passing interest in a geo metro years ago, but they are just too hard to find now. Just went for a Corolla instead.
May result in a closed-casket funeral!
So an automatic transmission costs what? Not into the 20K range like some battery's.
Oh and if your a DIY, the parts kit for a transmission are what? You can't buy a battery parts kit.
For some fixing a broke transmission is easy, how do you fix a dented and damaged battery pack especially after it went thermal runaway?
Like I said you don't go to Pick n pull and just buy a battery pack.
EV's are not for a tight wad period.
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Not sure. Guessing $5k and up. Plus another $1k for R&R. Depends on the vehicle and what transmission it is. Maybe you can get lucky and score a junkyard find at a grand, but you still have to install, and it's still a gamble.
CVT's don't seem rebuildable, and I want to say I've heard of some conventional ones being the same way. Not sure I believe that. But long gone are the days of easy 3AT rebuilds.
Late model vehicles aren't for the tightwad. Period.
2 years ago I rebuilt a first Generation Jatco CVT, and actually much simpler to rebuild in some respects than a normal step transmission.
Getting parts? That is the issue. I'm sure even controllers etc for EV's are not a fun item to source at an affordable price.
Follow the Uber drivers, you will find that it is a Prius. Sure it cost more to buy but the mpg is much higher. The professionals always know what works best in the end in most industries and follow their experiences you can usually avoid most of the pitfalls.Definitely not Corolla. Insurance is more expensive than a Camry. Which would be my vote….
My 99 was a freakin’ tank, would still have (totaled). My 11 was less so but still pretty solid. Our 21, eh, hard to say, have another 8 years before I’ll know.
The 99 was rated for 2k towing. Put on a trailer hitch and keep up with the half ton trucks. [Yeah right! but a small 4x8 utility trailer is cheap and will move quite a bit of stuff.]
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The elephant in the room is that there are no cheap vehicles anymore. The cheap ones are the ones people “need” to get rid of because they have problems. And those problems are not cheap to repair. Oh sure you can find diamonds in the rough, but nothing like what you could a few years ago. To be a true tightwad means looking at long term costs too, and I think today that means spending more up front, knowing that you might not be able to buy a decent beater that you can get a few years. Where the sweet spot is now I’m not sure.
Being a real tightwad means paying cash so you can skimp on both collision insurance and registration costs. Going for a car instead of a truck—but cars aren’t made anymore, it’s a dwindling market. The vehicles not made during the Great Recession is crimping the market on cheap used rides, made worse by our move to SUV’s and trucks (guzzle more gas).
I haven’t wrapped my head around this new paradigm. Buy new and hope for 20 years? Pay a crazy $15-20k for a 10 year old car with 150-200k on the clock? Gamble on a $5k vehicle?
