Cars people keep for 15 years or more

[Sarynn]

My subaru legacy is 25 years old and still drives like new, my alaskan mountain goat that's never gotten me stuck.

[oplawlz]

Fuck yeah man, sinking money into an aging car with [probably] worse gas mileage is the way to go!

For a 60 month loan at a generous 5% interest on 25,000 you're paying the bank 3300 bucks. Add to that the 20% depreciation right off the lot and you're paying over eight grand for an inexpensive vehicle - it only scales with price. Multiply that by four.

Take care of your car and you'll pay maybe three thousand in maintenance over twenty years - lets be generous again and say five thousand. Perhaps you can't think of something more productive to do with the $19,000 difference, but most people can.

[alturic]

I am nowhere near a "car guy", but some people don't understand fundamentals with cars.

1.) Reliability vs how long someone keeps a car is very different. Someone *having* to keep a car, and dump money into it, every year or two does so out of nessecity. Bad credit can't get loan -or- can get loan but interest is insane therefor payments are insane, etc, etc, etc. They drive their 10+ year old car because they don't have a way to replace it. So they'll roll around hanging up the muffler with baling wire or a coat hanger. They'll replace control arms, and bearings. They'll replace sway bars. Struts, shocks, etc.

2.) Reliability vs simply not wanting to put money into a car.

3.) etc

4.) etc

5.) etc

I seen someone mention some 40 year old car, and sure, you can have a car from the 50s or 60's too. That doesn't mean it wasn't rebuilt. That doesn't mean it spits out like a bastard. That doesn't mean *anything* if it's essentially a brand new car. The year of a car means absolutely nothing in terms of *why* someone is still driving it.

I don't really have a point to make, however the one thing I will vehemetly say about cars... they are money pits. Unless you are leasing it (a form of said money pit technically) a car will always be a money pit. There's a reason most self-made successful people don't drive around in flashy cars, at least as their daily driver.

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Take care of your car and you'll pay maybe three thousand in maintenance over twenty years - lets be generous again and say five thousand. Perhaps you can't think of something more productive to do with the $19,000 difference, but most people can.

I would absolutely LOVE to know what fucking car would cost even 5k over 20 years? Are you not including tires, oil changes, brakes/rotors? Are you including basic maintenence but not struts/shocks? Motor mounts? Control Arms? Ball joints? Bearings? Are you factoring in that you'd be the one performining any maintence? I literally just came back from the dealer today, $125 for CAF and EAF. Yes, they were dirty, 25k miles, but still.

What kind of mileage are you driving per year for those 20 years? Some nice enviroment for a car like the south, but not too close to the oceans? No potholes?

Not harping on you, but $5k over 20 years is... unheard of to me. If for nothing more than the more miles driven, the more things start needing to be replaced and like everything end of life, it's a snowball.

Personally, I think 10 year MAX and it's time to move on.

[oplawlz]

I would absolutely LOVE to know what fucking car would cost even 5k over 20 years? Are you not including tires, oil changes, brakes/rotors? Are you including basic maintenence but not struts/shocks? Motor mounts? Control Arms? Ball joints? Bearings? Are you factoring in that you'd be the one performining any maintence? I literally just came back from the dealer today, $125 for CAF and EAF. Yes, they were dirty, 25k miles, but still.

What kind of mileage are you driving per year for those 20 years? Some nice enviroment for a car like the south, but not too close to the oceans? No potholes?

Not harping on you, but $5k over 20 years is... unheard of to me. If for nothing more than the more miles driven, the more things start needing to be replaced and like everything end of life, it's a snowball.

Personally, I think 10 year MAX and it's time to move on.

Highly depends on the person and car. For me, keeping my car in the garage and taking good care of it including routine maintenance (free for the first 5 years on a new car) I dished out a grand total of 3200 over 20 years - and that's living in the mountains in NY. Granted I don't drive a ton, this is true - when my car got totaled it had 140k miles on it.

We can argue the numbers, but you would be very hard pressed to convince me that you could spend 25k on maintenance over 20 years, which is the only thing that would invalidate my argument - a direct response to the notion that it's more expensive to do maintenance on one vehicle for 20 years than to pay the tremendous overhead for four cars in that time. I mean you would have to be an absolute terror, in which case maybe you'd deserve the self-tax xD. Note that I didn't even factor in the cost of the actual three additional vehicles. The simple calculation is pure waste that you, as the owner, are getting no value out of.

[alturic]

Highly depends on the person and car. For me, keeping my car in the garage and taking good care of it including routine maintenance (free for the first 5 years on a new car) I dished out a grand total of 3200 over 20 years - and that's living in the mountains in NY. Granted I don't drive a ton, this is true - when my car got totaled it had 140k miles on it.

We can argue the numbers, but you would be very hard pressed to convince me that you could spend 25k on maintenance over 20 years, which is the only thing that would invalidate my argument - a direct response to the notion that it's more expensive to do maintenance on one vehicle for 20 years than to pay the tremendous overhead for four cars in that time. I mean you would have to be an absolute terror, in which case maybe you'd deserve the self-tax xD. Note that I didn't even factor in the cost of the actual three additional vehicles. The simple calculation is pure waste that you, as the owner, are getting no value out of.

Man, me nor the wife beat our cars but typically around year 7 or 8 its control arms, bearing(s), motor mounts, shocks, struts, etc. Hell, almost every year or two is $~100 alignments.

Im not discounting that new cars and their payments dont equate to a savings or anything but tbch, depending on interest, I would truly say in my experience owning a car for as long as you can vs replacing in a reasonable timeframe, the savings are negligible. Yes I realize if you bought a 45k car you’re not going to dump even half of that into the car in 10 years even but I think you understand what I mean.

Of course your outlook on finances, let alone your financial means is a big determining factor in that.

[Vash The Stampede]

Man, me nor the wife beat our cars but typically around year 7 or 8 its control arms, bearing(s), motor mounts, shocks, struts, etc. Hell, almost every year or two is $~100 alignments.

What kind of cars are you buying? Bought my uncle a 1999 Lexus RX300 with 208k miles and I spent like $1,600 on maintenance and repairs. No bearings needed changing, and one bad motor mount and that was the $20 torque mount. Struts are still fine as well as the control arms. In fact here's a list of things I've done.

Changed oil
Change transmission fluid + filter
Change differential fluid + transfer case fluid
Replaced rear sway bar links and bushings.
Replaced valve cover gaskets + painted them for lols
Repaired body paint damage all over the car with quality spray paint + 2k clear coat
Replaced bank 1 pre-cat O2 sensor
Replaced throttle body with junk yard one. It had a vacuum leak.
Replaced knock sensors + wire going to them
Sanded the headlights to remove yellowing + painted them with clear coat
Painted calipers red because why not?
Replaced two motor actuators for the climate system
Put new front speakers cause it was holy
Replaced the electronic door locks for all 4 doors
Put in a LED light bar in the front for more lols
Replaced a couple of drive shaft bearing mount like rubber things + one u-joint
Oh yea, and the thermostat was changed too + coolant

Now that 19 year old car is good for another 200k miles. I probably didn't need to do half the stuff I did but fuck it my uncle is old and he needs a reliable car. I did all the work myself and not a mechanic, just that Toyota/Lexus cars are super easy to work on. The starter on that thing is rusty looking and has over 200k miles and it still works, and is on the top of the engine held on with 2 bolts. I could have changed it as I removed it to change the thermostat but it said Toyota on it so it had some life left in it.

Im not discounting that new cars and their payments dont equate to a savings or anything but tbch, depending on interest, I would truly say in my experience owning a car for as long as you can vs replacing in a reasonable timeframe, the savings are negligible. Yes I realize if you bought a 45k car you’re not going to dump even half of that into the car in 10 years even but I think you understand what I mean.

Of course your outlook on finances, let alone your financial means is a big determining factor in that.

Cars are super expensive to own, probably costing more than a house honestly. You buy gas, you pay for tolls, you have to inspect the car, register the car every so often, pay insurance for the car, get tickets while driving the car. If you get into an accident then your premium goes up, which is already expensive because new cars require the best insurance. That's all on top of buying a very expensive brand new car that you can't afford so you need to take a loan. Gotta go to the DMV and pay them just to get plates and registration. Brakes wear out, tires wear out, oil needs changing, repairs need to be done.

For a lot of people, holding onto a car forever makes a lot of sense. Buying it used means a lot in savings. The parts are cheaper cause the aftermarket has made parts, plus cars get wrecked and thrown in junk yards, so more cheap parts. You can just get insurance with the bare essentials with no need for collision and theft. If you buy a car that's reliable like Toyota/Lexus/Acura/Honda then you don't really need to repair it often cause those are known reliable cars. You wonder why Chevy had to make a commercial to convince people that they were reliable cause nobody is going to buy an American car, which are known to be endless money pits. These cars diminish in value so fast that Chevy Ford and Chrysler are probably going to file for bankruptcy this year. The same goes for Mercedes and BMW in America cause they're luxury junk with parts that cost 100x more than your Toyota Honda equivalent. There's a reason why a 2007 BMW is only $5k with 100k miles.

[oplawlz]

Man, me nor the wife beat our cars but typically around year 7 or 8 its control arms, bearing(s), motor mounts, shocks, struts, etc. Hell, almost every year or two is $~100 alignments.

Im not discounting that new cars and their payments dont equate to a savings or anything but tbch, depending on interest, I would truly say in my experience owning a car for as long as you can vs replacing in a reasonable timeframe, the savings are negligible. Yes I realize if you bought a 45k car you’re not going to dump even half of that into the car in 10 years even but I think you understand what I mean.

Of course your outlook on finances, let alone your financial means is a big determining factor in that.

I do understand where you're coming from, but I suspect if most people sat down and did the math they would be shocked at how much money they're flushing by purchasing a new vehicle every 5 years. I mean to each their own, it's just good to be in the know about our investments.

Your suggestion of 10 seems perfectly reasonable to me. Technological advancement alone is probably enough to offset the value there, and the car has gotten a chance to earn back some of the money the banked sucked out of you ^.^;;

[Afrospinach]

Fuck yeah man, sinking money into an aging car with [probably] worse gas mileage is the way to go!

This usually does not math out the way you think it will.

Unless you made some kind of shitty decision in the first place with a car that is costing you craptonnes of cash to keep going it is going to take you decades to "pay back" on better fuel economy lol.

I was considering picking up a toyota starlet as a run around(~35mpg) instead of driving my evo everywhere(~15mpg). Even with the price you can get a GT starlet these days it would still take me TEN YEARS to pay it off with fuel economy assuming I could even get 35mpg.

The evo has never cost me any considerable repairs like most 90s Japanese cars.

[schwank05]

Yeah, you have to excuse kids these days. They have no idea the impression you make driving up in a cherry 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 454 LS6.

I don't have shiny stuff all my personal vehicles are patina. I have a 4 and a 6 year old I am not getting stuff all pretty painted then having them scratch it. Like I said I daily drive the stuff. my 74 Burb is lowered 6/6.

My 55 Chevy
https://www.schwankeengines.com/coll...let-210-4-door

My 74 Burb
https://www.schwankeengines.com/coll...rolet-suburban

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I am nowhere near a "car guy", but some people don't understand fundamentals with cars.

1.) Reliability vs how long someone keeps a car is very different. Someone *having* to keep a car, and dump money into it, every year or two does so out of nessecity. Bad credit can't get loan -or- can get loan but interest is insane therefor payments are insane, etc, etc, etc. They drive their 10+ year old car because they don't have a way to replace it. So they'll roll around hanging up the muffler with baling wire or a coat hanger. They'll replace control arms, and bearings. They'll replace sway bars. Struts, shocks, etc.

2.) Reliability vs simply not wanting to put money into a car.

3.) etc

4.) etc

5.) etc

I seen someone mention some 40 year old car, and sure, you can have a car from the 50s or 60's too. That doesn't mean it wasn't rebuilt. That doesn't mean it spits out like a bastard. That doesn't mean *anything* if it's essentially a brand new car. The year of a car means absolutely nothing in terms of *why* someone is still driving it.

I don't really have a point to make, however the one thing I will vehemetly say about cars... they are money pits. Unless you are leasing it (a form of said money pit technically) a car will always be a money pit. There's a reason most self-made successful people don't drive around in flashy cars, at least as their daily driver.

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I would absolutely LOVE to know what fucking car would cost even 5k over 20 years? Are you not including tires, oil changes, brakes/rotors? Are you including basic maintenence but not struts/shocks? Motor mounts? Control Arms? Ball joints? Bearings? Are you factoring in that you'd be the one performining any maintence? I literally just came back from the dealer today, $125 for CAF and EAF. Yes, they were dirty, 25k miles, but still.

What kind of mileage are you driving per year for those 20 years? Some nice enviroment for a car like the south, but not too close to the oceans? No potholes?

Not harping on you, but $5k over 20 years is... unheard of to me. If for nothing more than the more miles driven, the more things start needing to be replaced and like everything end of life, it's a snowball.

Personally, I think 10 year MAX and it's time to move on.

What are CAF and EAF? I can honestly say that I have $1400.00 in my Burb and if anything happens even catastrophic engine or trans failure I will have less than $500.00 in either. If you are mechanically inclined and willing to drive older stuff it's much cheaper to maintain over time.

[Adamas102]

Fuck yeah man, sinking money into an aging car with [probably] worse gas mileage is the way to go!

For sure! As long as the cost of upkeep is reasonable because you have taken care of a well made car it’s certainly cheaper to keep driving it rather than buying a new one. No one is advocating sinking money into a car that’s falling apart just for the sake of it.

[Kathandira]

Not one American car. Tesla is supposed to do really well this year, maybe they'll be such a car.

Have you kept a car for more than 15 years?

Was getting close with my 2001 Pontiac Grand Am GT. Had it for 11. Only got rid of it because it made more sense to pick up something with better gas milage and newer features. Was a great car though. Very basic maintenance, nothing bigger than brakes.

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MR2 was tiny and girly, and Supra was limited supply. Also neither have been made for well over 10 years

MR2 was a great roadster for it’s time. Still highly sought after by hobbiests for track days

[Kathandira]

91 Ford V8 Mustang. It's been pretty much moth-balled because I want to rebuild it someday. I bought it for 4k in 1999 and stop driving it about a year ago.

Soo nice...So moddable!

It was a town favorite where I live. Almost like a right of passage to have a Fox Body

[schwank05]

91 Ford V8 Mustang. It's been pretty much moth-balled because I want to rebuild it someday. I bought it for 4k in 1999 and stop driving it about a year ago.

Oh yeah LS Turbo candidate at it's finest spend about $3500.00 for Engine, Trans and Turbo parts and you are making 800+ RWHP easy.

[Saverem]

Not one American car. Tesla is supposed to do really well this year, maybe they'll be such a car.

Have you kept a car for more than 15 years?

Why would you want to keep a car for 15 years though? I get a new one every 3-5 or so.

[motorized]

Why would you want to keep a car for 15 years though? I get a new one every 3-5 or so.

we don't all want financing hanging over our heads for no real reason.

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Oh yeah LS Turbo candidate at it's finest spend about $3500.00 for Engine, Trans and Turbo parts and you are making 800+ RWHP easy.

with the wrong ring gap and you lunch that motor pretty quick

[alturic]

I don't have shiny stuff all my personal vehicles are patina. I have a 4 and a 6 year old I am not getting stuff all pretty painted then having them scratch it. Like I said I daily drive the stuff. my 74 Burb is lowered 6/6.

My 55 Chevy
https://www.schwankeengines.com/coll...let-210-4-door

My 74 Burb
https://www.schwankeengines.com/coll...rolet-suburban

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What are CAF and EAF? I can honestly say that I have $1400.00 in my Burb and if anything happens even catastrophic engine or trans failure I will have less than $500.00 in either. If you are mechanically inclined and willing to drive older stuff it's much cheaper to maintain over time.

Cabin Air Filter & Engine Air Filter. Oh, if you're the one doing all the work, and don't mind after-market (I prefer OEM), then you can make out like a bandit with cares. My time is more valuable to me than dealing with that crap, and no that is not a knock to you or anyone else who does fix their own cars.

[cuafpr]

1982 S-10 (hasn't been cranked in maybe 10 years?) was my old HS truck and a low rider
2003 - mustang convert. - Twin turbo charged 634 RWHP, only 35k or so miles, 2k or so on the custom engine
2010- Chevy Camaro 2SS transformers edition 45k miles
2005 - Chevy Avalanche, most recent purchase cause i missed my old 2003 Avalanche, 199k miles, daily driver

its odd to me that my newest car is a 2010 in 2019 O.o

[Saverem]

we don't all want financing hanging over our heads for no real reason.

I just buy mine and then trade it in and finance the difference over like 1 yr or so just to keep my credit high.

[apen]

I'm worried more about how long the Tesla batteries will last - will it be like the Prius?

[smityx]

I'm worried more about how long the Tesla batteries will last - will it be like the Prius?

"As reported by Engadget, Tesla has no battery degradation warranty on its Model S and Model X vehicles but does guarantee the standard battery for the Model 3 will retain 70% of its capacity for 100,000 miles. The guarantee for the long range Model 3 battery is 120,000 miles. By comparison, Nissan guarantees the battery in the LEAF will have at least 66% of original capacity after 100,000 miles."