How do you know when its time...

...to move on from a car?

Perhaps this will sound odd to some of you, but at the ripe age of 25 I still have yet to be burdened with the decision to sell a vehicle of my own volition. My previous cars have all dictated to me, in one fashion or another, when it was their time to go. They were pretty much all crap boxes of varying degrees with little to no value to speak of, and being a high school/college student with limited financial resources I just rode them all into the ground.

Lately, I find myself pondering the thought of replacing the Camaro with something else. There's nothing wrong it and I don't dislike it, I'm just not sure that I really love it either, or that I ever will. It has many endearing traits, but also a lot of glaring flaws and poor engineering (I know, what do you expect from a 90s GM product.)

What I like:

-LS powahh baby!!!

-sticks to the road well and surprises lots of sporty cars in the twisties

-Lots of ways to easily improve the car and a huge aftermarket to support it

-Interior proportions/ergos fit my frame well

-Reliable to date

-I like the rule set in CAM-C where I've been running this year

-Makes good noises

What I dislike:

-Can feel the weight, always

-Stupid engineering/poor fit & finish bother me

-I cry a little bit every time I think about the cost of having to replace the tires

-Worst GD shifter I've ever operated, the XJ's is worlds better by comparison

-No amount of mods will ever make it a true "sports car" and it will never feel like a "nice car" to me

Furthermore, the role in my fleet has changed somewhat with the addition of the XJ, which is slated to assume the bulk of DD duty. The Camaro was purchased to be an only car that could serve as both an every day driver as well as weekend auto x warrior, a role which it filled well, but as such compromises had to be made. Now that every day practicality is less of a concern, I am contemplating mods that would make it a much better toy/auto x car more along the lines of what I want, but would (likely) ultimately result in sunk cost and loss of marketability should I decide to move on a year or two down the road. At the same time, a big part of me says maybe it would make more sense to just get something that's more "sports car" to begin with, rather than putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak. The good news is there's nothing compelling me to make a decision any time soon, as the next couple months will be spent getting the XJ further up to snuff before moving onto winter Camaro projects.

So I guess what I am asking for are similar experiences you all may have had in the past, what you decided to do, and how you felt about that decision down the road. Any input is more than welcome.

How do you know when it's time... ...to move on from a car?

When you pose that question on GRM that's when!

In reply to ebonyandivory:

Good point. The issue I struggle with, and I'm sure many (all) of you can relate, is automotive ADD - I can never determine when my wants are serious and if I acted upon these kind of thoughts every time they came up I would be buying and selling cars roughly every six hours!

Variety is the spice of life my friend.

In reply to Furious_E:

At 43, I'm still a "drive it into the ground" kinda guy. The tangible part is that it needs a bunch of repairs that aren't cost effective--like when my 211k mile 2000 Civic DX needed a steering rack or when my wife's 214k mile 1999 CR-V started having door latch/window regulator issues, AC issues and needed another timing belt.

The intangible part is when I just get sick of it, it starts feeling "worn out" and/or my wife starts being embarrassed to be seen in it.

Automotive ADD is strong with me I know that!

There honestly isn't ONE car I wouldn't want at least for awhile.

Plus I like pretty much ALL autosports from drag racing to rallying.

It's not only cars either, I want a steam powered anything and a Diesel anything and an old (50's) tractor, another Samurai, another Cherokee (had 3 of each), another Type I VW...

I'm with you, brother. It's a tough life stricken with this disease.

at age 45... I have only ever traded in one car and sold 3.. the rest I ran till rust took them from me.. and then resurrected their good parts into a replacement

Ive sold cars for a bunch of reasons and only regret one. Project cars anyway. I tend to have several dailys a year, but all sub 1k cars.

I'm in my late 20s and I only sold one car so far, an awful POS with no redeeming qualities I was glad to get rid of (or in less words, "a Daewoo.") I have a parts car that I might scrap the bent & rusted frame of after I crate all the parts.

I drive them until I am sick and tired of fixing E36 M3 on them. That typically means they sell for less than $1K or they go to the JY.

Current fleet excluding wife's DD - 25 years, 12 years, and 10 years.

When I know it's worth more to someone else than it is to me.

I get automotive ADD often. I don't have a permanent "cure", but I usually do 2 things when I feel it coming on. 1. Try to do something I enjoy with the car I have. Road trip, Autox, track day, something like that. 2. Shop Craigslist . . . and actually go look at what's out there.

Its usually during the first part that I realize my own car doesn't suck as much as I thought it did. Its during the second part that I realize, absent sinking big bank into any transaction, whatever I get will likely be much more beat up, rusted, dented, poorly maintained and generally trashed than what I have now. That usually solves the problem temporarily. Like, for maybe an hour or two.

You already spelled out why you should sell it. Quite throughly.

"No amount of mods will ever make it a true "sports car" and it will never feel like a "nice car" to me

Furthermore, the role in my fleet has changed somewhat with the addition of the XJ, which is slated to assume the bulk of DD duty. The Camaro was purchased to be an only car that could serve as both an every day driver as well as weekend auto x warrior, a role which it filled well, but as such compromises had to be made. Now that every day practicality is less of a concern, I am contemplating mods that would make it a much better toy/auto x car more along the lines of what I want, but would (likely) ultimately result in sunk cost and loss of marketability should I decide to move on a year or two down the road. At the same time, a big part of me says maybe it would make more sense to just get something that's more "sports car" to begin with, rather than putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak."

You're just looking for somebody else to agree with you.

....or re-phrased using only your own words:

The Camaro was purchased to be an only car that could serve as both an every day driver as well as weekend auto x warrior, but with the purchase of the XJ, its role in my fleet has changed. It would make more sense to just get something that's more 'sports car' to begin with, rather than putting lipstick on a pig.

It is not about when to get rid of a car for me it is all about when I find something I want more than what I currently have and I don't have room to add another car. Hence the least wanted car has to go

I am in that mode at the moment. Hopefully the deal goes through with two of my cars moving on to a new good home with another GRM member and this will open up at least one free spot in my lot for a new toy. At the moment I am one car over the self imposed limit.

When you say '90s camaro what do you mean - 3rd gen or 4th gen!?!

Although it will never be light on it's feet, a 4th Gen Camaro is a very capable car once you work on it a little... can be made acceptable and fun, but yeah consumables suck compared to a small Honda/Acura or a miata. It can pull some G's on a roadcourse though and brakes can be made to suck your eyeballs out of their sockets...will never be nimble like a Honda/Miata though...no matter how much you strip it down.

For what it was, I thought the '98 V6 hardtop coupe was pretty decent handler once modified, just had to put too much money into to get it to decently handle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c_sMDIW-jM

As to the when to move on question...I don't know exactly how to answer that. I thought my '98 Tacoma would be kept forever...then when I got the FR-S I didn't even feel like driving the Tacoma anymore even though I wanted to keep a truck around. Then it stopped working shortly after and I had zero cares to look into what the issue was...let it sat in the driveway for nearly 3 years being inoperable until a coworker expressed interest in it and I gladly sold it. My dad had newer Tacoma I could use when needed anyways....But now I'm kinda missing it, even though I would never drive it because the ONLY car I want to drive right now is my FR-S... everything feels so boring and numb in comparison!

I can see myself getting rid of the FR-S though, if the Toyota S-FR turns into a reality. If there is one thing I can't stand about the FR-S it's that they burdened it with a Subaru Boxer motor... motors I can't stand! LOL So a similar car with an I4 comes out, I will happily get rid of the FR-S...

The Camaro was an easy one to get rid of - I became unemployed for a stretch and it was a track only car that I hated working on. Was looking for an excuse to get rid of it actually...

Also if anyone wants some deals, they should buy a used vehicle from me...I always sell them for dirt cheap when they are worth a lot more....LOL

'98 Camaro (that I bought for ~$5k) with ~$8k worth of performance upgrade parts put into it...sold for $3k in 2005, I just wanted to get rid of the dang thing! LOL

'98 Tacoma that ended up just needing new vacuum lines to get running...just recently sold for $1.5K and included all the genuine Toyota factory service manuals I bought for it (About $350 worth of manuals).

Track prepared '90 Integra RS that I killed due to failed swapping of connector on E-bay fuel pump that put hot to ground, toasting everything electrical...sold to salvage for ~$250.