Which car is best suited to its beater phase?

Every car you see, no matter how janky, was once a fresh smelling, shiny new car. Manufacturers build cars for the people who buy from them. Later, those folks move on to other cars, and the shiny new car passes from one owner to the next. Eventually, most cars will depreciate to experience their beater phase.

As a beater, often even the cost of oil changes becomes an economic issue as it represents a significant percentage of the car's value. The cheapest tires, or even used tires are installed.

This is where the natural order of automotive status seems to invert. The value of a 7-series starts to compress into that of a Civic of the same year.

This is when a Corolla makes for a better choice than a Biturbo.

I've wanted to ask this for a while. What car is best suited for the beater phase of its life?

Top Gear UK did a number of ghastly things to a Toyota Hilux, while still failing to kill it, so I'll steal that answer rather than suggesting a Mercedes CLK.

My miata beater is doing great.

Any of the super low end econobox cars. Crank windows, zero options etc. Think Geo Metro 3 cylinder.

Most trucks.
That and domestic cars with small wheels. Cheap parts and cheap tires mean you can keep it going for a long time. First Gen neons were great for this for a long time.

2000-2002 Hyundai Accent. Seriously. There's a youtube video of one with no oil and a brick on the accelerator. It took a very long time before it caught on fire (but was still running).

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZsflYVV3s0

Hard to think of all the cars that make good beaters (dodges is a good start) but its pretty easy to think of all the ones that make bad beaters.

They are typically all the cheap european cars that many GRMers like. I think statistically speaking, european cars make very expensive beaters. At that point it's not so much a beater as it is a fairly expensive car that's still an aggravating piece of crap.

I do wonder about the future of beaters in general. Seems like ancillary costs associated with operating a car continually to go up.

As already stated, most trucks.

I'll add most muscle cars/v8 having things. Sure you can rag on a pristine muscle car, but not that way you can on one with 3 different colours, oodles of rust, and 4 bald tires you stole from the dumpster behind the tire shop.

at what point do you consider a car a beater?

i'd say the lower spec and more simple the car was from the factory the better beater it will make... as was implied above old trucks and budget cars seem to fit this well

I'd say my volvo 945ti fits the "beater" thing pretty well... 260k miles, shifts funny (need to swap transmissions), loud exhaust (ghetto temp fix waiting for a proper fix), interior has some issues, no a/c etc etc... but I just put a little bit into parts (replaced some sensors, injectors I had kicking around and a water pump and she's running better than she has in over a year.... if it wasn't a turbo, had manual seats and such it would have fewer things to go wrong.

the less to go wrong the better... brake pads, rotors, rubber and fluids... beyond that and it puts the beater into a junker category for most people.

I'll second Vigo's comment, the worst beaters are european cars. Even VW's are full of ridiculously overpriced parts.

The best beater depends, if you don't drive that far then you want a full-size GM pickup. Preferably with a manual trans. If you drive a lot then you're probably going to want better fuel economy than an '87 c1500 can provide, therefore your best bet is old, Toyota or Honda, manual transmission, and 4-cylinder.

I had a '94 Accord and between just never breaking and the fact that a used trans or motor can be picked up for $200 it would be hard to beat for low cost of ownership.

Really, the trick with beaters is knowing where to get parts. I've rendered more than one old beater unreliable by filling it with E36 M3ty parts-store reman alternators and starters and whatnot.

I'm convinced that no car will run longer in worse condition than a Toyota, and that my MR2 is indestructible.

I suspect a classic Saab 900 falls into this category. When they were new, they were expensive and quirky and driven by folks we would have made fun of. They remained much the same for something like 15 years of production so the latter cars were not technological marvels when new, but had great parts availability when old. There were legitimate $100-500 cars available for decades. Once reaching beater status, it was more forgivable that some things just don't work right but the motors were solid and the turbos could make good power (even if the transmissions couldn't handle it).

I would have to go 5th gen maximas. The first of the VQ motors in the 3.0 L capacity. They would run for a long long time in ok shape. Mid 90's GM trucks would go forever too. The ultimate beaters. A body mopars with the 318 would go forever too. Most likely fall victim to rust than anything else.

my 89 crx is a fantastic beater. 395k, still runs perfect. Its as reliable as gravity and if something does need attention parts are so cheap they are nearly free. It is a very simple machine that is easy to diagnose and repair. Even with nearly 400k on the clock it still gets 35-37 mpg in the city. Its even fun to drive.

I would have to go 5th gen maximas. The first of the VQ motors in the 3.0 L capacity. They would run for a long long time in ok shape.

Minor correction: 4th gens. Otherwise i agree they are decent beaters. Partially because junkyards are still chock full of them.

My old K-cars were the cheapest beaters on the planet earth until all the junkyard supply slowed down. Now they are just a good beater. I think one of the cool things about k-cars as beaters is that a lot of stuff you dont actually need parts to fix. You just fiddle with whats there until it works again.

Someone mentioned 1st gen Neons. Now that I have one, I'll second that. Also, I suspect 2nd gen Neons would be just as good.

Ill 2nd, err 4th or whatever Neons and k-cars. Been doing it for awhile now...

middle 90's Toyota 4runners

Another vote for Neons, favoring the first gen. Plenty of old Honda Accords running around out there also.

A clapped out 80s box Caprice will run like crap longer than most cars will run at all.

Appleseed wrote: A clapped out 80s box Caprice will only run like crap, so you won't see the difference when it becomes a beater.

FTFY

Saw a dude today that had a b2200 with over a million miles

1,000,000 miles=beater supreme

Mike wrote: As a beater, often even the cost of oil changes becomes an economic issue as it represents a significant percentage of the car's value. The cheapest tires, or even used tires are installed.

Depends on how you define "best." Based off your quote, that would be most reliable & economical. I'd say a Chevy Prizm would be tough to beat on both those fronts.

I had an interesting opportunity the other day. I came across a really cheap, well maintained 2G prius. 2005 with 100k and leather. I talked the guy down to $4,000 and thought that was a pretty good deal.

Then I did the math.

Long story short, it would have taken four years just to make up the price differential vs my current 33mpg Prizm. At that point the prius would have 180k, and likely need a battery pack, setting me right back to 0. It struck me as odd, since it a 47mpg prius vs 33mpg prizm seemed like a no-brainer.

Caprice with 305 and Q-jet.

Saturn S-series. As long as it has oil and gas, it will run. Junkyards are still full of cheap parts and a 10 year model run for the platform means every parts store has stuff and it's cheap.

Long story short, it would have taken four years just to make up the price differential vs my current 33mpg Prizm. At that point the prius would have 180k, and likely need a battery pack, setting me right back to 0. It struck me as odd, since it a 47mpg prius vs 33mpg prizm seemed like a no-brainer.

You forgot the part of the math where you could have resold it for 7-8k and then drove your Prizm for "free" for FOUR YEARS. Dork!

Also, i guess you just dont drive that much. I originally bought my 1st 50mpg Insight for $3800 and it only took 2 years to pay itself off vs my 30+mpg Mazda3. Except it actually took 0 days since i sold the Mazda3 for more than i bought the Insight for.

So either way, whoops! Maybe you'll get another chance. My $4500 Prius is one of the best purchases ive ever made, and at 225k it still doesnt need a single battery brick replaced.