GRM thoughts: ditching semi-new car for older ride

We are a bit upside down on the Civic Si. Nothing horrible but I have enough in my "car" savings to get rid of the car and pay the difference and buy a decent priced DD/project. This would ditch a car payment and we still have the 2014 Forester for family operations. I just got a big raise so it's not a financial matter, I just have that bug to have fun with something and play with something and I hate doing that with a car I'm making payments on because that money could be used to pay it off. My wife thinks I'm nuts, I'm perfectly fine with this. Plus I could use that car payment to put into our down payment for a home and we are so close to our 20% goal.

so you are asking if you can live the life that i've been living for the past 20+ years? driving nothing but what most would consider "junk" without having ever been left stranded on the side of the road 100 miles from home at midnight in a snowstorm?

yeah, sure... why not... you can make a good older car reliable indefinitely for the cost of a single payment on a new car and consumables (tires, brakes, etc.) cost the same.. liability insurance is a lot cheaper, and you aren't worried about depreciation from things like "mileage" and "people in the parking lot at Wal Mart"...

I'd do it, I'm done with new cars.

The newest car I've ever owned was six years old when i bought it. Currently both the dailys are 12 and over 150k. No troubles. Do it.

I've been through 5 brand new cars in 6 years. Only lost my ass on the WRX everything else I broke even. I'm just tired of payments and going E36 M3 that could be a sweet new part for a car or tickets to a vacation or etc.

I'm thinking along the same lines. I have a paid off 2011 C30 and my 91 MR2 Turbo. The MR2 only has 91500 miles on it. I drive very little since I work from home often. One of the 2 will go but I'm just not sure which one yet.

1. Pay off civic
2. Buy house
3. Buy project/fun/alternate DD
4. ......
5. Profit

1kris06 wrote: 1. Pay off civic 2. Buy house 3. Buy project/fun/alternate DD 4. ...... 5. Profit

Someone's an optimist... I think anything after buy house is:

Lament that even if you had the money to buy fun bits for your car (which you don't because the well just failed and needs 2k, or the washer went out and needs replaced or...), You wouldn't have time to install and enjoy said fun bits because you really want to get the basement finished so you can get to the pool deck and then.....

Maybe that's just my experience...

DirtyBird222 wrote: I've been through 5 brand new cars in 6 years.

Out of curiosity, how does that happen? There's nothing wrong with new cars, but that's not really the best way to go about it in the long run.

In reply to WonkoTheSane:

I don't know, I have a house and 7 cars, including an autocross toy and a future project classic. I'm not rich. You can do it.

Bought some of them new, but the newest is 2004. Haven't had a car payment in at least 5 years.

In reply to Duke:

I was being a bit hyperbolic there, I have 6 cars & trucks :) although I haven't had a chance to work on the track rx7 in about two years and I've mostly been in fleet & house maintenence mode, but both of those are a result of moving to a different state two years ago and driving other people's cars for chumpcar.

It really isn't all bad by any means, I finally got my lift, but I mostly get to use it for things like rust repair on the minivan...

Currently, there are 4 running cars in my parking area. Only 1 of them did I pay over $1,000 for ($1200). In the past 20 years, I've only needed to call a wrecker twice, once for a fuel pump, and once for a distributor. Both somewhat easy and cheap repairs. My newest car is a '97 Eclipse. It's the first fwd, fuel injected 4 cyl. car I've ever owned and odds are I'll never buy any car built more recently than that. All the money that might have gotten spent on car payments goes towards tools, parts, and shop equipment. You can spend $5,000 on a brand new car and still owe over $20,000, or you can spend $5,000 on some beat piece of crap and have a really nice daily ride that's built the way you want it.

Oh, and to echo the others here, I'll not have a car payment again that's more than 250 a month.. All of my vehicles are paid off, and it's great... I hated having car payments.

we basically only have older rigs. The newest in our stable is the '07 Charger RT that is the baby hauler on steroids and out monthly payment there is just over $200 a month. My other rig is a '95 Ram that I really want to sell and get a late 70's or early 80's full size Blazer or Ram Charger. Even at that I want to strip down the systems to be bare bones and as simple as possible. Wife's DD is a '99 Tahoe.

Duke wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: I've been through 5 brand new cars in 6 years.

Out of curiosity, how does that happen? There's nothing wrong with new cars, but that's not really the best way to go about it in the long run.

New car #1. Ex and i purchased a car together. Well I'm the only one that signs for it. I go out of town for work, friend snaps photos of her at the club with some guy she works with, that car gets sold for obvious reasons. New car #2 was a lease, I owed like 16k on it a dealer calls and says they'll give me 20k for it so for obvious reasons that one goes. I was out of town for like 6 months at this time so I didn't need a car. I come back home get the newish 2012 Civic Si and hated it as it was haphazardly engineered. Trade it in for 2012 WRX and the WRX seemed to have suffered the same fate of crappy engineering on the interior bits plus lots of engine issues under 10k miles. It went bye bye and the 2013 update on the Civic Si sold me and it's been a great car, solid, no issues in the 20 months of ownership. New car #6 is wifes Forester.

So it was 09 Fit Sport, 2010 Civic Si, 2012 Civic Si, 2012 WRX Hatch, and 2013 Civic Si. If I could get back in any of those cars it would be the Fit or 2010 Si.

As long as it's not something with a penchant for randomly catching on fire, an old vehicle is going to be just as reliable as a new one if you take care of it, so I don't see why not.

early 90's gm w-body appliance, then buy a project too. don't do a dd/project in one.

my uncle just ditched a 2011 malibu off a 2 year lease and bought a grandpa fresh 60k mile 1992 lumina sedan with a 3.1/4t60 - it's one of the most indestructible drivetrains in history.

In reply to patgizz:

*Assuming it has the good intake gaskets in it.

Sounds like you already know what you want to do and are just looking for enablers to give you permission. You're an adult. You don't need our permission. If it won't get you in trouble with your wife or your boss, do what will make you happiest.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: In reply to patgizz: *Assuming it has the good intake gaskets in it.

the pre 3100 engine does not haz that issue.

oh i do need permission from the ole ball and chain. I let her read these things and it helps sway her opinion :).

WonkoTheSane wrote:

1kris06 wrote: 1. Pay off civic 2. Buy house 3. Buy project/fun/alternate DD 4. ...... 5. Profit

Someone's an optimist... I think anything after buy house is: Lament that even if you had the money to buy fun bits for your car (which you don't because the well just failed and needs 2k, or the washer went out and needs replaced or...), You wouldn't have time to install and enjoy said fun bits because you really want to get the basement finished so you can get to the pool deck and then..... Maybe that's just my experience...

My experience as well. Home ownership isn't all its cracked up to be. Its a black hole for time, money, and sometimes both.

In reply to Beer Baron:

It's not that we're enablers, it's that we come up with nifty ideas he might not have thought of.

Currently DD'ing a 17 year old BMW. With a 40 mile commute each way. And 240,000 miles on the clock. It could use new upholstery, but reliability has been good enough that I'm not really feeling the need to get anything newer.

I think that Clem Sparks may have some input on this topic. His motto is if you drive $500 cars you better than another waiting in the wings or something to that effect.

Anyway, I drive a 14 Honda that is nearing 100K miles. It has gave me zero problems since I got it last winter. I suspect it will continue to do so. Find something that is well taken care of and just make sure that you have a repair fund set aside for when you need to replace something.