With my truck nearing 400,000 miles and totally reliable. I'm rethinking my car purchasing.
Instead of buying and reselling maybe I should make one purchase and plan on it lasting my whole life..
I used to buy new and drive them until the cost of repairs for 3 months in a row exceed what a new car would cost for monthly payments. Typically 10-15 years.
With that in mind perhaps a
Daily driver that is more or less disposable. Drive it until it needs more to repair than it's worth (and since I do my own repairs that's likely to be a long time.
A luxury car Rolls Royce? Jaguar MK9!!!
A Motorhome to haul the race car
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Dec. 29, 2011 11:47 a.m. mguar Reader
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Dec. 29, 2011 11:49 a.m. N Sperlo SuperDork
Motor home. Definitely a motor home.
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Dec. 29, 2011 11:53 a.m. DrBoost SuperDork
When my wife's 05 minivan bites it I'm thinking going old school. I'm thinking about picking up a W124 benz for say, $4K. Then drop $6K - $8K into it and driving it for the next 30 years. New cars are less and less desirable every year.
Wife: "Where are you going you hot stud?"
Me: "I gotta check your oil on your 2015 minivan, I'll be back in about 6 hours".
Wife: "Huh?"
Me: "Gotta go to the dealer so they can check the oil. Do you have a spare hundred bucks?"
No thanks, I'll take an old car any day.
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Dec. 29, 2011 11:59 a.m. Anti-stance New Reader
Its a W123 but cool none the less
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Dec. 29, 2011 12:14 p.m. 93EXCivic SuperDork
I would say a late '80s Rolls or Bentley would be sweet but I went looking for parts cost and I found parts suppliers but I couldn't find anything on how much parts cost and that scared me.
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Dec. 29, 2011 12:31 p.m. patgizz SuperDork
i like to buy 400-900 beaters and pound them into the ground.
my $300 astro got me 5 years of work duty and took about $500 in repairs over that time.
my $800 astro has been on the road for 2 years with no repairs until the alternator just died.
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Dec. 29, 2011 12:40 p.m. jmthunderbirdturbo Reader
^^^this.
i have never paid over 2k for anything i drive, save for one. a 1991 nissan 4x4 truck, and i put an ASSLOAD of miles on it, off-roaded it weekly, and generally beat it to death, then sold it for 2500, so even still, $1500 of use. i buy em cheap, make em run, and keep em forever.
-J0N
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Dec. 29, 2011 1:49 p.m. Travis_K SuperDork
Any OM617 powered mercedes would work (300d, 300sd, 300td) and rather than being concerned about whether its worth reparing, just keep fixing it as long as the body is still solid and parts are still made. Those engines will go 800k before needing a rebuild if they are maintained properly. Or what about an XJS? It sounds like you are pretty comfortable working on them. lol
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Dec. 29, 2011 2:10 p.m. Fletch1 HalfDork
May I ask what truck it is and the year/engine?
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Dec. 29, 2011 2:30 p.m. jrw1621 SuperDork
Fletch1 wrote: May I ask what truck it is and the year/engine?
I too am curious as to make and model with 400k miles. My guess is Ford straight 6. -
Dec. 29, 2011 2:36 p.m. ultraclyde HalfDork
I've got a friend with a first gen Xterra that's approaching (or over?) 300k.
Still goes point a to point b with A/C, cruise and modest comfort. Starting to smell a little funny though. Could be all the sweaty mountain bikers it hauls around.
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Dec. 29, 2011 2:52 p.m. pinchvalve SuperDork
Cummins Turbo Diesel is my guess.
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Dec. 29, 2011 2:54 p.m. Anti-stance New Reader
Ill bet either some diesel or a Ford inline 6.
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Dec. 29, 2011 6:12 p.m. mguar Reader
Fletch1 wrote:
May I ask what truck it is and the year/engine?
Chevy 4x4 1/2 ton w/350 To be fair I've spent almost $1000.00 in repairs over that time. (New fuel pump, alternator, and intake manifold gaskets.) That does not count normal maintenance items like oil changes, brakes (Only 2 sets of rear linings, 3 sets of front) 4 sets of Goodyear Wrangler tires.. (Original alignment) Well you get the idea.. The sweetheart part of things is I used it for work and got compensated for it.. I think about 4-5 times original cost so far.. On the other hand that poor thing has worked like a beast. Aside from pulling the race car trailer all over the country a few times, it's hauled nearly 50,000 bd.ft. of wood, nearly 9000 sq.ft. of SIP's panels about 40 tons of stone.. (as much as 3500 pounds per trip on occasion).. I regularly used it to tow skid steers home, A lot of my trips are on the way home from jobsites (I sell construction equipment to new home builders) and the poor thing is so loaded down the headlites are aimed up in the trees.. I swear I have to lean forward to have the front tires touch down in order to turn.. In spite of all that weight and abuse it still averages 19 mpg hwy 17 in town.
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Dec. 29, 2011 6:12 p.m. mguar Reader
Anti-stance wrote:
Ill bet either some diesel or a Ford inline 6.
Nope Chevy 350
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Dec. 29, 2011 6:13 p.m. mguar Reader
93EXCivic wrote:
I would say a late '80s Rolls or Bentley would be sweet but I went looking for parts cost and I found parts suppliers but I couldn't find anything on how much parts cost and that scared me.
Yeh that's what scare me as well. Jaguar parts? cheap!!!!
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Dec. 29, 2011 6:17 p.m. mguar Reader
N Sperlo wrote:
Motor home. Definitely a motor home.
Yeh I've had a couple but they don't fit in the garage/shop so I need to leave them out.. My upscale neighbors get all bent about such a tacky thing as a motor home left in the driveway.. When they come over to complain I generally sell it off.. What I need is some sort of motorhome that will fit in a regular garage (can be up to 50 foot in length though) Yet still pull a trailer with a race car in it..
