While I don’t care much for Consumer Reports and their rather odd priorities when they review and rank whatever it is that they rank, I think I can finally agree with them on something. Beaters are cheaper to own. How much cheaper? $31,000 cheaper, which is pretty cheap.
Their logic is that if you drive the same car for 15 years/225,000 miles, you save the price of buying a new car every 5 years. Apparently, this is the interval at which most car owners buy a new car. This completely boggles my mind. When I buy a car, I buy it because I like it and enjoy driving it. I don’t see how that could change in 5 years, unless it’s a POS and dies within that time.
Now the real question is, how much do you save by buying a beater for $1000, and then driving it for another 100,000 miles or more? If I’d save $31,000 by buying a new car, I think I’d strike it rich if I just bought a beater from the beginning.
on September 1, 2007 at 5:42 pm Chris wrote:
I think Clint currently holds the record among us for bang:buck on beaters. I’ve had two $500 cars (not including maintenance) go 20,000 miles, but his Protege takes the cake. What’s it up to now Clint?
on September 2, 2007 at 3:14 am Henry wrote:
Nah, I think my 323 wins the bang for the buck beater battle. $100 shenanigans!
– Henry
on September 3, 2007 at 6:05 am sammage wrote:
Speaking of spare cars/beaters, I might have a chance to pick up a 99 Miata with 135k for 2700, what things should I look for Noah, since you’re the Miata driver?
on September 3, 2007 at 3:18 pm Henry wrote:
Sammage, I think 2,700$ is a bit much for that car. I don’t know your finances but persnoally I’d hold off for a better deal. Of course this also depends on where you are located. In MA its really, really hard to find good Miatas, in Washington I’ve found 2 surprisingly good ones for $1,000.
Anyway things to look for:
1) Is it before 1996? If you are planning on ever doing any very serious mods (turbo kit, etc), then getting a pre ‘96 one means you never ever have to deal with OBD-2 inspections (if your state is an emissions state).
2) Does the top leak? (This is very common and tops are more expensive than you’d think). Alternatively, you can just not care.
3) If its before 1992, check to see if it has the crank pully failure: http://www.miata.net/garage/crankshaft.html
4) Get it up to 80mph on the highway. Miatas are notorious for developing a high speed shim around 80 so its nice to see if you have any such problems.
After that, all the usual stuff. Does it stutter, does the exhaust look ok when you first start it up, is it leaking any oil, does the clutch slip, ..
- Henry