A 1994 Impreza for $25? Bought one back in 2003 with an auto tranny and all the paint stripped off. It needed a new battery and . . . that was it. I sold it on eBay for $1576 to a fellow who flew in from California and drove it all the way back to IOU-land. He was a rally coordinator for Subaru and although the car was going to be modified, it ended up slogging through So Cal traffic instead for another 50,000 miles. I’ve always wondered whether it would have been more profitable to keep it? Perhaps.
The Impreza as a 4-speed auto averaged 27 mpg. Let’s say it consumed 3700 gallons over 100k miles. That’s about $9250 in gas costs (assuming $2.50 a gallon). The 1st gen Insight I drive will spank it but a Cavalier? An Escort of the same vintage? The 15% lesser mileage in my mind is partly compensated by better engineering from Subaru. Which brings me to the key point about a cheap car.
It has to last. Most cars have some type of nasty weak point, and in the case of the Roo it’s the heater core and knock sensors. Not much at all compared to most other cars of that vintage. Finally you have to figure out the type of driver who actually owned the vehicle. There’s an old saying in the horse country of Saratoga Springs where, “It’s not the horse, it’s the rider.” When it comes to cars, it’s not the car—it’s the driver that determines the long-term worth and condition.
So true. When we take in a trade that is trashed inside and out, we just know the owner didn’t take care of it, on the flip side, we have taken in many late 90’s early 2000’s car that are in mint condition that we gladly resell.
Its getting harder and harder to find good quality inexpensive cars. I have driven 12-15 year old creampuffs for years. Start with a model that has inherent durability and is not that sought after, then find one that has been well taken care of. I find that elderly owners of these kinds of cars get scared of them as they approach the 100k mark. I spent a lot of time in 60s C-body Mopars, then early-mid 80s big rear drive GM sedans. It looks like FoMoCo Panthers will be the car of choice for a while to come.
I have usually avoided front drive (too expensive to maintain) and Toyondas (too expensive to buy for what you get) but decent US rear drive sedans are getting scarce. Maybe this explains why nice Panther cars are starting to seem expensive to me. Who knows, maybe there is a Subaru in my future too.
My cheapest ever was the 83 Plymouth (mitsubishi) Colt I bought in 1990-91. Twin stick 4 speed (an 8 speed, if you really liked shifting) with air. My wife had bought it new, then sold it to her brother in 88. He used it as a second car then sold it to me when i was looking for something. 63K pampered miles, $1000. Drove it for a couple of years until somebody pulled out from a stop sign in front of me. It’s not Stephen Lang cheap, but it wasn’t bad.
When it comes to cars, it’s not the car. It’s the driver that determines the long-term worth and condition.
And this is part of the genius of Toyota. The company intentionally attracts the right drivers and repels the rest of us. The only downside is that it’s hard to repel enthusiasts while attracting a new generation of drivers. This is why the Scion effort has been so schizophrenic. Toyota wants a new generation of drivers to move from Scion to Toyota, but only the responsible ones. And so Scions are just goofy-looking, underpowered Toyotas. For some reason the experiment doesn’t seem to be going so well. This attracting the right drivers thing is tricky business.
After buying my Subaru in March of 05 and getting considerably worse than EPA mileage & commuting 60 miles roundtrip, I bought a 2000 neon with 125k for $1000. Not bad since the kbb at the time was like 3500 or 4000 or something. A buddy who lives in a condo with only street parking didn’t really have enough street space/time to park/move around 3 cars for his 2 person family so he wanted to dump it for cash quick.
Outside of maintenance items the thing has been rock solid. I think with 172k and almost no rust, all hubcaps, and a good wash it looks to be in pretty good shape.
Only problems are the cheapass non-motorized outside mirror control doesn’t work (adjustable with your hand anyhow) and the AC is no longer cold (probably needs a flush). Also – the trunk lock broke….since we mostly use it for commuting none of these is really worth fixing except maybe the AC.
The interior is fantastic — no stains nor tears anywhere and it’s still quite comfortable.
For $50-$60/month full insurance it’s only slightly more expensive to insure than my motorcycle ($35/mo)
I take the exact opposite approach and end up doing a bit better, although I can’t top purchasing a car for $25.
I buy brand new cars and drive them until the wheels fall off. It’s just too much of an opportunity cost to search for the perfect used car, or to spiff up a used car to its previous glory or beyond. While my first car was used, my last two cars were new, and I’ve achieved a total of 21 years of service on a total of 8 years of payments. I think I’m doing ok here…
Good deals can especially be had from someone who know well who has the habit of getting a new car every X years no matter what. A lot of retirees with good pensions fall in this category, and they tend to buy big sedans with luxury touches that depreciate like crazy.
It’s not just what you buy, it’s who you buy it from.
You have to have some skills to buy an old car, for if you pay to have it repaired you will quickly destroy the value in having it.
I’m not too proud to go through junkyards for parts either. And the longer you keep the beater the lower the cost per mile is. Alas, many good beater cars get taken out by other drivers in accidents and all you get is a token small settlement from their insurance company. What are you supposed to replace it with when it truly is hard to find a well taken care of older car.
The Impreza as a 4-speed auto averaged 27 mpg. Let’s say it consumed 3700 gallons over 100k. That’s about $9250 in gas costs (assuming $2.50 a gallon). The 1st gen Insight I drive will spank it but a Cavalier? An Escort of the same vintage? The 15% lesser mileage in my mind is partly compensated by better engineering from Subaru
I disagree here. Yes, Subie engines are well designed but as many in the Northeastern states will tell you, the older models tend to rust fairly quick.
Your average beater Cavalier OTOH can be just as good a buy. I’m not advocating the misnamed Cavalier as comparable to the Subie in overall quality at time of build, but they do take a sh**ton of abuse, parts are plentiful and cheap (many can be pulled from your local Sanford and Son), and the engine choices are moderately easy to work on, as opposed to some of the Japanese motors I’ve shade-treed over the years.
A Cavalier or Escort would also provide above 30 mpgs and would be easy to shod with $30 LeMans rubber from Firestone. They’re the perfect winter car; front wheel drive, ABS, fairly rust protected, heater cores are spot on, and who gives a sh** if you plow into a snowbank or someone dings the doors?
@dolorean23
What years Cavaliers have ABS? I remember in early 2000th GM cheapified the entry level models in each brand and stripped ABS. It was stripped even from Buick Century, which was a class above Cavalier.
I’ve bought several cars in the $0 – $100 range over my 40 years of car ownership — Datsun 510, 1980’s Toyota pickup, mid-1960’s Valiant (with push-button automatic), Fiat 124/128, Alpha Spyder, etc. They all ran with a minimal amount of work/parts. I drove all of them for sometime, then flipped them for a tidy profit. Kept me in pocket money while I was in graduate school.
Honestly, I try and stay away from econboxes as a used car. I find that too many of the previous owners beat it up badly. This is especially true of cars like the Cavalier. The type of car as well as the original purchase location are key points. I think fully loaded midsize sedans are usually a good bet, as are Buicks, and luxury cars. In my experience, cars with a plusher ride tend to have owners less likely to abuse them. The other good option are things like miatas that are often weekend cars.
Bought a 1995 626 with 120K miles for $3K. Put 160K miles on it over the next 7 years. Needed only a radiator above what I consider “normal” items (brakes, exhaust, timing belts, clutch, axles.) Turns 34 MPG and still purrs like a kitten at 280K miles. Needs a windshield and tires so there it sits in the weeds.
Honestly I’m tired of driving the thing every day for seven years. They make them too good.
I paid $2,500 for my first car, a ’62 Thunderbird. Spent around $500 for parts. Drove for one semester and sold it the same year for $5,500. I was one lucky 16 year old.
I’m addicted to scanning craigslist for cheap used cars. I see a ton of early 2000’s Taurus on there for really cheap. I’m thinking of getting one.
One thing to keep in mind about used cars is that miles can be deceiving. A 10 year old car with only 60-70k miles on it may look great, but it could also mean that it was driven mostly in stop and go traffic, short trips where the engine didn’t quite heat up etc. (Or it could mean that it was inoperable for some unknown reason for a long time) Conversely, a high-mileage car often means a lot of highway miles, long trips etc.
1994 cadillac concourse with all the trimming
bought 10 years old 2004 with 100k miles for $4000
drove it for 4 years no problems but 1 or 2 qt of oil a month burned
Looked like a pimp felt like a theif
Sold it for $4000 and put 80,000 miles on it
re: ttacfan; I remember the 93 Cavalier was the first car I could afford that had ABS standard on most models. Probably could still order one with nothing else to it, but it was Chevy’s big thing that year. Chevy advertised that every one of their cars came equipped with ABS and spend a lot of money inventing little badges stating that fact on all their cars.
In ’96, I bought an 88 BMW 528e with 150k miles on it. I drove the car an additional 200k miles. I maintained it in my driveway, just normal wear items. The furthest I got into the engine was replacing the timing belt. I replaced the injectors with a used set and set the valves once. In 11+ years,it never broke down on me. I liked the car so much, I bought 2 more 86s and then 2 more 88s. The last 88, is a 500$ fixer upper. It runs great.