Saturn? Civic? Neon? A diesel owned by Chuck Goolsbee? For the longest time I’ve been trying to figure out what penny pinching prodigy earns the most keep. I’ve spent years pondering this question. Well, more like a few dull moments at the auctions. I finally figured out the answer this evening. The cheapest car to own is the one you like so much… that you’re willing to buy another one just like it so that you can keep yours on the road for years to come. I’ll give you a recent example of two ‘cheap’ cars with two very divergent destinies.
A family bought two vehicles from me recently. In turn, they traded two cars in for $500 altogether. One was a 1996 Taurus Wagon. The other was a 1992 Volvo 240. Both of them had ‘issues’. The Taurus had a weak tranny and looked like.. a Taurus. The Volvo had been in a fender bender where it looked like it got into a fight, and lost. Both of them were worth more dead than alive. Perhaps…
The Taurus and Volvo were put on Craigslist for $700 apiece. The Taurus had at least two dozen contemporaries over the prior seven days that had also been listed for $1000 or less. If variety was the spice of life, the dozens of Tauruses on Craigslist seemingly offered more spice-filled suggestions than an old Simon & Garfunkel tune. Mine thankfully was a luxurious version of Ford’s attempt to wreak utter havoc on the Camcords of that era.
A 200 HP Duratec engine in this one equaled the output of the late Toyota Celica All-Trac. A well adorned cloth interior with foldaway cupholders and storage bins made it family friendly. The ‘Mach’ premium sound systems made the ancient Volvo seem tinpot cheap. Let’s see what else. Did I mention the engine already?. Anyhow the 1996 – 1999 Taurae represented a billion plus dollar project for Ford at a time when the Taurus was fighting it out for the ‘best selling car’ award in North America. Surely people even today must want to snatch these things up?
Nope. Nothing moved. Not a one. Not even my ‘gem’ with only 115k. Most already had blown trannies that were underengineered just like all the prior ones. But there was an even bigger problem. Working on the dang thing. Compared to a Camry, Accord, or even a Lumina of the same vintage, the Taurus is an absolute pain to diagnose, repair and maintain. We’re not talking about Nightmare on Elm Street or Fiat levels. Just enough fragile electric doo-dads, strangely configured parts, and cheap stuff to make the whole upkeep process a trying one. Plus there’s nothing special or unique about the Taurus. No character. No longevity. No strengths within it’s design or presence to make a keeper want to keep fixing it. I wholesaled it for $550.
Now the Volvo 240 was a complete paradigm shift. Volvo had built these cars to last decades with proper maintenance and everything about this vehicle was ‘authentic’. No marketing cabal in their right mind would ever design something like a Volvo 240. It’s as utterly square in it’s appearance as Lawrence Welk with a bubble machine and a baton. But thankfully the parts within the 240 also make it as soulful as Coltrane on a light blues riff.
The red brick engine under the hood has become to the classic Volvo enthusiasts, what the V-twin engine has become to Harley enthusiasts. A symbol of the vehicle’s strength and character. On the road the Volvo 240 has a sound and feel unlike anything else on the road. It’s not fast at all in stock form. Even compacts from the same era offered far more power.
It’s not the smoothest. The cheaper Camry’s and Accord’s of that time were far more refined and quiet. So were Maximas, Intrepids, and almost any other pricey competitor of the time. The interior? Even calling it luxurious in the early 1980’s would have been a stretch. By 1992 the only thing saving it from an early grave were the glacier like changes in American luxury cars, and that the Lexus ES300 was not yet a known commodity.
But the sound and feel of a Volvo 240 in motion has made thousands of folks around the world smile and enjoy their ride. It’s genuine and earnest in all it does… which means you either love it or hate it. This one was merely one of nine available from the past six weeks at the thousand dollar or less ‘TLC’ level. At that range of time and prices, the Tauruses on Craigslist were as common as herpes at an Elliot Spitzer fundraiser.
I got calls, calls and more calls. They ranged from a fellow who had an almost Rain Man like knowledge of these vehicles, to a parent who couldn’t understand how a radio could be removed out of any car. My first question to everyone was, “Do you know how to work on cars?” If they didn’t get the hint or read over my listing, I explained layer upon layer of cosmetic issue until I finally received the polite response, “I’ll keep on looking.”
A missing interior door panel. No radio. A bad A/C compressor. A couple of broken door handles. A passenger side hit with just enough force to make the front passenger door nearly impossible to open. Oh, and no antenna! Eventually I was able to ferret out the cheap and inexperienced and find the hobbyist who would put the 240 to good use.
The fellow who bought the 240 was already driving another 240. It had a bad wiring harness. A frequent issue with pre-1988 Volvos. It would be far easier for him to part out his current ride in favor of this commuter. Door handles and panel? Check. Radio and A/C? Check. Engine and transmission? Two of each in great shape. Before my ‘Raging Bull’ Volvo received it’s battle scars from the teenage son, it had been expertly serviced by a Volvo specialist with OEM parts for nearly 15 years.
Like all true beaters the gold mine of value for this Volvo 240 was all beneath the surface. The sum of all it’s parts will definitely be enough to keep the owner on the road for at least another five years. At which time the old engine and or transmission from the donor car can be put into a classic that is already old enough to drive itself.
The tightwad’s car… is always the car worth keeping.
The “wiring harness” comment hits home — my wife’s 1983 240DL developed a bad habit of trying to engage the starter at 30 mph. We still kept the car for 14 years ( I still have the wife)…
In the past a coworker bought a trashed out Firebird as a cheap temporary car while he finished rebuilding a Mustang. The logic behind buying a RWD pony car as a beater was that someone somewhere would always want to buy it from him. Even if it couldn’t pass inspection, someone would be willing to buy it for drag racing.
I agree completely, Steven. The ultimate tightwad car is one you love enough to make it one (within limits.) The Panther platform is a good example, it’s a good solid platform, in production since the Stone Age (it feels like), a bit long in the tooth, but cheap to fix, both mechanically in accident damage. It has it’s weaknesses depending on the year and mileage but any independent mechanic could fix it while nursing a hangover. And if you want to make the investment of buying a parts car, it won’t be hard to find one! So find cars with ready parts avail, that you’re either willing to work on yourself or know a good independent mechanic, and it’s not hard to keep one on the road for a LONG time.
It’s not rocket science people.
If money is the only object, what you want is a mid-size American sedan of 8-10-year-old vintage with about 100k miles on the clock.
You will pay around $4000. You will squeeze 10 years / 120k miles with proper care, and if you catch problems before they catch you.
This can be pulled off with about $2000 in repairs over that 10 years (not counting routine maintenance like changing fluids, plugs, breaks, tires, etc., that all cars require).
$6000 across 10 years comes out to $50/mo. You’re not going to do better with any Japanese compact (let alone a mid-size) because they sell for too much. And as we all know, American compacts of that vintage are disasters.
But if you don’t mind the Wal-Mart interiors and steer-by-finger handling (which you don’t if you’re a tightwad), this is in my mind by far the most economical way to get around.
Mr. Lang has often mentioned that personal luxury coupes, i.e., Thunderbirds, Cougars and the like, are practically unsalable. At a swap meet I found a ’93 T-Bird LX (base version) priced at $300. It was awfully dirty, the upholstery was worn and the headliner looked like a cat had sharpened its claws on it. The driver’s window wouldn’t go down. But the engine started and ran well, the tires were decent, and the air conditioner was OK. Why so cheap, I asked? The seller said the title had to be resolved and tags bought. That cost $200. Well, when I finally got to drive the car, I found the transmission’s fourth gear–the overdrive ratio–slipped horribly. I chose to drive in third gear (about 2500 rpm at 60) and avoid the $945 tranny repair tab. Expenses to date have been petty stuff, like an oil change and new wiper blade. My hope is that this beater holds up. If not–well, I can take it to the crusher and get back most of my money.
I had forgoten about that one. Just did a quick auto trader search (within a 500 mile radius, I’ll admit I live in the middle of nowhere) and if you’re willing to spend something more like five grand you can get one that’s pretty effing nice and won’t be considered a beater.
My son’s 1997 Tercel. 190k on the odometer and I can’t even begin to think of not having it in the family. Stock, with the exception of an upgraded stereo, the body is straight (paint is faded, but so what), the interior has held up beyond any reasonable expectation (no cracks in the dash, seats/doorpanels in great shape)…and every time I go to start it up, it simply does what it was intended to do, without fuss or issue. I’m thinking of replacing all of the normal wear/tear items, having it repainted and then sending it out to Colorado next spring when he’s allowed by the Air Force Academy to keep a car on campus. But I just hate the thought of seeing it go, even to him…and it’s his car!
The Volvo 240 is a benchmark car in so many ways . . . . Other candidates are early 1980s Toyota Corollas, the already mentioned Ford Panther platform cars, most 1990s Hondas, and others. I’m trying to figure out what is the current equivalent in lightly used cars. I mean cars that can be bought with a few months/miles remaining on the original factory warranty. Where should I be looking? What about buyers who prefer American brands?
Well heck you can still buy a Certified Used Grand Marquis and get a really nice warranty. The Panther is dead, but not DEAD. Otherwise I’m not even going to begin to guess. GM resale values are pretty low for most (sedan) models but I don’t know enough to say which one(s) meet the tightwad standard.
I drove 240s for years. Ranging in price from a few hundred to “Here, just take it.” They ARE easy to fix. But they also need a lot of TLC.
Also, prices of really good 240s are starting to go up. Look on eBay – a well-kept example can fetch upwards of $5k. That’s a lot of money for a 20-year-old sedan!
But you’re right – nothing drives like a good 240.
Several companies advertise leases under $200/mo. Considering the fuel savings, if you’re paying $50/mo to drive that beater, depending on taxes and fees and your ability to negotiate, you’re looking at a difference of around $1500 to $1800 a year.
I guess it would depend on what a lost day of work costs you and your abilities as a mechanic and parts scrounger, but the stress reduction of not having to wonder if my car will get me to my destination is easily worth the difference and we didn’t even factor in the safety of a new car (if you’re an extreme tightwad, that’s the medical bills and reduction in productivity from injuries from an accident)
Isn’t the statistic that the average driver will be involved in a significant accident approximately every 5 years? Is that old jalopy really where you want to be when that happens?
If you buy a new car and hang onto it for seven years, $200/mo adds up to $16,800 in depreciation. That’s a LOT of car. Your depreciation on, say, a new Honda in seven years is going to be around $8000 unless you’re just cramming on the miles (which you can’t do with one of those $200/mo leases anyway).
And if you’re ditching the drive after seven years, the chances of any maintenance costs other than the routine stuff is very low. Or zilch if you buy a car with a 7+ year warranty.
Lease numbers are not designed to come out in favor of the lessee. It’s essentially a loan with a guaranteed trade-in at the end, with a hidden, highly unfavorable APR. Even if you find it necessary to get a new car every three years, we’re talking about shelling out $7200, plus the initial payment. No car leased at $200/mo is going to depreciate anywhere near $7200 in three years, if kept within the mileage limits of that $200/mo lease.
Over 7 years, leasing generally means three cars. It also means no extended warranties, generally no issues, and usually no tires or major maintenance.
You neglected to account for insurance cost. Factor in liability only on the tightwad-mobile vs. comp and collision on the newer car and you have just spent an extra several hundred a year. Then factor in taxes (sales tax, excise tax), and there is no contest.
Yep, a lot of people don’t take into account all the costs of a new car or lease vs. a beater. Insurance, delivery fees, acquisition fees, disposition fee, down payment, taxes, interest, license (often based on car value), replacement tires and repairs (especially on a 3 year lease.)
The reality, is even the cheapest leases run closer to $350 a month than the $199 you see advertised. Most people are paying $4000 to $5000 a year for that “cheap” lease…not including insurance. Compare that to a $500 beater that costs maybe another $500 or so to maintain a year. The savings are HUGE.
It is however, getting harder to find those really good used car deals in this recession.
I can’t imagine a better car than a 240 Wagon with a stick. I drove one of those from Philly to Alaska in 2004 and it was awesome. It WAS really comfortable and quiet, and it handled superbly, and the brakes were outstanding. Heated seats, strong A/C, space for TWO spare tires (both came in handy on my Alaska trip). Supremely easy to work on, Bentley manual available, great enthusiast support online, quality parts cheap and plentiful. And I bought it from original owner with under 120k miles for $1200. Pure awesomeness of this car is hard to get across.
Best part? Resold it later on in Canada for $4000.
I don’t know, a lot of people I know have put big bucks into cars they bought new, and they didn’t have a 7 year warranty. You have to figure your inconvenience into the equation. How many vacation days are you willing to burn to fix the beater? How many times stranded will you accept per year? For a 200/mo lease, you have a new car that is under warranty, and at the end you don’t get soaked at the trade in/craigslist.
Many, many people can barely put gas in their cars, so they will never put up with the life of a beater owner.
But look at me, I have a beater 855 and a lease Mustang GT (for 250/mo, zero down). The 855 is for the snowy months when the GT is suicide.
From my own experience, a FWD Isuzu Impulse. You can have a Storm GSi or another Impulse parts car.
From the ones you mentioned above, I’d take the Neon. I have one friend that has one, and he says the thing is bulletproof. Seeing how he used it for work, I believe him.
A 9C1 Caprice or Impala (1st gen FWD) would be nice too.
I like the shape of the 1st/2nd SHO Taurus, but I doubt it would be as strong in beater form.
Seeing other used cars site… a 304 or 3.8lt Commodore would also be nice.
Neon? No way. They fold like accordians in an accident. Cheap is fine, until it costs you your life.
The 2nd gen Neon rated 4 out of 5 stars on the NHTSA Frontal Crash Test and 3 out of 5 stars on the NHTSA Side Crash Test.
In the more stringent IIHS test it rated “Good” (the highest rating) on Head/Neck and “Good” on Chest, “Poor” on left leg/foot, “Acceptable” on right leg/foot, and “Marginal” overall.
(IIHS ratings are “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Marginal”, and “Poor”, four categories to NHTSA’s 5.)
Even buying a spare car and using it for parts sounds too expensive for my mode of motoring.
I have only ever bought severely cheap cars ($200-$400), performed the minimal maintenance (ie, oil changes) and seen a majority last at least a year. There is the odd exception that blows up after just a few weeks, but there are also those which last more than a year. Once they finally become life expired I park them up and I advertise any intact fittings which will make some money (alloys/tires/headlights/windows/trim), then the rest gets towed away and makers a few more bucks at the breakers yard. I’d say 75% of the cars pay for their initial cost by parting them out, with one evening netting me twice what I paid for it once the engine and transmission had been hoisted out.
Turbo diesel W123, Volvo 240, Panther, any 10+ year old mid-size or full-size GM car or truck.
The beater game is a tough one. I’m tired of playing it.
I think for about 6-7K you can get a car that requires minimal maintenance. Ppl say Japanese compacts are expensive, but you can get an ’05ish Civic/Sentra/Corolla for about 5-8K no problem. Change the timing belt, do some other maintenance, they’ll keep trucking. If you can deal with driving a 130HP econobox for 10+ years, I think any of those cars will easily fit the bill, and will pay for itself in comparison to a newer or older option.
My dad bought a 1993 Saab 9000 several years ago, and paid $4000 for it. Hardly beater money, but not a bad deal, especially considering that he’s put 200,000 miles on it with only minimal maintenance. The ’93 will soon become a parts car for 9000 #2 (a 1997 with just under 100,000 miles and bought for $1600), which is currently sitting in waiting.
As part of the work I do for the website I keep (http://studentwheels.wordpress.com — lots of tightwad talk there!), I do quite a bit of scouting on the uber-cheap used car market.
Old Taurii/Sables are a dime a dozen; Intrepids are also pretty easy to find. The mid-size GM FWD sedans of the ’90s, however, aren’t that common in the sub-$1000 range. Old LeSabres and Eighty Eights are fairly easy to find, however.
Basically, however, I think the aforementioned 9000, the Volvo 240-series, possibly the W123, and the Panther cars are the ones to look for. Oh, and the 1990-93 Honda Accord. I know of multiple examples that have been driven hard well beyond 300,000 miles.
Watch out for those Accords. That is the range of years when the ring gear went on the transmission.
My father kept a fleet of BMW 2002s on the road for years. parting out the old ones into the new. The cars could be bought in excellent condition for under $1000 then. The only thing it cost was hundreds of hours of DIY mechanical work, which I think he secretly enjoyed. And I learned all about how to repair any car without computers, fuel injection, ABS, or a slushbox. I’m barely qualified to change the oil on my current 540i.
But they were great cars.
I’m going to nominate the Jeep Cherokee – any year with a 4.0L will do, although the earlier ones with the Renix fuel injection can be challenging to diagnose – better off with a newer one with the Chrysler corporate FI system/computer. Tons of them in junkyards, parts are cheap, they are easy to repair and fairly robust overall. Of particular note is the indestructable AW4 automatic used throughout the 4.0L Cherokee’s model run. The icing on the cake is that if kept in decent shape they bring good resale value if you decide to move on.
If not the Cherokee, then I’ll go with a Wrangler – also cheap/easy to repair and they are surprisingly inexpensive to insure as well (if you are over 25 with a clean record). With the parts available you can practically build once from scratch, and like the Cherokee they hold their value well if properly cared for.
Bucking the trend here, I’ll go for the Taurus/Sable as a great tightwad car. My station car is almost 19 years old, no rust, changed the plugs and they are the model of a healthy engine. Trans issues from Gen2 on were mostly solved; not the best but no Ultradrive level of failures either. The cars are easy to fix, parts are cheap, insurance is cheap, nobody bothers them, the list goes on. And unlike the “brick”, SHO parts can turn it into a damn good handler. Will it feel cheap, well, of course. But what else would you expect. The Vulcan is just as, if not more durable, than the Volvo engine. So even if you pop for a tranny instead of junking the car, 200K is not a problem. Whatever the Volvo saves in frequency of repair, it is likely to lose ground on the cost of those parts…
Every love-fest needs a dissenting voice. To that end, I will sing the praises of the Taurus/Sable wagons. After years of leasing/buying new vehicles, I found myself divorced and living in Brooklyn. One night, mostly on a whim, I attended an “auction” where I bought a ten-year-old Sable wagon with 125K on the clock for $1200. I have never gotten so much out of a vehicle. It never failed me, had no electrical issues, carried mountains of stuff, managed several long-distance road trips and consistently returned 25 mpg. I replaced the front rotors in a dirt driveway at a total cost of about $75 with pads. We got 20K miles out of it. The end came when I ran over a deer. The car suffered no damage, but the resulting smell was unbearable. By this time the CV joints were on their last legs, so we gave the car to one of the guys in our parking garage.
We replaced it with a newer (1995) Sable wagon that we paid $2K for. Same story: new brake rotors, no mechanical problems of any kind, just faithful service. That was replaced with a newer (2000) Taurus wagon which we got 30K trouble-free miles out of before we traded it on a Cadillac CTS.
To this day, I miss the them. They were good, honest, flexible cars. All had the Vulcan V6 an engine that made up for its lack of excitement with smooth, reliable, non-oil-burning, never-failed-to start operation. The Volvo B18 and B22s are legendary for their reliability, but, in my opinion, the Vulcan is just as trustworthy and it’s fuel injection is reliable as a stone (which can’t be said bout the SU carbs or the Bosch FI that Volvo used).
Yes, the transmissions were a weak link. They seemed tired once 80K miles came around. But none failed on me. The sedan body hold no attraction for me. But the wagon, that’s a different story.
Seems like the common theme is…cars with long production runs are well built. Long production runs also make parts availability better, and expertise in repair easier to find.
By the 80s Volvo had been making that 240 for almost a decade, I should hope they had it down by then! Kept on cranking them out ’til 93. Some of the others mentioned, 93 Saab 9000(85-98), Jeep Cherokee(84-01). The Panthers and B-bodies are an honorable mention as they were updated more dramatically but very much the same basic build since the 70s.
Not every car maker was good at reliability off the bat, but they all could work out the kinks over a long production run. I had a great run with my ’91 Pontiac Sunbird, GM had the J-body down pat by then, only took them 9 years. I drove mine to 230k, and I am willing to bet it cost less to run then a 240. Rotors, drums, axles, ball joints, bearings all cheap and locally available, and all bolt-in no pressing or pulling needed. The rear suspension was a twist beam that never needed anything ever.
If I were looking for a beater, I would cross the 240 right off my list, too much rampant emotion from the 240 lovers, driving up prices. Similar problem with used Hondas.
Some friends of mine have an older Blazer nearing 200,000 miles on it and it runs fine. This vehicle serves their needs, so their is no reason to upgrade.
Count me in as a Taurus guy. They go cheap, so they’re cheap to own. I bought a non-running 96 LX that had been sitting for 18 months for $200. It needed to thaw the exhaust, a new battery, and it was on the road.
Yeah, the front end looks like a catfish, but I don’t have to look at it while I’m driving in leather wrapped cold A/C 200 HP comfort.
My tightwad car is my 94 2.3 5spd Ranger. It has 160k now, I’ve put 80k on it and replaced nothing non-routine except a rear brake cylinder, rear brake hardline, and serpentine belt tensioner. I get 27+ mpg on a regular basis.
If it got hit by a meteor, I’d be looking for another one the next day.
Those meteors are a PITA! Always making loud noises when they enter the atmosphere… And then there are those times when they smash into the planet and possibly disrupt NCIS…
They are amazingly cheap to own. I have one I’m financing for the second time around. It’s a ‘rent to own’ vehicle. Ad valorem tax on it was all of $8.56 .
Maybe it’s just me, but the ultimate tightwad car is an old Type 1 Beetle.
The key to getting a decent looking “beater” is to shop for a less known or unloved car that is reliable. For example, my first beater was a Mazda 626, first generation, RWD with all of about 80hp. That car would have driven forever if I had replaced the collapsed and backed up cat before it lifted the head. As it was, I got 60K out of it with almost no maintenance (too little, it turns out.)
Some other cars that worked out great were slightly up the food chain. I bought a used Mercedes 190 diesel for about half the cost of a new Ford Escort. Guess which one was worth more 5 years later! The only thing I put in that Mercedes was front wheel bearings (surprisingly cheap), an ignition switch bracket and a fuel tank (water in the diesel, at my regular station hosed it.) Sure, the auto climate control stopped working and was insanely expensive to fix, but you could trick it to run on manual. I finely donated the car, still running great, but starting to rust on the rockers, when the ignition switch bracket broke the second time. At that point I had 175,000 miles on it.
Another car that earned it’s keep was a 60’s era Fiat 124 Spider. Sure it had rust, and glitched here and there, but I got 120K off the first engine before it grenaded and 70K off the second one (which I pulled out of a $300 124 sedan) and it was still going strong when I sold it for a couple hundred more than I bought it for.
One of my favorite topics here. However,I will throw a twist on it and say there are many great beater cars that have performance potential. In fact, I find a good number of the cars already mentioned have performance potential. Panthers share parts with mustangs, 240s are great with turbos and IPD parts, Cherokees and wranglers have a great off road aftermarket, and I will throw in older miatas. Dead simple to fix and low cost of consumables due to the size of the car (smaller tires, brake pads, etc). Proteges of certain generations share the same engines and turbo kits are available. Any other suggestions?
I vote for a VW TDI, preferably an A4 body style (1999.5-2004) with the ALH engine. That generation still looks awesome, especially compared to the more recent Jorolla body style.
What makes them great is that the ALH engine is fairly simple overall, and any problems can be diagnosed with a laptop and a $200 program that can be bought online (VCDS). There is a ton of knowledge about them on tdiclub.com, and access to reasonably priced OEM parts from online vendors means that most parts can be purchased without going to a dealer.
As long as you change the oil every 10000 miles with decent full synthetic oil and keep up on timing belt changes and other regular maintenance, you’ll likely get about 300000 miles before a rebuild becomes necessary.
My car is now 7 years old with about 118000 miles (and still on original front pads and rotors). I fill it up once a month and I typically get 40-47 MPG depending on if I’m doing city or highway driving.
My wife’s 2000 Jetta has approximately ~151000 miles and returns slightly lower economy because she’s special and has to have an automagic. I plan to keep both for 15 years because they’re paid for and easy to work on. And also because I really do not want another car payment.
So much Taurus love!!! Wife and I had an ’87 Sable LS wagon bought new (era of have a kid, buy a station wagon). Pro: good size, roomy, comfortable, cheap to buy. Con: head gasket, 3 transmissions, A/C compressor, heater core, alternator and assorted other parts over 7 years and 70,000 miles. The best part?????……Ford’s 6 year 60,000 mile warranty. In that era, the only way to buy a new Ford model.