The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: johnny847 on September 02, 2014, 08:22:00 PM
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My parents gave me a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 92900 miles on it recently. It came up in a conversation with them the other day, and they were saying that I should sell it when I earn my PhD in about 4 years....
A Corolla with only 93000 miles (have driven a bit since I got it) is probably only about halfway through its life! I'm running this car into the ground. Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
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My parents gave me a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 92900 miles on it recently. It came up in a conversation with them the other day, and they were saying that I should sell it when I earn my PhD in about 4 years....
A Corolla with only 93000 miles (have driven a bit since I got it) is probably only about halfway through its life! I'm running this car into the ground. Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Maybe they are Mustachian and meant that a PhD student doesn't need a car! {-0
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My Toyota truck has over 500K on it......I new motor installed costs $2500.
Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
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My Toyota truck has over 500K on it......I new motor installed costs $2500.
Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
Dang, That is how much my car cost 6 years ago. She is still scooting along!
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My Toyota truck has over 500K on it......I new motor installed costs $2500.
Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
Dang, That is how much my car cost 6 years ago. She is still scooting along!
Exactly Ive had this truck 23 years
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My mom said something similar this weekend. I have a 2005 Camry with 132,000 miles on it and she told me to start looking for a car next year. Next year? I plan on driving this for at least 5 more years. The look on her face was pure shock.
I should add that my parents will get new cars every 7 years or so and don't know much of maintenance besides oil changes and doing other changes when the mechanic tells them to.
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I bought a brand new VW Jetta in 1996. Not very mustachian, I know. But on the flip side, I'm still driving the same car today 211k miles later. My parents, sister, and friends have all gone through multiple cars each in that time. For the last decade I've been on the receiving end of more and more explicit jokes about my Jetta. Not once have I wanted to buy a new one - why would I, when this one still works?
Though for reference, when I do buy a new car I will probably not buy another VW. It's fun to drive and easy to find one with a manual transmission, but I've had more than my share of mechanical issues - especially with the electrical and exhaust systems.
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Though for reference, when I do buy a new car I will probably not buy another VW. It's fun to drive and easy to find one with a manual transmission, but I've had more than my share of mechanical issues - especially with the electrical and exhaust systems.
Good advice for anyone to follow. VW's are notorious for electrical problems. I like them from an aesthetic and "driving feel" standpoint, but could never bring myself to own one newer than about 1991 (electrical was crap by then too, but easy to fix).
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My wife's golf seems to have sensor bullshit once a year now. Around 100k miles, value less than $4k I think. I'd like to drive it into the ground, but worry repairs will start to pile up. I did buy a fail code reader so will attempt diy next time..
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My wife's golf seems to have sensor bullshit once a year now. Around 100k miles, value less than $4k I think. I'd like to drive it into the ground, but worry repairs will start to pile up. I did buy a fail code reader so will attempt diy next time..
Funny, I was just checking Craigslist for early 2000s Golf TDIs. They're more than $4,000... I really want a first generation Insight, though.
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My Toyota truck has over 500K on it......I new motor installed costs $2500.
Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
Dang, That is how much my car cost 6 years ago. She is still scooting along!
Exactly Ive had this truck 23 years
23 years...that's awesome!
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My parents gave me a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 92900 miles on it recently. It came up in a conversation with them the other day, and they were saying that I should sell it when I earn my PhD in about 4 years....
A Corolla with only 93000 miles (have driven a bit since I got it) is probably only about halfway through its life! I'm running this car into the ground. Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Maybe they are Mustachian and meant that a PhD student doesn't need a car! {-0
Nah. To their credit they are generally pretty frugal. A huge "exception" (well, depends on your viewpoint) is they paid for my expensive private 4 year college education. But they let me graduate debt free, so I'm eternally grateful for that.
Also, they gave me the car! I don't think they would've done that if they thought a PhD student doesn't need one.
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Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
Hehe I hope so. Currently I use my car to buy groceries from an ethnic grocery store that is like 13 miles away. I'm hoping to be able to bike to it, once I get in better shape and buy a bike trailer, so that'll cut down a lot on car mileage.
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Offer to sell it back to your parents, if the car is in your name.
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Offer to sell it back to your parents, if the car is in your name.
The car is not in my name. And they don't want it, they have cars of their own that they like.
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My Toyota truck has over 500K on it......I new motor installed costs $2500.
Your car will last you the rest of your life if you take car of it.
Dang, That is how much my car cost 6 years ago. She is still scooting along!
Exactly Ive had this truck 23 years
23 years...that's awesome!
Obviously worth it. Congrats!
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You can easily get 200K miles out of a Corolla before it starts needing major repairs if you take care of it. Once you get that first $1500 repair bill, then you can reevaluate whether you want to keep it or sell.
The transmission is the one wild card. An automatic could fail anywhere from 140k-200+k.
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You can easily get 200K miles out of a Corolla before it starts needing major repairs if you take care of it. Once you get that first $1500 repair bill, then you can reevaluate whether you want to keep it or sell.
The transmission is the one wild card. An automatic could fail anywhere from 140k-200+k.
Good to hear.
I do have an automatic transmission.
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My parents gave me a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 92900 miles on it recently. It came up in a conversation with them the other day, and they were saying that I should sell it when I earn my PhD in about 4 years....
A Corolla with only 93000 miles (have driven a bit since I got it) is probably only about halfway through its life! I'm running this car into the ground. Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Maybe they are Mustachian and meant that a PhD student doesn't need a car! {-0
Nah. To their credit they are generally pretty frugal. A huge "exception" (well, depends on your viewpoint) is they paid for my expensive private 4 year college education. But they let me graduate debt free, so I'm eternally grateful for that.
Also, they gave me the car! I don't think they would've done that if they thought a PhD student doesn't need one.
Your parents sound very similar to mine. They are incredibly good with money and retired early but my dad had a fit when I was about to graduate college and pressured me to buy a new car. I caved and it remains the biggest financial regret of my 20's and the reason I have vowed to never again buy a brand new car.
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My parents gave me a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 92900 miles on it recently. It came up in a conversation with them the other day, and they were saying that I should sell it when I earn my PhD in about 4 years....
A Corolla with only 93000 miles (have driven a bit since I got it) is probably only about halfway through its life! I'm running this car into the ground. Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Maybe they are Mustachian and meant that a PhD student doesn't need a car! {-0
Nah. To their credit they are generally pretty frugal. A huge "exception" (well, depends on your viewpoint) is they paid for my expensive private 4 year college education. But they let me graduate debt free, so I'm eternally grateful for that.
Also, they gave me the car! I don't think they would've done that if they thought a PhD student doesn't need one.
Your parents sound very similar to mine. They are incredibly good with money and retired early but my dad had a fit when I was about to graduate college and pressured me to buy a new car. I caved and it remains the biggest financial regret of my 20's and the reason I have vowed to never again buy a brand new car.
Haha I think part of it is the you just accomplished something big, you deserve something nice! mentality that easily arises in parents' minds.
Incidentally, I just challenged myself to log more miles on my bicycle than my car for the year http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/log-more-bicycle-than-car-miles-for-the-year/ (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/log-more-bicycle-than-car-miles-for-the-year/). Not so sure that I can make it, but I'll try.
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After I got my Ph.D. I had my car shipped across the country because it was included in my moving stipend. It was a 2000 Hyundai Accent with about 175,000 miles. My step-mom asked why I had it shipped and I said because it still works and I didn't have to pay to have it shipped. I told her that my plan was to save for 6 months and buy a house and then buy a new car in 1 year. She laughed at me and said that my car would not last another year. It lasted 2.5 years. Then I bought a Pontiac Vibe for $2500 with 165,000 miles and am planning on driving it for 10 years to 250,000 miles. I hope to buy another house in 1 year. My step-mom is not very good at keeping money. Her strength is spending it and shares her superpower with anyone who is willing to listen.
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Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Note that even if that happens, it may still be worth fixing if the big repair bill happens below 200k or so. Think of it as buying more miles. After all, if you junk it you'll have to (if you don't go car-free) pay sales tax on another car, as well as pay for any "inherited" issues from the previous owner.
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Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Note that even if that happens, it may still be worth fixing if the big repair bill happens below 200k or so. Think of it as buying more miles. After all, if you junk it you'll have to (if you don't go car-free) pay sales tax on another car, as well as pay for any "inherited" issues from the previous owner.
That's what we ended up doing. Late last year, in fact. I nearly pulled the plug and thought about buying a newer (but still secondhand) Corolla than ours, but figured I'd give it another year to see if any more $$$ repairs crop up. So far so good for our 13 year old, 160,000km Corolla. The only thing that might tip the balance is car safety. Our car has one airbag. Car safety is one of those highly unlikely, major consequence things in risk management.
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Or at least until I'm hit with a repair that I can't DIY and seems to be more expensive to fix than to just junk it.
Note that even if that happens, it may still be worth fixing if the big repair bill happens below 200k or so. Think of it as buying more miles. After all, if you junk it you'll have to (if you don't go car-free) pay sales tax on another car, as well as pay for any "inherited" issues from the previous owner.
That's what we ended up doing. Late last year, in fact. I nearly pulled the plug and thought about buying a newer (but still secondhand) Corolla than ours, but figured I'd give it another year to see if any more $$$ repairs crop up. So far so good for our 13 year old, 160,000km Corolla. The only thing that might tip the balance is car safety. Our car has one airbag. Car safety is one of those highly unlikely, major consequence things in risk management.
Yup. I've been there...the tiny low maintenance high mpg uber-cheap Toyota / Honda subcompact. It worked well for me when I was single, and even into when I was married. However, at a certain point, I realized that my wife and kids meant more to me than keeping fuel and maintenance costs to a minimum, so the econobox had to go. Now my minimum standard is something with side airbags and ESC. Getting those along with Toyota / Honda reliability is more expensive, but for me, it was worth it. It's something everyone's got to figure out for themselves.