Author Topic: Vehicle Statistics  (Read 7896 times)

coffee_sipper

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Vehicle Statistics
« on: November 12, 2013, 04:31:00 PM »
Just curious about the current age and value of the vehicles owned by fellow Mustachians.

We are a one car family, using a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt for daily driving and trips to see family out of state (active duty military, live about 7 hours away from home). The car, in its current condition is worth bout $6600 private party and we've owned it now for about three years. Hoping for another four more years or so, then we will likely get rid of it when we move from this current assignment.

Do you all tend to buy vehicles for 5K and run them to the ground or buy a vehicle at a certain percentage of your income, selling it before it depreciates too much or fails completely? I read the Car Clown post and it made me think of how others currently are doing when it comes to how much vehicle they own and how much they choose to spend. So, what about each of you?

iamlindoro

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2013, 04:32:41 PM »
Driving a 2005, worth maybe 3K on a good day.  Low mileage, all things considered, at 89K.

Russ

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2013, 04:47:01 PM »
Not exactly what you're asking, but if I buy a car I'm looking at spending $3000 or less

schimt

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2013, 04:49:00 PM »
Picked up a 99' corolla with 30,000 miles on it recently from a friends grandmother for $2600. Needed a battery and a head liner which I did myself and it's good to go. Unfortunately it's automatic, but can complain for what I got!

GoStumpy

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2013, 05:01:43 PM »
We're still looking for the *car* of the family.

I drive: 1990 GMC Sierra reg-cab long box.  Paid for, worth ~$2000, but has a new crate motor & freshly rebuild transmission.. cost to maintain = $0, and $57/mo insurance

She drives: 2002 Nissan XTerra.  Owe ~$7000, 3-year loan with a monthly payment of ~$240.  $115/mo insurance in my name, don't want to think about how much it'd cost in her name (0% discount whereas I have 43%)

I'm looking to save up enough that I would be able to sell my Sierra and have ~$4000 cash to buy a more fuel-efficient family vehicle.  So at the moment, we are a 2 truck family, and she commutes ~10 miles each way to work.  Getting 15mpg.   Ouch.


But in the rationalization side, her truck does EVERYTHING else we could ask, it was not meant to be a commuter vehicle, it tows our campers well, does 4x4ing very well (which we love to explore the backcountry), is reliable & fun to drive...

If I end up commuting, I'll probably get a ~2000 Focus Wagon.  Otherwise she'll get a commuter car and I'll drive the XTerra.

But until then, my Sierra is a dirt cheap form of transportation, only cost is gas, really...

Nicster

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2013, 05:59:17 PM »
I drive a 2002 Rav4 with 185k miles. I bought it in 2005 for about 10k, with 25000 miles. I think. Don't know what it's worth now and it doesn't matter because I will keep it until it dies.  I have batter things to do with my money :)

gooki

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2013, 06:16:07 PM »
1998 Nissan Wingroad (owned for 5 years). Paid $4500, worth about $2500. Will keep driving it until it needs major repairs.

It's worked out so well, that I doubt I'll pay over $5k for a car again.

chasesfish

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2013, 06:20:28 PM »
I feeling better about my gas guzzling ways:

'07 honda truck with 129k on it, '02 wrangler with 90k

pachnik

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2013, 08:40:25 PM »
I have a 2009 Honda Civic sedan which I bought new before I got here.  It is worth about $12,000 (Cdn).  I intend to hang onto it for 10 or 15 years. 

Mrs.FamilyFinances

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2013, 09:15:03 PM »
We have a 04 Toyota Tundra, a 2005 Honda CRV and a 2004 Yamaha R6. All vehicles are white (not sure how that came to be, we don't give a r/a about color) and PAID for! The truck doesn't get much use these days, unless we have a large Lowe's purchase( we are DIYers big time!) and I drive my CRV for my mom duties and hubby takes the motorcycle to work. That little gem gets 44 MGP! He's also a mechanic, so our cars will last us longer than average. If I did have to replace my CRV for some reason, I'd likely get a Honda Fit!
« Last Edit: November 12, 2013, 09:16:50 PM by Mrs.Foutch »

pdxvandal

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2013, 09:34:04 PM »
Downsized to one car 14 months ago in a metro area of 2 million people .... we have 2000 Volvo 850 sedan. Don't love the gas mileage, but it's been generally reliable. Wife and I put about 8k on it last year. Bought for $4,500 years ago and probably worth $2,800. Whatever. The most expensive car I ever bought was in 1997 ... a lightly used Honda Civic for 9k.

I love having one car (wife disagrees). I feel like we've saved a good chunk of change and the recent $800 repair was much more palatable than when we had two vehicles to worry about.

If we lived in a rural area, we'd most likely have two vehicles.


ketchup

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2013, 06:21:14 AM »
Current car: 1996 Volvo 850 wagon.  Bought with 155k miles this July for $2000.  160k on it now, and probably worth slightly more than when I bought it, due to maintenance and minor repairs I've done.

Previous car: 1988 Chevy Sprint.  Bought in April of 2012 for $1000 with 46.5k.  Crashed this May with 69k. :(

I consider my Volvo to ridiculously luxurious.  Fired up the butt-warmers for the first time yesterday, and the fancypants dual-zone HVAC meant my girlfriend could blast the heat without me having to.  I feel like most people don't consider a $2k car anywhere near luxurious, but I'm pretty sure this car was over $30k new back in the day.  Not wonderful gas mileage though, 38MPG highway absolute best case scenario, usual highway driving around 34MPG, city more like 25MPG.  My Sprint got me 46MPG on a bad day, 53MPG on an average day, and 57MPG on a wonderful day.

I think $3000 is around my reasonable limit for a vehicle, although I try to spend less.  Too many people think "Oh, my budget is 10k, so I should spend 10k and ignore a wonderful deal that happens to be 7k."

FunkyStickman

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #12 on: November 13, 2013, 10:46:54 AM »
Previous vehicles:
'96 Saturn SL, sold it running with 205K miles on it. Wish I still had it. Got 40 MPG
'98 Nissan Quest van, gave it away with 150K miles, but it needed struts and a new A/C compressor and a bunch of other things. Got 22MPG

Current:
'06 Saturn ion  - paid for, has 85K Gets 25MPG on a good week. But it's boosted...
'08 Grand Caravan, has... heck, I don't know... 75K miles? Paid for it cash. Gets between 18 and 24 MPG.

I have 4 kids, so I either need a van or a large wagon. Couldn't find any decent used wagons at the time, so I ended up with a van.

exranger06

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #13 on: November 13, 2013, 11:36:28 AM »
2006 Ford Ranger bought used back in 2007 with only 12k miles on it. It now has 48k miles. Paid about $18k for it in cash.

1992 Honda Accord - Used to be my parent's car. They bought it used back in 1995 when it had about 20k miles on it. It got passed around the family a bit and I eventually bought it from my mom for $1500 a few years ago.

1994 Ford Bronco - Just bought from my fiancee's parents a couple of weeks ago for $1500. This is a project vehicle. I am going to fix it up for fun, and have a cool weekend cruiser.

My fiancee has a 2012 Nissan Rogue. It's a lease. Ugh, I know don't even get me started. I  tried to talk her out of it right from the beginning. The good news is, I convinced her to buy it out at the end of the lease, pay it off as quick as possible, keep it a long time, and hopefully never have a car payment ever again.

As far as my buying practices, I don't buy new. My truck was essentially brand new when I bought it (1 year old and 12k miles is a negligible amount of wear. It will easily last just as long or longer than an brand new truck) except I paid about $8k less than a brand new one.
I'm not afraid of buying an older car either, as evidenced by my other 2 vehicles. I do all repairs and maintenance myself and can get parts super cheap. It helps to have another vehicle around in case one does need repairs though.

I plan on keeping my cars a long time, until they're ready for the junkyard. Not having payments is awesome, not having to go through the research and shopping for a new car is a great relief. Once you get a good reliable car, hang onto it as long as possible. You never know if the next car you buy is going to be a lemon.

Jamesqf

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2013, 11:41:34 AM »
Do you all tend to buy vehicles for 5K and run them to the ground...

I've only ever once spent as much as $5K on a car.  That was the current 2000 Honda Insight hybrid.  The purchase was at least as much "tech toy" as it was a car, though interestingly it has probably saved nearly its purchase price in gasoline not burned.  71.2 mpg for 120K miles, at $3/gal is a bit over $5K.  Any car that I could have bought for $2-3K at the time would have burned at least twice as much.  (And then there was the close to $7K insurance payment from getting rear-ended.)

Other vehicle is an '88 Toyota pickup, bought for $2800 (much more typical purchase price).  But I sold the '84 pickup that I couldn't get to pass smog for $1100, so a net cost of $1700.

more4less

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2013, 02:37:41 PM »
1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS with 170k miles on it. Bought it for $2600 5 years ago with 85k miles.
I hope my next car will be used electric car.

worms

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2013, 02:49:57 PM »
2003 Volvo V40, bought 2010 for £5k with 33,000 miles, now showing 130,000 miles.

acroy

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2013, 02:56:37 PM »
our Mustache car is an '02 Proteteg5 wagon. 140k miles, 28mpg in mixed driving, one wheel bearing in maintenance. Been phenomenal. Worth maybe $4k on a good day.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2013, 03:30:26 PM »
Picked up a 99' corolla with 30,000 miles on it recently from a friends grandmother for $2600. Needed a battery and a head liner which I did myself and it's good to go. Unfortunately it's automatic, but can complain for what I got!
What the... That's an amazing deal. I should start hanging out with old folks more.

BlueMR2

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2013, 03:56:44 PM »
'91 Toyota MR2, bought back in '96 for $10,500.  Nearing 267,000 miles now.  I've been told a couple times when I got replacement parts recently that I got the last part in stock in the country (brakes one time, ignition coil the next)...  Odd, while this is a very limited production car, all the '90's Celicas used the same brakes & ignition system...  I've replaced sheet metal specific to the car and that's been easy to get.  One of these days I imagine it'll need something and there will be none left to be had though.

'95 Mitsubishi Eclipse, bought in '02 for $15,500.  Sitting around 130k miles or so.  Can't remember anymore.  Haven't seen it in weeks.  It's stuck on the lift at the shop with a failed wheel bearing.  So far they've been unable to locate any replacement wheel bearing cups for it, and the used ones they've located have been trashed worse than mine.  Might be the end of the road for it.  Possibly will have to throw it back together, limp it home, and then start parting it out.  While they made this model through '99, it appears that having a limited slip rear end is the sticky part.  Those seem to have been very rare.  I guess parting it out isn't the only option, I could try finding a decent used open diff rear end and swapping it in since everything else on the car is *very* readily available...

'94 Suzuki Katana 600 (motorcycle).  Bought a few weeks ago for $1.  Put about $300 into it, and have been riding it around already.  Needs a front tire real soon, and brakes eventually, but even after that I'll still be in for only 10% of what a brand new 300cc bike costs.  Factory support is excellent.  I place an order online through a local dealer and the part is there 2 days later without fail.  Parts book still lists parts for bikes going back a decade before that!

Looking like motorcycles might be the best way to go for a very long term vehicle.  If you must have a car, stick with Toyota or Honda (general case), or get an American muscle car (not terribly mustachian, but those old V8 cars always have parts available) as those have excellent long term support.  American "regular" cars seem to have quite poor long term support, as does Mitsubishi (from what I'm told while trying to find the part I need, but I've gotten other parts fine)...  Current value of all my vehicles is basically the $500 scrap value now.  :-)
« Last Edit: November 13, 2013, 03:58:58 PM by BlueMR2 »

clutchy

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Re: Vehicle Statistics
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2013, 04:04:19 PM »
2 cars

2012 honda odyssey  15k
1999 nissan maxima  215k

when the nissan dies I'm getting an EV.