10th Apr 2009, 12:27
I agree 100%. When I returned to the university in 1995 to finish my degree I wanted an old "beater" because I had to park in a very high-crime area. I paid $300 for a 1979 Ford Pinto with 180,000 miles on it. It ran flawlessly for 4 years, then I sold it for TWICE what I paid for it. I also bought my best friend's 1990 Dodge Omni to help him out financially. At the time it had 186,000 miles on it. I drove it to 240,000 miles and sold it for exactly what I bought it for. It had had only 2 brake jobs, 2 timing belts and 1 hose in its entire life (I knew the car's history because it was best friend's car and as a mechanic I serviced it).
You can't go wrong buying an old DOMESTIC car. My experiences with used imports has been pretty awful. I'd never recommend a used import that was out of warranty. They are way too expensive to repair and they tend to have many more problems after 100,000 miles.
10th Apr 2009, 12:37
You ARE helping the economy by buying ANYTHING. Even though I'd never dream of stabbing my country in the back by buying a NEW import, I heartily ENCOURAGE people (who don't mind paying way too much) to buy USED imports from DOMESTIC dealers. When I recently bought my Fusion the local Ford dealer had a lot half full of Camrys that had been traded in on Fusions, as well as two Accords and a Tacoma Pre-runner SR-5. Buying one of those would be a boost to a local business, even if it was a less-than-ideal vehicle at a ridiculous price.
10th Apr 2009, 10:58
I think we're probably on a similar wavelength, but approaching it differently, which is fine. Both of my vehicles are the absolute bottom of the barrel, no-frills econo models. My truck has crank windows, manual locks, a manual transmission, cloth seats, and so on. I bought the truck for its engine, with this particular engine rated as one of the best engines in the market. The truck was only around $9,500 new off the lot back in 1995. My Wife's car is much the same.
We make pretty good money and truthfully could be buying BMW's and Mercedes. But I don't care and would rather have the cheapest, most reliable vehicle that will do its job for 15-20 years before I buy another one. People in the US seem very concerned about their outward appearance and spend lots of money on cars to do so. There's nothing wrong with that, but at the end of the day it comes down to how long you want to work and what kind of retirement you want. As-is, we save almost 55% of our incomes and even though we're only in our late 20's, early 30's could probably buy a house with cash and have enough in retirement to be pretty well set by the time we're 60.
But had we done like a lot of people and insisted on buying the nicest car that our income could strain to afford every 5 years, we would probably be in debt right now, which in my opinion is the option most people take.
I can also see the benefit to your route because due to their positive reputation, Toyotas demand much higher prices than the same vintage Ford. In fact, I have a friend who buys a 2-3 year old Taurus every 4-5 years. It usually makes it to a little under 100k before some horrible mechanical mishap occurs at which point he sells it and gets another.The cars are almost disposable. Since the cars are dirt-cheap, he still saves more money than buying a new Camry or Accord every 10 years. So if you just want something cheap, domestic brands do offer value at some level.