Originally posted by 95Sleeper:
I would say all cars are disposable, with a few exceptions. Anything that hits the junkyard someday is disposable. Classic cars are not, cars like Porsches are not. What percentage of non-wrecked Porsches go to the yard? It's a very low number. You fix it, because it's such an anazing piece of machinery. The contour is a relatively normal car. There comes a point when it is not worth fixing. I would say it's 200k or so, like most cars. Certain cars, when treated nicely (Subaru?) have better potential than others (Ford) to go well beyond 200k with not a huge amount of maintenence. However, it is not a certain thing, and depends on a lot of factors. You seem to have gotten a little on the unlucky side, but not too bad. I replaced the engine twice. I did the math once: I put on about 10k/yr. If I bought a brand new $20k car, and drove it for 10 years, 100k miles, before any serious repairs (powertrain), that would be about average. Most $20k cars are worth less than $5k at 100k miles and 10 years. I took the cost of maintenence from 100k to 200k and it is way less than $15k. Sure, you don't get the pleasure of a nice new car, but the costs are way, way less- $5k or less if you're lucky. That's a used engine, tranny, clutch, bearings, struts, and the labor. If you can do some work yourself, you save even more. I was a little peeved at getting a $1.2k engine replacement that lasted 1 year, 10k miles. well, per mile, the cost wasn't terrible. And that included a clutch that will last me until the car dies, and some other little parts. Really, not a bad deal. Now, my car doesn't drive like new. It is a little softer, a lot noisier, a whole lot dirtier, and more work to keep up on regular maintanence. But that's alright, because I've put $3k into this car over the last 3 years, discounting brakes, gas, oil changes, and all the other stuff that would still cost on a new car, as well as my wheels and audio. $1000 a year is less than my insurance! I have no reason to complain, that I can see, even though I'm getting my control arm bushing (thank you NAPA!) and tranny mount replaced this weekend. Wow, that was long. I'm going home.




Good points. Obviously my expectations were unrealistic.

One thing though, from a money perspective I find it easier on the (somewhat strained- 2 kids...) checkbook to make a scheduled monthly payment (still repair possibilities I realize) than Hey surprise, here's $1100 (like I had to do yesterday- can you say credit card?)

Thanks for your input.

MUST SELL - ECM computer new for a 98 V6 mtx + pats Now trolling in a Red Nissan 4 x 4