14 ms·

I have done exactly that many times, but if you look at car forums with older high quality cars like 80s Mercedes and Volvos, it's not rare at all, what I am ta

by _yb2s 3y ago

I have done exactly that many times, but if you look at car forums with older high quality cars like 80s Mercedes and Volvos, it's not rare at all, what I am talking about is the norm. Think about what you said- when the hefty maintenance stuff starts coming in, if someone doesn't scrap or sell the thing and just pays for all of that, you usually have about as many miles again before it starts to happen again, yet the value is through the floor. I've bought a few cheap 200k mile vehicles that had really extensive service records, usually bought new by wealthy people and maintained with no expense spared, that I put another 100-200k miles on before they needed any major work again. If you're really thrifty, a small 80s European diesel sedan with a stickshift, like the Mercedes 190D or VW Rabbit, has fuel efficiency close to a modern hybrid, at really low cost. Not so great emissions though.

bluGill 3y ago
Late 80s were getting near the peak of fuel economy. They had computers and fuel injection which was the last low hanging fruit. They didn't have to deal with modern emissions which often makes economy worse (they did have 1970s emissions, but many of the downfalls of those systems were sorted out). Modern engines are more fuel efficient, but modern cars are often a lot heaver and so the gains have mostly been taken away in that.
kipchak 3y ago
These sorts of cars ware great but are really the needles in the haystack, and you need to have a pretty good idea what to look for, find them before someone else and live somewhere where rust/road salt hasn't killed them which is not typical for most poor people and teenagers. Possible but not typical I think. For example there's one Craigslist 190D on the east coast at $6800, I would guess a increasing amount of sorted cars wind up on BAT or similar.
- _yb2s 3y ago
  Ironically, on the west coast the more long lived older cars are crazy cheap because there just isn’t enough demand to meet the supply. They still work but not many people want to drive a vehicle that old, especially if it has major cosmetic issues. There is also a fear of them being unreliable, even if it’s untrue.

by _yb2s 3y ago

bluGill 3y ago

Late 80s were getting near the peak of fuel economy. They had computers and fuel injection which was the last low hanging fruit. They didn't have to deal with modern emissions which often makes economy worse (they did have 1970s emissions, but many of the downfalls of those systems were sorted out). Modern engines are more fuel efficient, but modern cars are often a lot heaver and so the gains have mostly been taken away in that.

kipchak 3y ago

These sorts of cars ware great but are really the needles in the haystack, and you need to have a pretty good idea what to look for, find them before someone else and live somewhere where rust/road salt hasn't killed them which is not typical for most poor people and teenagers. Possible but not typical I think. For example there's one Craigslist 190D on the east coast at $6800, I would guess a increasing amount of sorted cars wind up on BAT or similar.

_yb2s 3y ago
Ironically, on the west coast the more long lived older cars are crazy cheap because there just isn’t enough demand to meet the supply. They still work but not many people want to drive a vehicle that old, especially if it has major cosmetic issues. There is also a fear of them being unreliable, even if it’s untrue.