4 ms·

For years I had the worst car in the parking lot. Probably close to the highest salary too. I was amazed at the cost of the cars for even low level cars. I was

For years I had the worst car in the parking lot. Probably close to the highest salary too. I was amazed at the cost of the cars for even low level cars. I was also amazed at how people noticed when someone had a flashy car. I only got rid of my car when it was no longer safe to drive. Caveat: some large towns, you need a more reliable car. I get that. But I just can’t see paying over $30k for a vehicle, and for very local commutes, that $2000 car was fine.

tim-tday 9mo ago
There’s a huge range of quality and reliability between $2k and $30k.
- WarOnPrivacy 9mo ago
  > There’s a huge range of quality and reliability between $2k and $30k. True. I hear so many stories about car problems and having to fight with the dealer that all the stories run together. Last week I helped a client download the court docs from 2yrs of suing the MB dealership (so Gemini could parse them). Our last purchase was a 31k mi 1992 Buick w/ an Iron Duke for $1300. I loaded it w/ son #2s bedroom and drove it 1k mi to his new place. I spent a week visiting family in different states. Caveat that I did spent $80 + 20min to swap the alt (sticky brushes). The Buick replaced the 96 Toyota (bought @ 42k for $500 +$1k bc it sat for 10y). The Toyota runs great and never let me down (6yrs) but I wanted more leg room. In case I'm not completely unbearable, son #2's daily driver is a 63 Dart he pulled out of the weeds. He welded in tags to get a floor and just recovered the seats and door panels using a stack of my old blue jeans. He's drives it to RI (1.5k mi) every year or so.
- zippyman55 9mo ago
  I did caveat the location and the required reliability. Highway miles in a place Seattle would probably require a better car. Other places, like Santa Cruz or Monterey, CA can have a pretty dumpy car. I guess, if you have two cars, you may not need two $30K cars. But, I did put on 348K miles on my Madza B2000 truck and I think that cost me $5600 when I purchased it. But, it did get to a point of not being safe to drive.
  - seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
    Why would Seattle require a better car? Rain? You’ll see a lot of junkers out here without license plates on the freeway, the lack of weather beyond rain means you can get by with a Datsun 210 (I did in the early 90s) unless you like skiing.

tim-tday 9mo ago

There’s a huge range of quality and reliability between $2k and $30k.

WarOnPrivacy 9mo ago
> There’s a huge range of quality and reliability between $2k and $30k. True. I hear so many stories about car problems and having to fight with the dealer that all the stories run together. Last week I helped a client download the court docs from 2yrs of suing the MB dealership (so Gemini could parse them). Our last purchase was a 31k mi 1992 Buick w/ an Iron Duke for $1300. I loaded it w/ son #2s bedroom and drove it 1k mi to his new place. I spent a week visiting family in different states. Caveat that I did spent $80 + 20min to swap the alt (sticky brushes). The Buick replaced the 96 Toyota (bought @ 42k for $500 +$1k bc it sat for 10y). The Toyota runs great and never let me down (6yrs) but I wanted more leg room. In case I'm not completely unbearable, son #2's daily driver is a 63 Dart he pulled out of the weeds. He welded in tags to get a floor and just recovered the seats and door panels using a stack of my old blue jeans. He's drives it to RI (1.5k mi) every year or so.
zippyman55 9mo ago
I did caveat the location and the required reliability. Highway miles in a place Seattle would probably require a better car. Other places, like Santa Cruz or Monterey, CA can have a pretty dumpy car. I guess, if you have two cars, you may not need two $30K cars. But, I did put on 348K miles on my Madza B2000 truck and I think that cost me $5600 when I purchased it. But, it did get to a point of not being safe to drive.
- seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
  Why would Seattle require a better car? Rain? You’ll see a lot of junkers out here without license plates on the freeway, the lack of weather beyond rain means you can get by with a Datsun 210 (I did in the early 90s) unless you like skiing.