As someone who is a true professional in spending money on cars in 'useless' ways, I commend your weekly update! :)
I've spent $34k on a Lexus IS300 in order to sell it for just a tad over $15k on an online auction last year, and I'm currently pouring money at a meteoric rate into my Lexus SC400 in order to build something that Toyota should have but didn't. So, I'll show them....yeah, joke is always on me!
Speaking directly about myself, you really have to be a special kind of stupid...errrr...special...errr...yeah, stupid to spend as much money as I have to make my 1992 Lexus SC400 the mechanical equivalent of a 1989 Chevrolet Corvette. But...here we are. :)
I only know how to walk because others ran before me. But, I sure appreciate your kind words.
But, to make more fun of myself...if you've ever heard the old saying "a fool and his money are soon parted", it's me...I'm the fool when it comes to modifying my old Toyotas! :)
My loser dream is to squish together a 2nd-gen Dodge Stratus R/T, Chrysler Sebring Convertible, and the 6G75 3.8L V6 to have myself a Dodge Stratus R/T 5-speed convertible with maximum N/A power. Dodge never really leaned into these cars (nor did Mitsubishi) and they really lost the following they had during the earlier Eagle Talon / Mitsubishi Eclipse model years. Chalk it up to the dissolution of Diamond Star Motors prior to the model's launch, I guess.
We could have had a Stratus SRT convertible, and I intend to make it happen one day.
Here is one for this particular crowd: what car would you recommend as a 4WD "ski beater" for one's "yeah, I made the life right decisions and live next to a ski hill" friends? GMT800, sure, but: GMT900? WK JGC? others?
this screams GMT800 Suburban/Yukon to me. Mine on studded snow tires and G80 spin-locker never needed the 4WD engaged even up steep snowed in/icy hills, it was insane.
"Gov-lock", code "G80" in GM build sheet speak. A really neat variation on the locking differential. My understanding is that it uses centripital force generated via differences in axle speed to automatically lock the two axle shafts together, until the force/torque is released. Doing a one-wheel peel from wet pavement, you'd feel the onset of loss of traction then a "thunk" and away you go. Some guys claim they grenade in dramatic fashion, I mean yeah I see where that could happen at high throttle inputs where you suddenly gain traction on one side (think rock crawling) but for lay-people doing normal "truck stuff" it's quite fantastic. Downside versus a more traditional air or electronic selectable diff lock is that you can't control it yourself, preemptively engaging it for example.
Last time we rented a condo near SLC for a ski trip with my in laws back in 2020, the owner had a mint GMT800 Yukon on a trickle charger in the garage. Just another data point.
For as much shit as people give Subaru's, they are excellent ski vehicles. Sure it's not true 4WD, but their AWD works very well in snowy mountainous terrain. Their interior's are spacious and functional to the point where you likely don't even need a rack if you're willing to fold down the seat. I'd recommend a Forester or an Outback. Supremely functional vehicles that will get you to the mountain come hell or high water, just not particularly quick. You'll fit right in with the other skiers and they often can get 30+ MPG.
As much as I take exception to them, this is a decent recommendation. Issue for my friend is only, big family, many guests. If it was a Subaru, he’d need two of them
My other suggestion is a 2nd gen Sienna AWD on snow tires. They have more ground clearance than most modern crossovers (not saying much I realize) and a decent enough AWD setup. Coupled to some snow tires I think it would do quite well.
I discovered that these existed last night when I searched AutoTrader for the term “passenger van” with AWD and other requirements set.
Not sure about buying a 200k mi minivan (“chatGPT, draw me a WSJ woodcut of the definition of “thrashed””) but there are decent examples there. Even some 3rd gens, EG
A friend is importing a model year 2000 Nissan El Grand for winter and off-road duties. Nissan put the Pathfinder's 4WD system in that generation Elgrand, which also debuted the VQ35DE a few months before the Maxima and 350z. He picks it up this fall, I'll let you know how it goes!
Steve, also, did you mention in passing working in the aerospace engineering field?'
If I'm remembering that right, did you read the below passage from Jack's piece about the relative merits of McLaren cars?
"“Compare that to the C8 Corvette, which has twenty separate castings glued and screwed together to make its frame. Driver feedback is more accurate in a McLaren, and the car responds more appropriately to commands, because the core of the thing is low-flex and dimensionally stable. It will also stay that way indefinitely, because unlike aluminum or steel carbon fiber doesn’t become floppy with stress cycles.”
Is this true, or perhaps I should say, "assuming appropriate design parameters were considered, could this claim "carbon doesn't become floppy with stress cycles" be true or at least true-ish ?"
Yes, properly designed carbon fiber composites have almost infinite fatigue life. Assuming they don’t get impact damage. And assuming designed to avoid significant out of plane stresses.
-People: at least 5... but assume at least one of the five is a kid. More people capacity-> better (they host friend families, with kids)
-20 minutes to the ski hill (no traffic and no snow).
-NW Montana. 4WD needed for grade of the road when it gets icy in deep winter. it snows 7 months a year, so having one 4WD vehicle when one absolutely must get somewhere would be a boon.
I keep looking at GovDeals and the suburbans on GovDeals keep being basket cases. It’s Stockholm syndrome to keep doing this, at a certain point it makes more financial sense to just pull the trigger
Now that I see you've got 5 people minimum. You could likely get away with an Ascent. Otherwise the recommendation for a Tahoe or Suburban would be the move.
I believe both were available with 4WD at different times, sometimes only in 2500 guise.
I specifically advised my friend that we he needed was exactly this, he didn’t seem excited about it but then he hasn’t seen what can be fit in an LWB express
As a long time purveyor of basket cases and “easy fix” hot rods, I’ve basically worked things out to the following:
- EVERYTHING needs ~ $3k plus your labor
- If the car is extra rough, double it
- Don’t think that by spending $20-$40k on the initial purchase that you’re getting away with it
- I’m probably the only person on the planet who tries to sell cars at near 100% sorted and ready, prepare for the opposite always
- the Dave Ramsey argument is horseshit without privilege. You need a car to drive while you’re fixing the other, you need a place to fix it, and you need TOOLS which are very much not free. I don’t want to know how much I have invested at this point, only that they have paid for themselves 10x over.
- Could you imagine being burdened for weeks at a time when the shop has your car in limbo/que, waiting on parts, finding the next bad surprise waiting? All while needing to put food on your family’s plate?
- The ONLY way any of this works is to not fix things until they have completely failed and left in a position of stranded. Limp it along until you can’t and then face the inevitable.
- Car payments may be constant but they are easier to make than lost time. You need to figure out what carries more value before digging into a project. As I’ve aged my time working has become worth more than the hours spent trying to save on self wrenching. Unfortunately I’ll never change there.
- Sure even new cars break, but it’s usually systematic in order.
- the “smartest” thing I could’ve ever done car wise was to spend the money upfront for something NEW and nice and just kept it for the past 25yrs. Too bad I was broke as a joke at 17.
You either “enjoy” your $4500 at $4500 until you run it into the ground, or you reinvest to double or triple your time of use and without headache. I say this as I prepare to order the next $800 round of parts for my then only 38k mile ‘nice used car’.
Cycling $4500 cars as they shit the bed isn’t exactly the path to wealth either. Insert whatever number you’d like as example.
There's a time/cost function for this too, even when it works out.
A few years ago, we bought 1 of those "driven only to the store and church by a retired mechanic and he kept all the receipts" 2004 Corollas for our nephew. Looked good, drove great, needed nothing, and was a steal for $4500.
But it took months to find The Right One (tm).
And sometimes you luck out like my wife did years ago with her stupid cheap B14 Sentra that's probably still cockroaching around somewhere with just oil changes and the occasional CV replacement.
Those guys who tell you to buy the best example of whatever you want are absolutely on point. Maybe one in a thousand of us has the moxy and gumption to resurrect a dead car.
After resurrecting a 1964 Imperial from a decade's long break from the road, and abuse/neglect stretching even further back, I'm wholly reluctant to resurrect another car anytime soon. After 14 months of ownership and many, many parts totally more than the purchase price of the car by now, it's reliable enough to start and drive whenever the weather is good... but I need to top the trans fluid off first because the throttle shaft seal still leaks when the torque converter drains after sitting for a couple days. I replaced the seal once already but it didn't take. I also need to pull the rear drums off again, because the brake pedal has far too much travel (again) and when I rolled the car outside the other day it left 2 thiccc trails of fine black dust on the garage floor. Methinks the rear shoes (13 months old) have disintegrated. It also pulls to the left VERY aggressively if you're too quick on the brakes. My wife wants to drive it to her company car show on the 22nd so I must get the brakes sorted and let her practice maneuvering the ship.
Oh and it has some sort of up-down wobble at very low speed as if one or more of the $88 white wall tires are egg shaped. Or it could be something else. That wobble translates to a pulsing vibration on the highway (cruises fine at 75mph besides)
Oh and there's a high pitched metallic rattling in the back somewhere that annoys me oh-so-strongly, plus an exhaust leak on the passenger side.
At least the power steering doesn't leak (as bad) anymore!
My God, I'm reliving your nightmare right now. Substitute 1964 Imperial for 1966 Plymouth Belvedere police package. It sat for who knows how long. I had it towed home to find the manual brakes DOA. No obvious signs of leaks but hoses, master and wheel cylinders were replaced just 'cause. It stops but the adjusters might need a little more slack taken out.
The "Commander" tires are black, round and hold air but I other than a few trips around the block the weather checking can't be trusted. The power steering reservoir was rather dry but leak detection can wait. Three quarts of ATF later and the tranny operates. Looks to be the shift shaft seal or kick down seal like yours. I hope the catch pan under the car captures the torque convertor drain.
On the plus side, the 361 two barrel fired up with a refilled float bowl and a single shot of ether. It has a nearly new dual exhaust system done correctly. Shocks don't look too bad but they're a maintenance item. It will require a tuneup at some point as well.
The car puts a smile on my face and that makes it worth it. I'd rather put it in that car than in booze or dope. Calling it a hobby removes some of the guilt about flushing my money down the toilet. Given that it is similar to an early Adam 12 car, I probably wouldn't lose money on it if someone wanted to do a tribute. It was factory maroon so it looks sinister without an over the top cop vibe. Most cars can dust it today but those old pre emissions cars feel strong as hell.
Hey that sounds like a pretty cool ride! Sounds like it'll come around pretty quick! My car will leak about 2-ish quarts out 48hrs from when I last ran it. I've actually been pouring the fluid thru a coffee filter and recycling it because that shit ain't cheap and it only has a few hundred miles on it! If I just tossed it I wouldn't be able to afford this leak rate hahaha
The Imperial was sold to us with a cracked rear brake line, so it had 0 brakes due to the nature of its single pot master. It ran, but only on about 5.5 cylinders. Those factors combined made it quite exciting to drive onto my trailer, especially given the car is the same size as the trailer's deck! A full brake rebuild was my first job on it, then I ended up replacing all the steel lines as well. Once that was done, I cleaned out the old Carter AFB as best I could and drained all the old smelly gas from the tank. It still ran poorly. My friends and I came to the conclusion that the 15 year old pertronix drop-in points replacement was the culprit, and I replaced that with a full Mopar style electronic ignition complete with orange box from Mancini Racing. Finally it was able to move under more than 1/2 throttle! But it still never ran *right* until I replaced the intake manifold gasket (using one that blocks the exhaust crossover) and the old Carter with a shiny new Edelbrock AVS 650 this spring. Now the 10:1 compression 413 finally idles smooth and steady, gets about 12mpg instead of 8, and pulls the 5000lb sled around like it should! I had a dual exhaust made for it last year using Porter steel pack mufflers. I thought the car sounded amazing with those, but now that it's moving all the air it's meant to those mufflers sound a little too blatty and loud at WOT.
Be thankful you have manual brakes, I had to send the Imp's booster out to Seattle for a rebuild over winter and it ended up in ALASKA for about 3 weeks because the USPS tossed it into the wrong sorting bin 10 miles south from the shop it was destined for. I also did a dual-pot upgrade using the master from a B body.
Last night I pulled the left rear drum and found my rattling noise; apparently I did some assembly wrong. I found the spreader bar was half fallen out, and the spring did fall out onto the floor when i removed the drum. 1964 was the final year for tapered axles and pressed on drums, so also be thankful you don't have to contend with that on your 66!
"I'd rather put it in that car than in booze or dope." I'll add sports betting to that! It may seem like a waste to some, but we're reviving pieces of American history over here instead of rotting our brains! (That's not to say I don't enjoy some garage beers, because I sure do hahah) Plus, I love rolling with my wife to Pastiner's on Woodward for their Saturday morning meets. Everyone stares at this car. Even the guys who brought their Pantera, Ferrari, or Gallardo. Ok the Gallardo guy is a buddy, but still!
It's too early to call yet, but I'm testing the theory with my current daily driver. I specifically searched out a one owner example of what I wanted that got all it's servicing by the book at the dealer. Four months in and so far so good. I know I paid extra for the provenance, but I'm hoping it was worth it long-term.
PREACH. $5500 used "cheap car" with fairly recent $4000 repair bill prior to my ownership, was just the down payment to keep a high mile ride going. I am 2/3 or so the way to that ~$3k number, with my own labor. That $3k should sort the car for a good while. We're all fighting entropy, and if we're honest, cars are some of the best lesson teachers in that.
If it makes you feel any better, my good friend bought his daughter a 2007 Lexus IS with 4WD for Pennsylvania winters for about $7,000. This happened after she got pulled over in her previously beat-to-shit super cheap Chevrolet Impala that they procured for $1,500. Her car looked like it was driven by someone who cooked meth for a living and I joked it was rolling probable cause.
Well, turns out that wasn't a joke. She didn't get searched because the officer who pulled her over had been trained by her father so he recognized her name and her resemblance to the ol' man. Rather than keep hoping for that kind of luck, he wanted to get her something reliable so he went Lexus.
...and then the list of parts that needed replacing over the next couple of years came in, with labor factored in he spent about $8,000 fixing her $7,000 Lexus.
What you undertook was basically a restoration. "Well, while you're in there..."
I tried to restore a 1970 Chevelle coupe in my driveway. I learned the hard way on that one.
On the plus side, in the end you have a really lovely piece of automotive engineering and they literally don't make them like that anymore. A group of men did man things to make it work again, learning and fellowshipping in the process. Good was contributed to the universe.
But you also see the wisdom in my "Next car I buy is probably gonna be a well maintained Lexus ES" plan. It just makes sense.
Try rebuilding a third-gen Firebird with a blown engine at a rate of about a hundred bucks a week, WHILE you're only a year into your car-guy learning curve.
All I got out of that project was memories and a feeling of having been lied to by Hot Rod magazine.
I was tracking the restorations of a couple old Lancias last year and both involved sending them to a specialist in COSTA RICA. And the owners still ended up well into $100-150k just for that part of the resto.
looks like my 'might as wells' comment hit home here .
I work with an extremely stable but limited budget so payments are out, as a Journeyman Mechanic I can fix most of what ails older vehicles plus I prefer to be the first one in there, nothing quite like finding wood screws jammed into things destroyed beyond repair by the previous cretin .
Last year my physical ailments became glaringly obvious and in the end I was IMO forced to give away two very nice classic cars that ad much more works and parts thrown into them than they'll ever be worth but neither one was operable and I realized I wasn't ever going to touch them again s off they went, selling non running vehicles is hard, even when rust free, nice paint and upholstery, new tires and brakes, clear current title and tags etc., etc. .
God knows I tried, I even offered them here, not a single response .
This is the down side of fixing all those myriad little niggly things that make owning and operating any motor vehicle a serious bleeding hemorrhoid ~ I expect _every_ thing to work as it did when new if not better .
When you have is apart is the best and often _only_ time to properly address those little things .
Yes, Jack _could_ have purchased a lower mileage cream puff but being 20 years old it's always going to be a crapshoot ~ the drunken bitch who lived next door to me for 40 years and harassed me endlessly because I turned her down when she was drunk and horny (ew) died recently leaving behind a 2001 Kia four door sedan with 21,000 miles, her sister said I could have it for $7K ~ sounds great right ? a true "Little Old Lady Car" that had never been smoked in, wrecked nor driven much, the AC was great, spotless upholstery, what's not to like ? .
The car was red and the entire roof was blistering off the clear coat, figure minimum $1,000.00, I didn't want it but my Sweet did .
21,000 miles and 20 years means time for cam bent, drive belts, struts all four corners, major tranny service........ the tire were *just* beginning to dry rot so add in five new good quality tires and suddenly this thing isn't a bargain .
I'm quite sure Jack could have come to L.a. (his work brings him here regularly) and found a clean similar mileage Lexus with NO RUST and likely no more than the same amount of needed repairs for the same or less $ .
All I'd need tp check is crash damage, rust and does the AC work because "it just needs a charge" means the seller damn well knows it needs a _MINIMUM_ of $1,500.00 in AC work......
Just something to think about when you're pondering Jacks wisdom or lack of same .
When it's finished he'll run the wheels off it and bar looping it into a ditch or smacking a coyote (the furry kind) at speed at 0-DARK:30, it'll be fine for several years .
The resulting satisfaction from a job well done and a car that gets fully sorted (or sorted to one's standards) is nice, and good. At 186k, my 08 Outback is getting many of the big/bigger ticket items redone (by me, almost exclusively) that need redoing by such mileage. And fixing other things that were left or neglected. The market in the $5k range (or even a few thousand more) is not great, so better the devil I know...and have fixed up.
At least your experience has landed you with a serviceable car that you enjoy. I’ve dumped thousands or tens of thousands into cars, actually paying shops their full labor rates, still hated the way they drove or presented, and sold them at a loss.
But yes, I remember making that exact same point when the million-mile LS 400 was in the news cycle. Here you are with what is a zhuszhed-up Camry and arguably the least complicated thing that could credibly call itself a luxury car at that time…and you still put thousands into it.
That’s not something most people could or would do, and it’s why even if you find a supposedly clean car like this, it will likely be victim to some sort of deferred maintenance.
—
I did, last week, acquire a lovely 2020 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 LWB. It came from a JLR dealer—who took the Lyriq for way more than it was worth, for some reason—and is in fantastic shape. It’s also black over “peanut-butter,” which is a classic color combo.
I purchased a very expensive warranty from my local dealership that should have me all the way out to 6 years and 80K miles from now, so I can pretend to be Doug DeMuro.
Maintenance costs and fuel are expensive for it, but…well, I like it, and so that’s that. Being the LWB with rear seats that move every which way, it sates my usual desire for a LWB flagship sedan, although I still have both the Phaeton and the XJ12…which are exactly that.
Me: A little. I wouldn't say I'm the foremost expert but I've replaced head gaskets in the driveway in the dead of winter and worst of summer before.
Co-worker: My wife is looking at this Range Rover at X's car lot. They have a really good price on it, 23 grand.
Me: Here's what I want you to do...go to the bank and take $5,000 out in cash, then put it in your front yard, cover it in lighter fluid, and set it on fire.
Co-worker: **hard blinking**
Me: If you can burn that $5,000 without a thought or a care, then you have the right mindset to burn at least that much money every year or so to keep that Range Rover running. If, on the other hand, the mere suggestion of it makes you mad then you tell her you'll sooner pound your testicles flat with a wooden mallet than allow that purchase.
I just did what the dealer quoted as around $4-5k in suspension and brake work for maybe $600-700 in parts.
The LR3, at 165k miles, needs a lot of smaller things done and will probably ring up $1200 in parts this summer after 2 years of needing nothing but oil and front brakes.
No 18 year old car is going to be trouble free, but my parts cost for the Landy has generally fit into the bucket of being "cheaper than 1 monthly Yukon payment per year"
Sounds like the LR3 is the only model in recent history that can be kept going relatively sanely. I've been cross-shopping those vs GXs and LXs and it's not hard to find mechanically sound ones for overlanding for $6-10k.
Agreed. I want an L405 some day so I want every other human on earth to absolutely FEAR buying one. They're already touching $25k for a good one so let's keep this narrative going!
Mine is a LWB and so has the longer rear doors. I dread the day I forget to disable the child locks and one of my godchildren opens the door in a parking lot and carelessly thwacks it against another car.
Yep, just got the Lyriq, but it was annoying and somehow I managed to get out of it with a four-figure check.
Will I keep the Range Rover for six years? We’ll see. It would be nice to prove everybody wrong about how long I’ll keep it. I hear there’s a betting pool going on about how long I keep cars, to include such members at my best friend, my partner, my mother, my Russian car buddy, and my grade-school teacher (screw you, Mrs. Pierce!)
It’s one thing to burn money frivolously - as Jack has done with this old Lexus - but it’s another thing entirely to incur guaranteed transaction and switching costs again and again and again because you can’t make up your mind!
You may need to call your therapist first (!), but do you have an idea of your sum total transaction / switching costs (surely there will have been some gains too given the sample size) over time?
Steve, I feel like the bolt is one of the more underrated light duty cars out there and doesn’t get its due, then again, I have seen horror stories about battery and other inexplicable issues popping up.
In you experience, how has the reliability and maintenance cost of yours been?
The Bolt is a great city car. Easy to park. Fits 4 adults well. Other than the battery recall issue its been trouble free. Almost no maintenance other than tires. Like most EVs it goes thru tires faster than normal ICE cars (or maybe its how we drive it, eeek). We haven’t taken it outside the county so only charge it at home. We have two other vehicles for longer trips.
Every car you own should be equipped with a set of balls hanging from a receiver hitch. Love your taste but damn you play with fire with your Continental trysts and Oriental excursions.
Baruth, you, as the kiddos say, are an absolute savage for this one. First rule of Shitbox Club is to never total your receipts. You have fearlessly gone where most men would quail, and for that, a tip of the cap to you, good sir.
I have poured thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time into a series of B-Bodies that I have modified into worthlessness. By my account you have at least another 5k to incinerate on this one.
Any takers for a POS 1983 LeSabre Estate Wagon? I rarely have moments of sanity when it comes to cars but I'm willing to take the $1k hit to have it gone rather than open another Bowling Green size sinkhole to make the car worth $1500...
I've spent upwards of 60k on my house in the last 2 years and haven't added an ounce of value most likely. Maybe it's 50k, I definitely haven't added up the receipts.
I know. I still have nightmares of our last kitchen remodel, that I did mostly myself.
As for value, those 3 things should be good for 20+ years. Given the crazy price appreciation out here, its hard to know what really adds “value”. Not planning to move so don’t really care.
That reminds me of when I first got into cars 30 years ago, I'd devour Car Craft (or Camaro Craft, if you prefer), Hot Rod, et al. One of them had a section where they'd showcase a car owned by somebody under the age of 25.
The reason this stuck out is because in this issue, it was a '68 Charger with a 440, supposedly owned by a 23-year-old who'd used it for his daily driver in high school. Allegedly, this guy and his dad had pulled it out of some Utah scrapyard for $200 and did all the work themselves.
Yeah right, a B-body Mopar carcass free-and-clear for 200 late-80s dollars?
Double yeah right, a junkyard that would sell you an entire car AT ALL?
So what's missing here?
Well for starters, assuming this wasn't all horseshit, the article was the usual "just a regular guy with a passion for cars" fluff, conveniently leaving out the near-certainty that the guy's dad was the usual third-generation hot rodder who was on a first-name basis with every machine shop owner, mechanic and body-shop guy in the county. And who also had a fully-equipped barn with lifts, shop air and space to work.
So YES, you CAN do a cheap car. As long as you have the tools, connections and will. Which are the hallmarks of a rich man.
You see this in those woodworking videos and TikToks, “my wife wanted a new $4k buffet, I made it with $250 worth of wood!” Yeah, and $10k+ of woodshop tools.
Sadly I only learned about Red Green a few years back when someone sent me a link to where he mounted a toilet on the hood of some old junker and they thought of me .
Many years ago there was a tool shop in the west Loop of Chicago. I was in there for some reason and they had a literal wall of wood chisels from the size of a telephone pole - I exaggerate slightly - on down to smaller than a pencil. It was at that time I realized that a woodworking hobby was likely as much about the tools as it was about the woodworking.
20+ years ago my company was acquired by another and as part of the transition our payroll was converted from 2x a month to every other week. Every other week resulted in having a three paycheck month twice a year. For the first couple of years that meant I was driving to the land of no sales tax that month and spending close to the entire paycheck at the tool shop. Was always fun to see how quickly in the day I'd get the anti-fraud phone call from my credit card company.
Keep the card. there are instances where it's worth the money to go to a professional. I say motorcycle suspension tuning is one of those instances - it's always struck me as something approaching a black art.
I should write a longer post about this, but I got into cars in college, late. I remember cramming projects into late evenings in the apartment garage, and north of a decade of begging, borrowing, and bribing various friends and acquaintances garages for space to use while I wrenched on shit.
Having said that, finally having a barn that cost about as much as a used Mulsanne to put together is a huge enabler for owning cheap cars.
I did a heavy DIY refresh of a '92 Bonneville SSEi around 2016. I think I spent about $4,000 on it all in but I also got the car for free.
Before the COVID times, you could find runner domestic cars fairly easily for under $1,000. That's not really the case anymore unless you want a Northstar. There's still a "Toyota Tax" but it's a lot less than it used to be on things over 20 years old.
I acquired my Grand Prix for free as well. Being a tech, parts is the only thing I've got to worry about. Second on the pre-COVID $1,000 runner price. Lately prices seem to be coming down. Shocked to see Geo Metros going for ludicrous money all smashed out and zero parts availability.
I'm seeing prices really come down on *everything* on fb marketplace. From the "toy" category (motorcycles, powersports, rvs) to daily driver type cars. I hear in certain hispanic-heavy markets, all the ICE stuff is having a very real effect on the cheap used car market (lower demand). After this latest motorcycle flip I really would like to scoop up an LT1 4th gen or something even cheaper/sillier like a clean late model Grand Am GT with a 3.4 or a Beretta GT. I'm hopelessly addicted to 90s GM dreck. Turn up the Limp Bizkit!
C4C was the beginning, the lack of new car sales during the recession years added to it, then devaluing the dollar approximately 50% over the last 5 years really drove prices up.
I'm reading old forum posts from 2009 educating myself on 4th gen Fbodies and guys are saying stuff like "go buy an LT1 you can get a nice one for $4k." 15 years later those same cars with a lot more wear are going for more than that.
In my experience over the years, even if I buy a car in “excellent condition”, I end up putting between $4000 and $5000 into it for deferred maintenance and repairs. Or as my buddy Jim the mechanic would say, 90% of all cars are for sale Because the owner is tired of throwing money at them.
Second. My W212 is having cam adjuster problems, and I am horrified by the possible replacements. I'll post something longer on this when I have a chance.
The Mirage was a piece of shit, but an incredibly reliable and affordable piece of shit. They have my respect.
Unlike the 3.8 Wrangler which was simply just a piece of shit in every possible way. They are CHEAP now though. $10k gets you a pretty good one. Good throwaway off-roader/beater at that point.
I didn't realize that the crappier-engined JK wranglers had gotten that cheap?
On that note a buddy needs a sturdy 4WD beater to put studded snows on so he can drive up to the local ski lifts . $9K max budget
Is there anything other than a questionable GMT800/900, TJ Wangler or WK Grand Cherokee that fits this bill? Oddly hard to think of other options... Sequoia? Expedition (not sure of reliability)
Do you need Hi/Lo or would a normal AWD system work? A 2.5 or 3.0 or even hybrid Escape/Mariner/Tribute is generally stout mechanically. Cheap as shit too.
KoR, just wondering why the 3.8 was a piece of junk? Helen’s 2005 with a 3.8 went 257,000 miles and I finely got her a new CR-V when the Jeep started using a quart of oil every time I filled it up.
The newer 3.6s are lunching cams at 40-70k miles (putting enough metal in the motor that safest bet is to repalce the whole longblock) so in hindsight the 3.8L was a *great* engine!
Little brother and wife are on their 2nd FJ (first one was replaced due to it wanting to play submarine on a boat ramp). They love it and believe it will be their "forever car". Much like Jeep owners (or Maybach owners), FJ owners are not entirely rational people.
I think the big issue Toyota had with the FJ was that much of their target market wanted a used FJ, not a new one.
As someone with an ever expanding hooptie fleet. You're going to love the LS430. Best reasonably priced road trip car IMO. It has the strongest will to live of any of my cars. It's got the stealth wealth approach, comfy leather seats, supremely supple air ride (if UL), will happily sip 87, good hydraulic steering that feels firm and graceful at speed, fantastic climate control with oscillating vents, rock solid reliability for the things that matter. What's not to love for something to take on long trips? Granted not without faults, steering column motors, deferred maintenance, little stuff breaking, and starters in the cylinder valley are the warts of an otherwise brilliant automobile. I hope to keep mine cruising for the next 50 years.
This one is owned by an ACFer and it's the zero-frills model, but that's okay with me as I don't want the air ride and I can probably put a modern stereo in if desired.
That's understandable. One of the great things about the LS430 is that when the air suspension fails you can put on normal struts and pull the air compressor fuse. After that there are no codes or other issues. I thoroughly modify all of my hoopties, but have only desired to put in better floor mats and a modern android head unit that I tether to my phone for data. Maybe I'll get a sheepskin cover for the drivers seat as I'm struggling with the leather being sticky.
This is a great idea. The cloth-- sorry, "blond city weave"-- interior of my Volvo is a godsend in winter and something better than that in summer. Quality wool, in colors!, can easily outlast the plastic-coated leather we've been trained to mistake for a luxury.
This aspect of Milano-Singerizing your Lexus can easily be coded as a practical expedient.
I'd like to get the easy-exit turned off on my F-250, we'll have something like five spare wheels in the back and the motor will suffer grinding against an immovable object.
Thanks for doing dumb shit. You ended up with a nice car and hopefully some more stories that you can tell us about how you got it back into shape. Now you need to get some social media accounts for the cats so you can sell a book and do more of these hijinks. I can't afford to do something like this and I would take the newer Lexus but as reader this is fucking great. Also, you got a daily driver out of this.
Hopefully you have an LLC that you can deduct the cost from your income for doing this wonderful project but if you don't monetize the cats. They won't know and maybe you can deduct the car food bills.
Its even ACF Green; perfect for Trick or treating (aka getting a peak in your neighbors homes and chatting up local milfs while getting free candy) in the township!
I know that but if you could deduct shit wouldn't you better be protected by an LLC. I am thinking you could deduct expenses if you were doing a expose on why you don't want to buy a used car.
Llcs are for liability. Jack could probably deduct some of this shit against his substack income but he is the only human in the usa who has been audited in the last 12 years and apparently he got nailed and is hesitant to be aggressive. And he refuses to hire me!
Good read. I've often wondered if I'd spend less money if I'd gone the Japanese route instead of the Swedish. Turns out, not really. I always had a sweet spot for that generation ES, too.
In 2024 I bought what was the nicest 2004 9-5 I could locate to replace my Cleveland-rotted 2002, and proceeded to spend the purchase price again on bringing it fully up to snuff, doing a lot of the same kind of thing it sounds like you've done to the Lexus.
In the intervening time, my wife got pregnant, and my time for doing car stuff quickly evaporated, and now that the boy is here, it doesn't exist at all. So I got sick of playing another round of "What's that smell/drip/noise?" on an almost monthly basis with a decades old daily driver that now also had to transport my infant.
That being said, I did the prudent thing, and I offed the Saab and replaced it with, uh, a seven year old Audi. One owner dealer serviced car, lowish miles, non-S variant with the ubiquitous supercharged V6 and ZF8. It's something I've been watching for several years and my goal was to try to hit the sweet spot of being heavily depreciated but still usefully reliable.
The Saab was costing me somewhere between $0 and $1,000 per month on upkeep. So far I've owned the Audi four months and it has done 5k miles in my care needing nothing but an oil change and monthly payments. My fingers remain crossed for continued good luck.
I used to find joy in keeping my car in good shape when I was single, had a lift and nothing better to do. I do still enjoy wrenching when I have the time. But now, that type of activity is reserved for cars I don't rely on to make my income that can sit in the (additional, heated when necessary) garage while they wait for parts or time to become available. When the Audi decides it needs something, I plan to solve whatever problem arises with my checkbook.
In some ways I do. I knew that car like the back of my hand, it having been the fourth 9-5 I'd owned. So while it was tiresome, the upkeep never perplexed me. In contrast the Audi may as well be an alien spacecraft.
That said, the Audi is hands down a nicer place to spend my hour and fifteen minutes of daily commuting every day, if slightly less engaging. Plus, I've got nearly a hundred more horsepower in the Audi and I get the same mileage!
So.
You have a sorted, nice, comfortable vehicle for less than 10k?
I call that a win.
All those newer ones probably have their own problems, or will eventually. And have pricier, techier components.
As someone who is a true professional in spending money on cars in 'useless' ways, I commend your weekly update! :)
I've spent $34k on a Lexus IS300 in order to sell it for just a tad over $15k on an online auction last year, and I'm currently pouring money at a meteoric rate into my Lexus SC400 in order to build something that Toyota should have but didn't. So, I'll show them....yeah, joke is always on me!
Oh, I'm more than a little interested in this SC400 build. Go on...
Take a look my friend:
https://youtu.be/SQK08LsdD3s
https://youtu.be/gP8hbFC04T8
Those SC400s are great cars, and a T56 is probably about the only thing they needed to make them even better to us enthusiasts.
If you guys would like to follow along my journey of transformation from bone stock to "what if Toyota had done this?", here is the appropriate link:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/build-threads/1028798-1992-sc400-slicktop-build-thread-blanca.html
Speaking directly about myself, you really have to be a special kind of stupid...errrr...special...errr...yeah, stupid to spend as much money as I have to make my 1992 Lexus SC400 the mechanical equivalent of a 1989 Chevrolet Corvette. But...here we are. :)
I mean, you could have just bought a 4th gen Camaro Z28 or SS with the T56 installed from the factory. Pretty much the same thing. ;)
Wow. Not all heroes wear capes!
I only know how to walk because others ran before me. But, I sure appreciate your kind words.
But, to make more fun of myself...if you've ever heard the old saying "a fool and his money are soon parted", it's me...I'm the fool when it comes to modifying my old Toyotas! :)
Ah yes, a real life "What If?"!
My loser dream is to squish together a 2nd-gen Dodge Stratus R/T, Chrysler Sebring Convertible, and the 6G75 3.8L V6 to have myself a Dodge Stratus R/T 5-speed convertible with maximum N/A power. Dodge never really leaned into these cars (nor did Mitsubishi) and they really lost the following they had during the earlier Eagle Talon / Mitsubishi Eclipse model years. Chalk it up to the dissolution of Diamond Star Motors prior to the model's launch, I guess.
We could have had a Stratus SRT convertible, and I intend to make it happen one day.
Well, you know I can appreciate what you're talking about it more than most. I do hope you can achieve your own special dream in time too.
Here is one for this particular crowd: what car would you recommend as a 4WD "ski beater" for one's "yeah, I made the life right decisions and live next to a ski hill" friends? GMT800, sure, but: GMT900? WK JGC? others?
this screams GMT800 Suburban/Yukon to me. Mine on studded snow tires and G80 spin-locker never needed the 4WD engaged even up steep snowed in/icy hills, it was insane.
I love you guys teaching me new words every other day.
G-80 spin locker?
"Gov-lock", code "G80" in GM build sheet speak. A really neat variation on the locking differential. My understanding is that it uses centripital force generated via differences in axle speed to automatically lock the two axle shafts together, until the force/torque is released. Doing a one-wheel peel from wet pavement, you'd feel the onset of loss of traction then a "thunk" and away you go. Some guys claim they grenade in dramatic fashion, I mean yeah I see where that could happen at high throttle inputs where you suddenly gain traction on one side (think rock crawling) but for lay-people doing normal "truck stuff" it's quite fantastic. Downside versus a more traditional air or electronic selectable diff lock is that you can't control it yourself, preemptively engaging it for example.
This sounds perfect for this application.
Last time we rented a condo near SLC for a ski trip with my in laws back in 2020, the owner had a mint GMT800 Yukon on a trickle charger in the garage. Just another data point.
For as much shit as people give Subaru's, they are excellent ski vehicles. Sure it's not true 4WD, but their AWD works very well in snowy mountainous terrain. Their interior's are spacious and functional to the point where you likely don't even need a rack if you're willing to fold down the seat. I'd recommend a Forester or an Outback. Supremely functional vehicles that will get you to the mountain come hell or high water, just not particularly quick. You'll fit right in with the other skiers and they often can get 30+ MPG.
As much as I take exception to them, this is a decent recommendation. Issue for my friend is only, big family, many guests. If it was a Subaru, he’d need two of them
My other suggestion is a 2nd gen Sienna AWD on snow tires. They have more ground clearance than most modern crossovers (not saying much I realize) and a decent enough AWD setup. Coupled to some snow tires I think it would do quite well.
I discovered that these existed last night when I searched AutoTrader for the term “passenger van” with AWD and other requirements set.
Not sure about buying a 200k mi minivan (“chatGPT, draw me a WSJ woodcut of the definition of “thrashed””) but there are decent examples there. Even some 3rd gens, EG
https://tinyurl.com/4k86fc2x
A friend is importing a model year 2000 Nissan El Grand for winter and off-road duties. Nissan put the Pathfinder's 4WD system in that generation Elgrand, which also debuted the VQ35DE a few months before the Maxima and 350z. He picks it up this fall, I'll let you know how it goes!
Fascinating,
Please do
They can even be lifted. I had a friend with one with a 2” lift and all terrains. As long as it isn’t rusty it’ll be trusty.
Friends that lived in Bend with an AWD Sienna poo-pooed its capabilities on any kind of incline, even with front snow tires.
I bought a US-spec Y62 Patrol for this use case.
How many people?
How far to the ski hill?
What part of the country?
Why 4wd needed?
Steve, also, did you mention in passing working in the aerospace engineering field?'
If I'm remembering that right, did you read the below passage from Jack's piece about the relative merits of McLaren cars?
"“Compare that to the C8 Corvette, which has twenty separate castings glued and screwed together to make its frame. Driver feedback is more accurate in a McLaren, and the car responds more appropriately to commands, because the core of the thing is low-flex and dimensionally stable. It will also stay that way indefinitely, because unlike aluminum or steel carbon fiber doesn’t become floppy with stress cycles.”
Is this true, or perhaps I should say, "assuming appropriate design parameters were considered, could this claim "carbon doesn't become floppy with stress cycles" be true or at least true-ish ?"
Yep, 40+ years in aerospace composite structures.
Yes, properly designed carbon fiber composites have almost infinite fatigue life. Assuming they don’t get impact damage. And assuming designed to avoid significant out of plane stresses.
Thank you.
-People: at least 5... but assume at least one of the five is a kid. More people capacity-> better (they host friend families, with kids)
-20 minutes to the ski hill (no traffic and no snow).
-NW Montana. 4WD needed for grade of the road when it gets icy in deep winter. it snows 7 months a year, so having one 4WD vehicle when one absolutely must get somewhere would be a boon.
Or for better capacity, the classic western back roads beater rig - an ex-Forest Service Suburban 2500 4x4, 3 rows of bench seats.
I keep looking at GovDeals and the suburbans on GovDeals keep being basket cases. It’s Stockholm syndrome to keep doing this, at a certain point it makes more financial sense to just pull the trigger
Ok, cheap beater ideas:
- last gen Trailblazer/Envoy
- Jeep GC
- Durango
Trailblazer is a great left field recco. One of the more slept on SUVs
Now that I see you've got 5 people minimum. You could likely get away with an Ascent. Otherwise the recommendation for a Tahoe or Suburban would be the move.
The Big Mountain?
😎💯
Did GM make a Chevy Express van with 4WD? Or Ford the E-Series? How about one of those? Just make sure the Ford doesn't have the 3V 5.4L gasser.
I believe both were available with 4WD at different times, sometimes only in 2500 guise.
I specifically advised my friend that we he needed was exactly this, he didn’t seem excited about it but then he hasn’t seen what can be fit in an LWB express
Or what can fit on a giant roof rack!
As a long time purveyor of basket cases and “easy fix” hot rods, I’ve basically worked things out to the following:
- EVERYTHING needs ~ $3k plus your labor
- If the car is extra rough, double it
- Don’t think that by spending $20-$40k on the initial purchase that you’re getting away with it
- I’m probably the only person on the planet who tries to sell cars at near 100% sorted and ready, prepare for the opposite always
- the Dave Ramsey argument is horseshit without privilege. You need a car to drive while you’re fixing the other, you need a place to fix it, and you need TOOLS which are very much not free. I don’t want to know how much I have invested at this point, only that they have paid for themselves 10x over.
- Could you imagine being burdened for weeks at a time when the shop has your car in limbo/que, waiting on parts, finding the next bad surprise waiting? All while needing to put food on your family’s plate?
- The ONLY way any of this works is to not fix things until they have completely failed and left in a position of stranded. Limp it along until you can’t and then face the inevitable.
- Car payments may be constant but they are easier to make than lost time. You need to figure out what carries more value before digging into a project. As I’ve aged my time working has become worth more than the hours spent trying to save on self wrenching. Unfortunately I’ll never change there.
- Sure even new cars break, but it’s usually systematic in order.
- the “smartest” thing I could’ve ever done car wise was to spend the money upfront for something NEW and nice and just kept it for the past 25yrs. Too bad I was broke as a joke at 17.
You either “enjoy” your $4500 at $4500 until you run it into the ground, or you reinvest to double or triple your time of use and without headache. I say this as I prepare to order the next $800 round of parts for my then only 38k mile ‘nice used car’.
Cycling $4500 cars as they shit the bed isn’t exactly the path to wealth either. Insert whatever number you’d like as example.
Couldn't agree more. Thank you.
Everything needs 3k plus labor is deadly accurate
And another 3K in special tools, fasteners, WD-40, minor machine work, etc.
It's heartbreaking how Xeno's Paradox working on a car is. Especially an old, worn-out one.
'Xeno's Paradox'
PERFECT.
Whoops! I spelled it wrong!
Zeno's.
Its from the Greek. There's no wrong way to spell it.
One painful lesson that stuck with me from my early car-guy days was that "$10,000 up front is cheaper than a $100 a week a hundred times."
And Ramsey's advice is only even theoretically good for a certain percentage of extremely dysfunctional people.
There's a time/cost function for this too, even when it works out.
A few years ago, we bought 1 of those "driven only to the store and church by a retired mechanic and he kept all the receipts" 2004 Corollas for our nephew. Looked good, drove great, needed nothing, and was a steal for $4500.
But it took months to find The Right One (tm).
And sometimes you luck out like my wife did years ago with her stupid cheap B14 Sentra that's probably still cockroaching around somewhere with just oil changes and the occasional CV replacement.
Those guys who tell you to buy the best example of whatever you want are absolutely on point. Maybe one in a thousand of us has the moxy and gumption to resurrect a dead car.
Of course, I'll say that now.
After resurrecting a 1964 Imperial from a decade's long break from the road, and abuse/neglect stretching even further back, I'm wholly reluctant to resurrect another car anytime soon. After 14 months of ownership and many, many parts totally more than the purchase price of the car by now, it's reliable enough to start and drive whenever the weather is good... but I need to top the trans fluid off first because the throttle shaft seal still leaks when the torque converter drains after sitting for a couple days. I replaced the seal once already but it didn't take. I also need to pull the rear drums off again, because the brake pedal has far too much travel (again) and when I rolled the car outside the other day it left 2 thiccc trails of fine black dust on the garage floor. Methinks the rear shoes (13 months old) have disintegrated. It also pulls to the left VERY aggressively if you're too quick on the brakes. My wife wants to drive it to her company car show on the 22nd so I must get the brakes sorted and let her practice maneuvering the ship.
Oh and it has some sort of up-down wobble at very low speed as if one or more of the $88 white wall tires are egg shaped. Or it could be something else. That wobble translates to a pulsing vibration on the highway (cruises fine at 75mph besides)
Oh and there's a high pitched metallic rattling in the back somewhere that annoys me oh-so-strongly, plus an exhaust leak on the passenger side.
At least the power steering doesn't leak (as bad) anymore!
My God, I'm reliving your nightmare right now. Substitute 1964 Imperial for 1966 Plymouth Belvedere police package. It sat for who knows how long. I had it towed home to find the manual brakes DOA. No obvious signs of leaks but hoses, master and wheel cylinders were replaced just 'cause. It stops but the adjusters might need a little more slack taken out.
The "Commander" tires are black, round and hold air but I other than a few trips around the block the weather checking can't be trusted. The power steering reservoir was rather dry but leak detection can wait. Three quarts of ATF later and the tranny operates. Looks to be the shift shaft seal or kick down seal like yours. I hope the catch pan under the car captures the torque convertor drain.
On the plus side, the 361 two barrel fired up with a refilled float bowl and a single shot of ether. It has a nearly new dual exhaust system done correctly. Shocks don't look too bad but they're a maintenance item. It will require a tuneup at some point as well.
The car puts a smile on my face and that makes it worth it. I'd rather put it in that car than in booze or dope. Calling it a hobby removes some of the guilt about flushing my money down the toilet. Given that it is similar to an early Adam 12 car, I probably wouldn't lose money on it if someone wanted to do a tribute. It was factory maroon so it looks sinister without an over the top cop vibe. Most cars can dust it today but those old pre emissions cars feel strong as hell.
Hey that sounds like a pretty cool ride! Sounds like it'll come around pretty quick! My car will leak about 2-ish quarts out 48hrs from when I last ran it. I've actually been pouring the fluid thru a coffee filter and recycling it because that shit ain't cheap and it only has a few hundred miles on it! If I just tossed it I wouldn't be able to afford this leak rate hahaha
The Imperial was sold to us with a cracked rear brake line, so it had 0 brakes due to the nature of its single pot master. It ran, but only on about 5.5 cylinders. Those factors combined made it quite exciting to drive onto my trailer, especially given the car is the same size as the trailer's deck! A full brake rebuild was my first job on it, then I ended up replacing all the steel lines as well. Once that was done, I cleaned out the old Carter AFB as best I could and drained all the old smelly gas from the tank. It still ran poorly. My friends and I came to the conclusion that the 15 year old pertronix drop-in points replacement was the culprit, and I replaced that with a full Mopar style electronic ignition complete with orange box from Mancini Racing. Finally it was able to move under more than 1/2 throttle! But it still never ran *right* until I replaced the intake manifold gasket (using one that blocks the exhaust crossover) and the old Carter with a shiny new Edelbrock AVS 650 this spring. Now the 10:1 compression 413 finally idles smooth and steady, gets about 12mpg instead of 8, and pulls the 5000lb sled around like it should! I had a dual exhaust made for it last year using Porter steel pack mufflers. I thought the car sounded amazing with those, but now that it's moving all the air it's meant to those mufflers sound a little too blatty and loud at WOT.
Be thankful you have manual brakes, I had to send the Imp's booster out to Seattle for a rebuild over winter and it ended up in ALASKA for about 3 weeks because the USPS tossed it into the wrong sorting bin 10 miles south from the shop it was destined for. I also did a dual-pot upgrade using the master from a B body.
Last night I pulled the left rear drum and found my rattling noise; apparently I did some assembly wrong. I found the spreader bar was half fallen out, and the spring did fall out onto the floor when i removed the drum. 1964 was the final year for tapered axles and pressed on drums, so also be thankful you don't have to contend with that on your 66!
"I'd rather put it in that car than in booze or dope." I'll add sports betting to that! It may seem like a waste to some, but we're reviving pieces of American history over here instead of rotting our brains! (That's not to say I don't enjoy some garage beers, because I sure do hahah) Plus, I love rolling with my wife to Pastiner's on Woodward for their Saturday morning meets. Everyone stares at this car. Even the guys who brought their Pantera, Ferrari, or Gallardo. Ok the Gallardo guy is a buddy, but still!
I think all those items were features when new. We forget how crude things were then and how often maintenance was needed.
Which items?
Power steering?
Automatic transmissions?
White wall tires?
Hot tip: this strategy works for women.
Metaphorically. Not actual dead ones.
Yeah, but once you get the car, you can trust IT.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/_JrBa7XhKm0AAAAd/conan-the-barbarian-this-you-can-trust.gif
It's too early to call yet, but I'm testing the theory with my current daily driver. I specifically searched out a one owner example of what I wanted that got all it's servicing by the book at the dealer. Four months in and so far so good. I know I paid extra for the provenance, but I'm hoping it was worth it long-term.
PREACH. $5500 used "cheap car" with fairly recent $4000 repair bill prior to my ownership, was just the down payment to keep a high mile ride going. I am 2/3 or so the way to that ~$3k number, with my own labor. That $3k should sort the car for a good while. We're all fighting entropy, and if we're honest, cars are some of the best lesson teachers in that.
I needed to hear this, thanks
If it makes you feel any better, my good friend bought his daughter a 2007 Lexus IS with 4WD for Pennsylvania winters for about $7,000. This happened after she got pulled over in her previously beat-to-shit super cheap Chevrolet Impala that they procured for $1,500. Her car looked like it was driven by someone who cooked meth for a living and I joked it was rolling probable cause.
Well, turns out that wasn't a joke. She didn't get searched because the officer who pulled her over had been trained by her father so he recognized her name and her resemblance to the ol' man. Rather than keep hoping for that kind of luck, he wanted to get her something reliable so he went Lexus.
...and then the list of parts that needed replacing over the next couple of years came in, with labor factored in he spent about $8,000 fixing her $7,000 Lexus.
What you undertook was basically a restoration. "Well, while you're in there..."
I tried to restore a 1970 Chevelle coupe in my driveway. I learned the hard way on that one.
On the plus side, in the end you have a really lovely piece of automotive engineering and they literally don't make them like that anymore. A group of men did man things to make it work again, learning and fellowshipping in the process. Good was contributed to the universe.
But you also see the wisdom in my "Next car I buy is probably gonna be a well maintained Lexus ES" plan. It just makes sense.
Try rebuilding a third-gen Firebird with a blown engine at a rate of about a hundred bucks a week, WHILE you're only a year into your car-guy learning curve.
All I got out of that project was memories and a feeling of having been lied to by Hot Rod magazine.
For me it was the car shows on TNN Saturday mornings. I'll never forgive Stacy David.
hes still doing the same thing and basically has not changed at all
pretty neat
"I tried to restore a 1970 Chevelle coupe in my driveway"
everyone and their brother wants to restore a car
then they start it and realize how it can nickel and dime you to death extremely fast and how things like paint and bodywork can get wicked expensive
actually nevermind its everything thats expensive
I have literally zero desire to restore a car. I want to buy a restored car for thirty cents on the dollar.
correct option
I was tracking the restorations of a couple old Lancias last year and both involved sending them to a specialist in COSTA RICA. And the owners still ended up well into $100-150k just for that part of the resto.
That's big city thinkin', right there.
I was just going to mention how much my buddy's little brother spent to repair what he thought was a pretty good 2014ish lexus
The "might As Wells" are a motherfucker to be sure .
-Nate
looks like my 'might as wells' comment hit home here .
I work with an extremely stable but limited budget so payments are out, as a Journeyman Mechanic I can fix most of what ails older vehicles plus I prefer to be the first one in there, nothing quite like finding wood screws jammed into things destroyed beyond repair by the previous cretin .
Last year my physical ailments became glaringly obvious and in the end I was IMO forced to give away two very nice classic cars that ad much more works and parts thrown into them than they'll ever be worth but neither one was operable and I realized I wasn't ever going to touch them again s off they went, selling non running vehicles is hard, even when rust free, nice paint and upholstery, new tires and brakes, clear current title and tags etc., etc. .
God knows I tried, I even offered them here, not a single response .
This is the down side of fixing all those myriad little niggly things that make owning and operating any motor vehicle a serious bleeding hemorrhoid ~ I expect _every_ thing to work as it did when new if not better .
When you have is apart is the best and often _only_ time to properly address those little things .
Yes, Jack _could_ have purchased a lower mileage cream puff but being 20 years old it's always going to be a crapshoot ~ the drunken bitch who lived next door to me for 40 years and harassed me endlessly because I turned her down when she was drunk and horny (ew) died recently leaving behind a 2001 Kia four door sedan with 21,000 miles, her sister said I could have it for $7K ~ sounds great right ? a true "Little Old Lady Car" that had never been smoked in, wrecked nor driven much, the AC was great, spotless upholstery, what's not to like ? .
The car was red and the entire roof was blistering off the clear coat, figure minimum $1,000.00, I didn't want it but my Sweet did .
21,000 miles and 20 years means time for cam bent, drive belts, struts all four corners, major tranny service........ the tire were *just* beginning to dry rot so add in five new good quality tires and suddenly this thing isn't a bargain .
I'm quite sure Jack could have come to L.a. (his work brings him here regularly) and found a clean similar mileage Lexus with NO RUST and likely no more than the same amount of needed repairs for the same or less $ .
All I'd need tp check is crash damage, rust and does the AC work because "it just needs a charge" means the seller damn well knows it needs a _MINIMUM_ of $1,500.00 in AC work......
Just something to think about when you're pondering Jacks wisdom or lack of same .
When it's finished he'll run the wheels off it and bar looping it into a ditch or smacking a coyote (the furry kind) at speed at 0-DARK:30, it'll be fine for several years .
-Nate
The resulting satisfaction from a job well done and a car that gets fully sorted (or sorted to one's standards) is nice, and good. At 186k, my 08 Outback is getting many of the big/bigger ticket items redone (by me, almost exclusively) that need redoing by such mileage. And fixing other things that were left or neglected. The market in the $5k range (or even a few thousand more) is not great, so better the devil I know...and have fixed up.
At least your experience has landed you with a serviceable car that you enjoy. I’ve dumped thousands or tens of thousands into cars, actually paying shops their full labor rates, still hated the way they drove or presented, and sold them at a loss.
But yes, I remember making that exact same point when the million-mile LS 400 was in the news cycle. Here you are with what is a zhuszhed-up Camry and arguably the least complicated thing that could credibly call itself a luxury car at that time…and you still put thousands into it.
That’s not something most people could or would do, and it’s why even if you find a supposedly clean car like this, it will likely be victim to some sort of deferred maintenance.
—
I did, last week, acquire a lovely 2020 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 LWB. It came from a JLR dealer—who took the Lyriq for way more than it was worth, for some reason—and is in fantastic shape. It’s also black over “peanut-butter,” which is a classic color combo.
I purchased a very expensive warranty from my local dealership that should have me all the way out to 6 years and 80K miles from now, so I can pretend to be Doug DeMuro.
Maintenance costs and fuel are expensive for it, but…well, I like it, and so that’s that. Being the LWB with rear seats that move every which way, it sates my usual desire for a LWB flagship sedan, although I still have both the Phaeton and the XJ12…which are exactly that.
"a lovely 2020 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 LWB"
Doth thou insist on dying for our sins?
Co-worker: You know a lot about cars, right?
Me: A little. I wouldn't say I'm the foremost expert but I've replaced head gaskets in the driveway in the dead of winter and worst of summer before.
Co-worker: My wife is looking at this Range Rover at X's car lot. They have a really good price on it, 23 grand.
Me: Here's what I want you to do...go to the bank and take $5,000 out in cash, then put it in your front yard, cover it in lighter fluid, and set it on fire.
Co-worker: **hard blinking**
Me: If you can burn that $5,000 without a thought or a care, then you have the right mindset to burn at least that much money every year or so to keep that Range Rover running. If, on the other hand, the mere suggestion of it makes you mad then you tell her you'll sooner pound your testicles flat with a wooden mallet than allow that purchase.
Please keep spreading this gospel to keep the residuals low!
Residuals? You mean the downpayment.
It's very relative.
I just did what the dealer quoted as around $4-5k in suspension and brake work for maybe $600-700 in parts.
The LR3, at 165k miles, needs a lot of smaller things done and will probably ring up $1200 in parts this summer after 2 years of needing nothing but oil and front brakes.
No 18 year old car is going to be trouble free, but my parts cost for the Landy has generally fit into the bucket of being "cheaper than 1 monthly Yukon payment per year"
Sounds like the LR3 is the only model in recent history that can be kept going relatively sanely. I've been cross-shopping those vs GXs and LXs and it's not hard to find mechanically sound ones for overlanding for $6-10k.
Agreed. I want an L405 some day so I want every other human on earth to absolutely FEAR buying one. They're already touching $25k for a good one so let's keep this narrative going!
I actually fear the hell out of the L405. Everyone I know, myself included, has managed to hit themselves in the face with the door on one.
I think you need to be under 5'6 or over 6'3 to be immune.
Mine is a LWB and so has the longer rear doors. I dread the day I forget to disable the child locks and one of my godchildren opens the door in a parking lot and carelessly thwacks it against another car.
It’s because you’re supposed to be riding in the back seat!
Jack should comp your membership for making him seem sane. Cool cars though
Wait, what? Didn’t you just get the Lyriq?
And are you really going to keep the RR for 6 years?
Yep, just got the Lyriq, but it was annoying and somehow I managed to get out of it with a four-figure check.
Will I keep the Range Rover for six years? We’ll see. It would be nice to prove everybody wrong about how long I’ll keep it. I hear there’s a betting pool going on about how long I keep cars, to include such members at my best friend, my partner, my mother, my Russian car buddy, and my grade-school teacher (screw you, Mrs. Pierce!)
Do you have a dealer license?
It’s one thing to burn money frivolously - as Jack has done with this old Lexus - but it’s another thing entirely to incur guaranteed transaction and switching costs again and again and again because you can’t make up your mind!
I do.
You may need to call your therapist first (!), but do you have an idea of your sum total transaction / switching costs (surely there will have been some gains too given the sample size) over time?
It simply isn’t that serious. Haha.
So what was annoying?
- EV charging?
- electronics UI?
- general GMness?
I’m still amazed that as a former ELR owner, and current Bolt owner, GM put 0.0 effort into trying to sell me a Lyriq. Nada.
The EV part was fine. The other two things, absolutely they were annoying.
Steve, I feel like the bolt is one of the more underrated light duty cars out there and doesn’t get its due, then again, I have seen horror stories about battery and other inexplicable issues popping up.
In you experience, how has the reliability and maintenance cost of yours been?
The Bolt is a great city car. Easy to park. Fits 4 adults well. Other than the battery recall issue its been trouble free. Almost no maintenance other than tires. Like most EVs it goes thru tires faster than normal ICE cars (or maybe its how we drive it, eeek). We haven’t taken it outside the county so only charge it at home. We have two other vehicles for longer trips.
Great trade! 5.0 supercharged Rover is such a nice ride. ATB is icing on the cake.
I like the cut of your jib.
I am AMAZED and envious by your ever changing garage. How many miles did you actually put on the Lyriq?
Somewhere around 2,200. Keep in mind that it spent two weeks in the shop.
Every car you own should be equipped with a set of balls hanging from a receiver hitch. Love your taste but damn you play with fire with your Continental trysts and Oriental excursions.
Baruth, you, as the kiddos say, are an absolute savage for this one. First rule of Shitbox Club is to never total your receipts. You have fearlessly gone where most men would quail, and for that, a tip of the cap to you, good sir.
I have poured thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time into a series of B-Bodies that I have modified into worthlessness. By my account you have at least another 5k to incinerate on this one.
Every B-body, like every child, is valuable in God's sight!
Any takers for a POS 1983 LeSabre Estate Wagon? I rarely have moments of sanity when it comes to cars but I'm willing to take the $1k hit to have it gone rather than open another Bowling Green size sinkhole to make the car worth $1500...
And every sperm is sacred!
This also applies to home rehabs.
I've spent upwards of 60k on my house in the last 2 years and haven't added an ounce of value most likely. Maybe it's 50k, I definitely haven't added up the receipts.
I spent over $100k on my house last year. Roof, solar panels, HVAC systems. I don’t even want to think about the rumored kitchen remodel.
Thatll be another 100! Hopefully you at least added some value to it.
I know. I still have nightmares of our last kitchen remodel, that I did mostly myself.
As for value, those 3 things should be good for 20+ years. Given the crazy price appreciation out here, its hard to know what really adds “value”. Not planning to move so don’t really care.
I can suggest a 5k audio system to take care of that...
"You have to be rich to own a cheap car."
That reminds me of when I first got into cars 30 years ago, I'd devour Car Craft (or Camaro Craft, if you prefer), Hot Rod, et al. One of them had a section where they'd showcase a car owned by somebody under the age of 25.
The reason this stuck out is because in this issue, it was a '68 Charger with a 440, supposedly owned by a 23-year-old who'd used it for his daily driver in high school. Allegedly, this guy and his dad had pulled it out of some Utah scrapyard for $200 and did all the work themselves.
Yeah right, a B-body Mopar carcass free-and-clear for 200 late-80s dollars?
Double yeah right, a junkyard that would sell you an entire car AT ALL?
So what's missing here?
Well for starters, assuming this wasn't all horseshit, the article was the usual "just a regular guy with a passion for cars" fluff, conveniently leaving out the near-certainty that the guy's dad was the usual third-generation hot rodder who was on a first-name basis with every machine shop owner, mechanic and body-shop guy in the county. And who also had a fully-equipped barn with lifts, shop air and space to work.
So YES, you CAN do a cheap car. As long as you have the tools, connections and will. Which are the hallmarks of a rich man.
You see this in those woodworking videos and TikToks, “my wife wanted a new $4k buffet, I made it with $250 worth of wood!” Yeah, and $10k+ of woodshop tools.
Unless i enjoy it, id rather pay someone
Ah yes Scott ;
But then will you ever know it was DONE RIGHT ? .
-Nate
(you're welcome)
"When you go to have your car fixed, you never know if they've done a bad job. Whereas if you do it yourself, you're sure."
- Red Green
Sadly I only learned about Red Green a few years back when someone sent me a link to where he mounted a toilet on the hood of some old junker and they thought of me .
-Nate
All 300 episodes are on YouTube in their entirety!
Also : if it isn't broken, fix it until it is .
-Nate
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
And just what is wrong with that logic? Every project needs at least one new tool.
Many years ago there was a tool shop in the west Loop of Chicago. I was in there for some reason and they had a literal wall of wood chisels from the size of a telephone pole - I exaggerate slightly - on down to smaller than a pencil. It was at that time I realized that a woodworking hobby was likely as much about the tools as it was about the woodworking.
Tool lust is worse than car (or boat) lust.
BOAT - Break Out Another Thousand.
20+ years ago my company was acquired by another and as part of the transition our payroll was converted from 2x a month to every other week. Every other week resulted in having a three paycheck month twice a year. For the first couple of years that meant I was driving to the land of no sales tax that month and spending close to the entire paycheck at the tool shop. Was always fun to see how quickly in the day I'd get the anti-fraud phone call from my credit card company.
Sir, rather than buy new tools I am going to pay some guy to rebuild my front forks.
Where do I turn my man card in?
Keep the card. there are instances where it's worth the money to go to a professional. I say motorcycle suspension tuning is one of those instances - it's always struck me as something approaching a black art.
* Looks around the garage at the $10k+ of woodshop tools...*
But I don't want to build a buffet.
I should write a longer post about this, but I got into cars in college, late. I remember cramming projects into late evenings in the apartment garage, and north of a decade of begging, borrowing, and bribing various friends and acquaintances garages for space to use while I wrenched on shit.
Having said that, finally having a barn that cost about as much as a used Mulsanne to put together is a huge enabler for owning cheap cars.
'Having said that, finally having a barn that cost about as much as a used Mulsanne to put together is a huge enabler for owning cheap cars.'
And cheap motorcycles!
the hot rod 30 under 30 is always fun to see and how the fathers are never mentioned
That, and that in three decades of being into cars, I've almost NEVER read about a first-gen guy who got into cars in college.
With all the help and experience you’re providing to the young people, you could start a ‘non-profit’ and…
Oh wait. Never mind.
I'll grow my hair a little more, wear a robe, and call it...
JESUS GARAGE
pronounced _hey-sus_
If you started getting customers who pronounce it hay0soos....
Might be able to double up on the non-profit tax benefits, too!
I'll buy the inevitable patches and stickers.......
-Nate
But make sure that contributions for those are taken in as donations or "tips" to keep 'em tax free.
Actually worth looking into. Chronicle enough of it here, and some of the ACF expenses could be attached to that 501c3.
My local Lexus indie charges $180 an hour. Let that sit for a while. The dealer is at least $250 at this point.
My divorce lawyer's rate from several years ago has now intersected with my indie mechanic's rate.
Agreed. I haven't seen double digit labor rates for car repair in a long time, even in KS.
I did a heavy DIY refresh of a '92 Bonneville SSEi around 2016. I think I spent about $4,000 on it all in but I also got the car for free.
Before the COVID times, you could find runner domestic cars fairly easily for under $1,000. That's not really the case anymore unless you want a Northstar. There's still a "Toyota Tax" but it's a lot less than it used to be on things over 20 years old.
I acquired my Grand Prix for free as well. Being a tech, parts is the only thing I've got to worry about. Second on the pre-COVID $1,000 runner price. Lately prices seem to be coming down. Shocked to see Geo Metros going for ludicrous money all smashed out and zero parts availability.
I'm seeing prices really come down on *everything* on fb marketplace. From the "toy" category (motorcycles, powersports, rvs) to daily driver type cars. I hear in certain hispanic-heavy markets, all the ICE stuff is having a very real effect on the cheap used car market (lower demand). After this latest motorcycle flip I really would like to scoop up an LT1 4th gen or something even cheaper/sillier like a clean late model Grand Am GT with a 3.4 or a Beretta GT. I'm hopelessly addicted to 90s GM dreck. Turn up the Limp Bizkit!
Also seeing this trend, and I’m even seeing prices come down on cost-insensitive marketplaces like BringATroonler.
Still need GMT400 and T100 prices to come down to where they should be (3k for a good one 🤣)
KEEP ON ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN
Rollin' a Fleetwood, that's how I mac!
You can go your own way.
I think it was cash for clunkers that got rid of the cheap running car more than COVID, although COVID kicked it up a notch.
C4C was the beginning, the lack of new car sales during the recession years added to it, then devaluing the dollar approximately 50% over the last 5 years really drove prices up.
I'm reading old forum posts from 2009 educating myself on 4th gen Fbodies and guys are saying stuff like "go buy an LT1 you can get a nice one for $4k." 15 years later those same cars with a lot more wear are going for more than that.
In my experience over the years, even if I buy a car in “excellent condition”, I end up putting between $4000 and $5000 into it for deferred maintenance and repairs. Or as my buddy Jim the mechanic would say, 90% of all cars are for sale Because the owner is tired of throwing money at them.
My father doesn't know much about cars but he did say
"nobody ever got rid of a car because it ran too well."
Would I spend Baruthian money to get a car without a screen in the dash up to a high standard? Yup. All day long.
(the tiny screen in the Lexus doesn’t count)
Second. My W212 is having cam adjuster problems, and I am horrified by the possible replacements. I'll post something longer on this when I have a chance.
Please keep us posted.
My dumbass little brother recently needed a car. He was waffling between overpriced FJ’s and a new hybrid Maverick
He chose the rust bucket POS that was priced over original MSRP
They hold their value he insisted
Dumb Fu*ck
I wash my hands…
Nobody wanted the FJs when they were new, and I think there was a reason for that.
The interior was like being trapped inside an Igloo cooler.
A worse 4th gen 4Runner with the trump card of an available manual transmission
Because they look goofy?
By any metric except maybe some finer off-road stuff and lack of removable top, they were better than the 3.8 Wranglers of the time
But that's like saying they're better than the Mitsubishi Mirage!
The Mirage was a piece of shit, but an incredibly reliable and affordable piece of shit. They have my respect.
Unlike the 3.8 Wrangler which was simply just a piece of shit in every possible way. They are CHEAP now though. $10k gets you a pretty good one. Good throwaway off-roader/beater at that point.
I didn't realize that the crappier-engined JK wranglers had gotten that cheap?
On that note a buddy needs a sturdy 4WD beater to put studded snows on so he can drive up to the local ski lifts . $9K max budget
Is there anything other than a questionable GMT800/900, TJ Wangler or WK Grand Cherokee that fits this bill? Oddly hard to think of other options... Sequoia? Expedition (not sure of reliability)
Yeah!
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2008-jeep-wrangler-61/
Do you need Hi/Lo or would a normal AWD system work? A 2.5 or 3.0 or even hybrid Escape/Mariner/Tribute is generally stout mechanically. Cheap as shit too.
KoR... THAT'S NOT CHEAP LOL
Compared to any other Wrangler/Off-roader from this century it is!
And $10k is for a decent one! A kinda rough one with 200k miles is much cheaper than that even!
KoR, just wondering why the 3.8 was a piece of junk? Helen’s 2005 with a 3.8 went 257,000 miles and I finely got her a new CR-V when the Jeep started using a quart of oil every time I filled it up.
As gt said below… perhaps I’m being harsh.
The truck surrounding it at any rate was garbage. Just about the worst of Chrysler quality when it came out, even by Wrangler standards
The newer 3.6s are lunching cams at 40-70k miles (putting enough metal in the motor that safest bet is to repalce the whole longblock) so in hindsight the 3.8L was a *great* engine!
I hated them when they were new. My dad one day decided he wanted one and I’ve looked at a few for him. They’ve grown on me.
He still hasn’t purchased one though. Every single one in the tri-state area is a rusted POS.
Basically. I’ve checked out a couple in MD/DE/NJ and they are either 200k + miles with a rotted frame or they are $20k.
Little brother and wife are on their 2nd FJ (first one was replaced due to it wanting to play submarine on a boat ramp). They love it and believe it will be their "forever car". Much like Jeep owners (or Maybach owners), FJ owners are not entirely rational people.
I think the big issue Toyota had with the FJ was that much of their target market wanted a used FJ, not a new one.
As someone with an ever expanding hooptie fleet. You're going to love the LS430. Best reasonably priced road trip car IMO. It has the strongest will to live of any of my cars. It's got the stealth wealth approach, comfy leather seats, supremely supple air ride (if UL), will happily sip 87, good hydraulic steering that feels firm and graceful at speed, fantastic climate control with oscillating vents, rock solid reliability for the things that matter. What's not to love for something to take on long trips? Granted not without faults, steering column motors, deferred maintenance, little stuff breaking, and starters in the cylinder valley are the warts of an otherwise brilliant automobile. I hope to keep mine cruising for the next 50 years.
This one is owned by an ACFer and it's the zero-frills model, but that's okay with me as I don't want the air ride and I can probably put a modern stereo in if desired.
That's understandable. One of the great things about the LS430 is that when the air suspension fails you can put on normal struts and pull the air compressor fuse. After that there are no codes or other issues. I thoroughly modify all of my hoopties, but have only desired to put in better floor mats and a modern android head unit that I tether to my phone for data. Maybe I'll get a sheepskin cover for the drivers seat as I'm struggling with the leather being sticky.
I should just get a cover for the ES300 seats, but what I WANT to do is have them recovered in tweed.
This is a great idea. The cloth-- sorry, "blond city weave"-- interior of my Volvo is a godsend in winter and something better than that in summer. Quality wool, in colors!, can easily outlast the plastic-coated leather we've been trained to mistake for a luxury.
This aspect of Milano-Singerizing your Lexus can easily be coded as a practical expedient.
LS430s are kings, especially the 04-06s. Still miss mine.
"steering column motors"
Can you get the "easy entry, tilt away/back" function undone on the LS like you can on other models? I hear that's what wears them out.
I'd like to get the easy-exit turned off on my F-250, we'll have something like five spare wheels in the back and the motor will suffer grinding against an immovable object.
If it's like Lexus, there might be a dealer-specific software tool that could do it.
Luckily I know a guy at the factory. Have been too lazy to ask.
That’s not in a setting in a byzantine menu in the infotainment?
One of the first things I disable on any car, along with the autolock doors.
Yeah you can turn auto tilt/telescope off with a dealer tool you can buy off eBay for $30 called techstream.
Thanks for doing dumb shit. You ended up with a nice car and hopefully some more stories that you can tell us about how you got it back into shape. Now you need to get some social media accounts for the cats so you can sell a book and do more of these hijinks. I can't afford to do something like this and I would take the newer Lexus but as reader this is fucking great. Also, you got a daily driver out of this.
Hopefully you have an LLC that you can deduct the cost from your income for doing this wonderful project but if you don't monetize the cats. They won't know and maybe you can deduct the car food bills.
“Monetize the cats” LOL!!
He did. We pay it. Lol
The cat stories, his rugged good looks and a bit of tik tok magic and the cat ladies would be all over it.
I think Jack is doing just fine as the new face of Mountain Dew.
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mountain-mtn-dew-dude-refresh-iconic-slogan-campaign/721084/
Nice fur coat!
HOLY GOD I WANT THAT COAT
Its even ACF Green; perfect for Trick or treating (aka getting a peak in your neighbors homes and chatting up local milfs while getting free candy) in the township!
pardon me. we call that "Baruthian green."
What is wrong with you?
he is a man of wealth and taste
Wait. I thought Jack was playing banjo in Billy Strings band.
http://www.billyfailingmusic.com/about
YOU DONT NEED AN LLC TO DO THIS. HAVING AN LLC DOESNT MEAN YOU CAN DEduct SHIT!
thank you for coming to my ted talk.
Also, a great TED talk.
I know that but if you could deduct shit wouldn't you better be protected by an LLC. I am thinking you could deduct expenses if you were doing a expose on why you don't want to buy a used car.
Llcs are for liability. Jack could probably deduct some of this shit against his substack income but he is the only human in the usa who has been audited in the last 12 years and apparently he got nailed and is hesitant to be aggressive. And he refuses to hire me!
If you knew how I ran the rest of my life you wouldn't let me clean the carpets in your office hallway!
True and I would hire you!
Good read. I've often wondered if I'd spend less money if I'd gone the Japanese route instead of the Swedish. Turns out, not really. I always had a sweet spot for that generation ES, too.
In 2024 I bought what was the nicest 2004 9-5 I could locate to replace my Cleveland-rotted 2002, and proceeded to spend the purchase price again on bringing it fully up to snuff, doing a lot of the same kind of thing it sounds like you've done to the Lexus.
In the intervening time, my wife got pregnant, and my time for doing car stuff quickly evaporated, and now that the boy is here, it doesn't exist at all. So I got sick of playing another round of "What's that smell/drip/noise?" on an almost monthly basis with a decades old daily driver that now also had to transport my infant.
That being said, I did the prudent thing, and I offed the Saab and replaced it with, uh, a seven year old Audi. One owner dealer serviced car, lowish miles, non-S variant with the ubiquitous supercharged V6 and ZF8. It's something I've been watching for several years and my goal was to try to hit the sweet spot of being heavily depreciated but still usefully reliable.
The Saab was costing me somewhere between $0 and $1,000 per month on upkeep. So far I've owned the Audi four months and it has done 5k miles in my care needing nothing but an oil change and monthly payments. My fingers remain crossed for continued good luck.
I used to find joy in keeping my car in good shape when I was single, had a lift and nothing better to do. I do still enjoy wrenching when I have the time. But now, that type of activity is reserved for cars I don't rely on to make my income that can sit in the (additional, heated when necessary) garage while they wait for parts or time to become available. When the Audi decides it needs something, I plan to solve whatever problem arises with my checkbook.
This is an exceptionally mature and successful way to look at things. I bet you miss the 9-5, though.
In some ways I do. I knew that car like the back of my hand, it having been the fourth 9-5 I'd owned. So while it was tiresome, the upkeep never perplexed me. In contrast the Audi may as well be an alien spacecraft.
That said, the Audi is hands down a nicer place to spend my hour and fifteen minutes of daily commuting every day, if slightly less engaging. Plus, I've got nearly a hundred more horsepower in the Audi and I get the same mileage!