On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:04:06 GMT, Mat wrote:

In my 40 yrs of car ownership I have owned and driven: (x) yrs owned;
[xxx,yyy] xxx = purchase price, yyy = selling price

1. 65 Plymouth Fury III (1) Junk [$700,0]
2. 73 Merc Capri (2) a little better than Junk [2600,2000]
3. 76 Pontiac Firebird (2) Junk [5000,5000]
4. 79 Pontiac grand prix (14) Junk [9000,1300]
5. 90 Acura Integra (17+) Best by far and still going strong [12,000,n/a]

Total cost net of trade ins: $21,000

Estimated total cost of repairs (over 40 yrs) $2,500

Needless to say I do almost all work myself

All cars were driven approx 12k/yr


I won't list them all, but my formulae for the last couple decades is
to buy a 5 or 6 year old car with 100,000km (60,000 miles) for 5 - 6
thousand dollars and drive it another 160,000 Km (100,000 miles) and
then hopefully sell it still running and roadworthy.

Worked fine for the 88 New Yorker and the 90 Aerostar. Sold them both
with 240,000 km on them for $1700 - the New Yorker was 18 years old
and the Aerostar was 14?. The '94 TransSport had more miles on it when
I bought it and cost less to buy, but the same by the time it was on
the road, (factory rebuilt 3.8 and tranny) and it only lasted just
under 100,000km before it went straight to the junkyard (where I
should have let it go in the first place) The '85 LeBaron made the
100,000 before the body fell off - Sold the (rebuilt Mitsu 2.6) motor
and tranny and interior which were on the road for another 8 years or
more. (Another one that I paid less for, but did a lot of work to get
on the road - and likely should not have)

Going back a few years, my first car was a $60 1961 Mini (7 years old
with 196,000 miles) that I drove 18,000 miles in just over a year and
sold for $300 (after rebuilding the engine and having a lot of fun
with it) Then I put about 100,000 miles onto a '63 Valiant that I paid
$700 for with about 50,000 on the clock, and put the '69 dart that I
bought 1 1/2 years old with 60,000ish miles on it up to about 204,000
before selling it in 1972, still running and looking great when I left
the country for a few years.

My average cost of ownership, excluding oil changes, insurance and
gasoline, is well under $1000 per year.

Current vehicles are 1996 Mystique 2.5 and 2003 PT Cruiser - both
bought for $5500 - $6000 with 90-100,000km on them and 5 years old -
now both around 135,000 km.

Repairs on the Cruizer so far have been about $900 - brakes, radiator,
battery, and steering parts - and the Mystique about $3000 - intake
manifold gaskets - exhaust, lower control arms, inner tie rod ends, AC
reciever drier, window regulator, brake lines, and numerous electrical
connections.
And a set of snow tires and winter rims for each ($500 per vehicle).

If I had to scap them both today my total cost per year on the Merc is
($8000/9=) $888 per year, and The PT Cruiser about ($7000/3=)$2333.
The Merc should be good for another 2 or 3 years, and the Cruizer
another 5 or more