Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Gotta Drive it 15 years...

Geez, it appears that I have to drive my car another 7 years. According to Consumer Reports, it says driving your car to death saves you $31k. Specifically the article says to keep your car 15 years or 225,000 miles of driving before it's considered a goner. I assume they mean it begins to cost more to repair the car than it's worth.

I was hoping to get rid of my car in another 3 years. Consumer Reports compared the cost of keeping a car for 15 years versus replacing the same car every 5 years. Of course the magazine does acknowledge that the car needs to be properly mainted to last that long. Another major factor in keeping a car for 15 years is the brand of car.

On their list of cars likely to make it to 200k miles are either a Honda or a Toyota. However the cars least likely to make it to 200k miles were mostly foreign european cars. I guess this means my corolla will run until it dies, but our ford focus could have trouble making it to 200k.

Well I'll never say I'm selling it or buying anything until it happens.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess that makes me glad I bought a Honda Civic then! :) I've had it over 7 years, I just hit 71,000 miles and I plan on driving it for another at least 6 1/2 years when my nephew turns 16. When I get close to getting a new car I will certainly do my research to see what the recommended long lasting cars are then. Thanks for the great post!

Anonymous said...

My Honda Civic is 11.5 years old with only about 79,000 miles. I haven't had a car payment in more than eight years. All that money that would have gone to payments on a new car has been and is going to other financial goals. My car still looks brand new and runs great.

Barb1954

Living Almost Large said...

Well I guess I have to keep it forever. Ah well.

Anonymous said...

one thing is, after 10 years old, it starts to be not as safe as most other things on the road, either because it doesn't have enough air bags or is smaller, etc. I think at about 10 years, it's reasonable to consider a newer car for the safety factor.

Living Almost Large said...

I had heard that reason from a neighbor. However, I am not sure if it's real or something car companies sell us. I do believe that dual airbags and side airbags are definitely worth it. And maybe if you have kids getting a safer vehicle would be nice.

I think we'll change our vehicles mainly because we'll have kids and need more space than we have.

Unknown said...

Like change is a Good Thing I bought my Honda 15 years ago and it is still in great shape going towards 200k of miles. While I get some flack from work mates about my car, it is in fact saving me a lot of money in taxes and car payments. I like my car and the value it brings so drive yours until it gives up the ghost. Simplicity in Kansas

MouthGirl.com said...

My corolla made it exactly 10 years. I just sold it in April for $1700 it was a 1997. Had around 180,000 miles on it and I bought a used Mazda Protege that has everything on it. Mazda is in bed with Ford Motor company and they don't build cars that don't last unless they're economy cars, like the Focus you mention. If you'll notice you still see early 90's model Mazda's still on the road. That's a testament.

I should mention that the only reason I even sold my Rolla, as I called it, was because I put a part on it and 30 days later was facing replacing the same part. I decided it was the beginning of the end and sold it to someone else.

Living Almost Large said...

Sabrina, nice to know, if my car started eating my parts within 30 days I would totally replace it.

Right now I'm still hoping 15 years!