Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Sep 1, 2007, at 1:15 PM, Don Bowen KI6DIU wrote:

> Drive your car over 200,000 miles and save $20,000 to $30,000.
>
> http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/30/autos/cr_drive_200k/index.htm? 
> postversion=2007083113

Until I learn a better way I will continue to buy new and keep until  
it is too far gone to justify repairs.

We bought Chris's Corolla new in 1990, last year drove it to a  
reclamation place and they gave us a couple hundred for it. It had  
just under 200k but every gasket in the thing was leaking, I presume  
from the Phoenix heat and low humidity. All gasket replacements were  
estimated at over 2k.

I expect the 2002 Highlander to go well over 2000k.

I broke new own rule of only buying new to get a commute car for when  
I was recently commuting three miles each way to a job. It's a 1999  
Tacoma plain vanilla with 135,000 miles. I gave 5k for it and expect  
it to last another 100k miles. It just made the trip from Phoenix to  
Heartwood without a hiccup and averaged over 27 mpg at maximum posted  
speeds, mostly 75.

James' method of buying old vans and such may well cost less over the  
decades. I like enjoying the features of a new car and then having  
perfect maintenance performed and knowing its history as we age  
together. Each new vehicle starts out in better shape than me but I  
have so far outlasted all of them.