So...after months of negotiations I buy a new car...

The negotiating was with my wife.

Conversations were like this:

I know of a Miata I can get for $1000..."No".

How about another MR2 for $500..."No".

There's this cool old Capri for $900.."No".

Now to be fair, I've been buying crap boxes to DD for years. I finally told her "If this one doesn't work out I'll go ahead and buy a new car..." and then when that one didn't work out I got another one. And then that one didn't work out either. So my stream of good luck with ultra-cheap DDs finally ran out (my last one was $650 and with only tires, brakes, tune-up and oil changes I drove it for about three years and 50,000 miles) and I caved.

The car (2013 Focus) and I will get used to each other eventually, but now I can focus (!) on my fun car -an '83 Mustang- and work on my winter driver/hauler '83 Ranger that needs many, many things and time...

Stan

This has been a constant debate in my marriage for years. The real issue is the time spent on the cars keeping them running.

I enjoy working on cars the problem is that she does not enjoy me working on the cars. She does enjoy the $$$ savings. I just keep reminding her off that as well as it keeps me around the house on weekends.

There's a lot to be said for having a car that just works. Sure, it takes some of the adventurer out of the day, but when you need to do a parts run, it's always there for you.

Yep, our Mazda5 serves as the car-I-don't-have-to-deal-with, so I can focus my efforts on the fun stuff. After years of stressing out about fixing my dd before the weekend is over I'm loving the new "setup" (newish DD + spare car). I actually find myself wanting to wrench more. Funny thing about that - when I MUST get something done I'm pissed about it. When it's optional, I enjoy it.

Cheap DD's require planning ahead to minimize downtime and stress. I have 3 working/driving vehicles for 3 drivers in this house. The Impala doesn't require anything but fuel and oil changes at the moment to keep driving. On the flipside though, I really need to pull the wheels and tires off it and replace them with the ones that came on it, once I put some new rubber on the original wheels and eliminate the tire light. The wife's Avalanche still rolls down the road, although at 150k, I still need to change out all the drivetrain fluids, replace the rear brake shields, rear calipers (bleeders are frozen, so I can't flush the system), rear pads and discs, fix the 4wd system, front ball joints, and many other things. My Dakota needs a new ignition lock cylinder, engine cooling fan, heater core, and a new AC compressor clutch. All of these vehicles run down the road as is. I just know in the back of my mind, I have to fix them at some point.

I actually like wrenching at anytime, either on the DD or for fun.

Good choice.

As Clem has told me many times, when you drive $500 cars, you need a few waiting in the wings. This makes it a little hard for me to justify over something newish and reliable.

old Capri for 900?

My wife still believes the tens of dollars spent on the dd is worse than the hundred+ on a new car. Figure that math out. I actually was thinking of a new Focus or Taurus.

EvanB wrote: old Capri for 900?

My thoughts exactly!

Have you guys never heard these two sayings?

1. Happy wife, happy life.

2. The "One good car" theory states that as long as you have one car for the family to drive that will start every time, and you have reasonable confidence that you can use it to berkeley off over the horizon at a moments notice, you can then have as many crapcans as you want.

dean1484 wrote: This has been a constant debate in my marriage for years. The real issue is the time spent on the cars keeping them running. I enjoy working on cars the problem is that she does not enjoy me working on the cars. She does enjoy the $$$ savings. I just keep reminding her off that as well as it keeps me around the house on weekends.

Pull a Jay Leno on her and just ask her if she would prefer you disappear for a couple hours and come back smelling like motor oil or cheap perfume?

Also, nice choice on the '13 Focus. I really dig the looks of those! Please tell me you got one with a manual transmission...

N Sperlo wrote: My wife still believes the tens of dollars spent on the dd is worse than the hundred+ on a new car. Figure that math out.

A lot of people share that feeling. I think if they would separately bank the money they're not spending on a monthly payment, it would quickly become obvious how little repairs cost in the grand scheme of things.

Hypocritical truth be told: I leased a Volt just after they came out and don't regret it one bit. It always works and if it doesn't: "here, fix this". At this very moment, the wife's E30 has fuel and differential leaks, the Jaguar keeps throwing a Restricted Performance error, the E34 wagon has a dead self-leveling and blown rear shocks (among 30 other things - that's just what makes it unusable!), and the Ferrari has a bum clutch release bearing.

Tell us about the Capri!

mfennell wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: ... and the Ferrari has a bum clutch release bearing.

Wish I had those kinds of problems.

I did the math too (constantly) and it just didn't make sense to me to spend $xxxxxxxx when I could just as easily spend $xxx. Plus (and this is the best part) I had 50 years of cars to choose from as opposed to one year.

Time was the biggest issue with her. She says I now have more time to work on the house...

...and it looks like the Capri (1976, 2.8, four speed) is gone. I'm suprised you didn't see this Evan as it was in Columbus.

The Focus is a five speed. Of course.

Recipee for balanced car portfolio:

1 Warrantied DD to get to work 1toy classic driver to hang with car guys 1 total projectThe does not matter if ever done. Kinda

stan wrote: ...and it looks like the Capri (1976, 2.8, four speed) is gone. I'm suprised you didn't see this Evan as it was in Columbus.

I haven't been looking since I don't have money to spend on another car but I could have made it work for a Capri.

mfennell wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: My wife still believes the tens of dollars spent on the dd is worse than the hundred+ on a new car. Figure that math out.

A lot of people share that feeling. I think if they would separately bank the money they're not spending on a monthly payment, it would quickly become obvious how little repairs cost in the grand scheme of things.

A common point of discussion lately in my household. The funny thing is, of all the vehicles we have (4) the newest cars are the most troublesome, likely because the older ones have fully teethed into their age while the newer ones are just now hitting the point where components start to fail (150k miles). My wife even drove my old diesel Benz for a few days while I worked on the Subaru, which was hilarious.

Buying parts can get annoying, working on cars can be frustrating, but its not nearly as bad as dropping them off at a dealership for repeated repairs or recall notices, or paying 2x parts costs and labor at a shop for someone else to replace them.

When it comes to buying projects, with the cost of replacement parts, upgrades, new wheels and tires, etc., the cost benefit argument loses some traction.

EvanB wrote:

stan wrote: ...and it looks like the Capri (1976, 2.8, four speed) is gone. I'm suprised you didn't see this Evan as it was in Columbus.

I haven't been looking since I don't have money to spend on another car but I could have made it work for a Capri.

Ha.

I'm still looking!

I'll sell you a cheap Peugeot. After you work on that for awhile your wife will love the idea of a cheap Miata or MR2.

EvanB wrote: I'll sell you a cheap Peugeot. After you work on that for awhile your wife will love the idea of a cheap Miata or MR2.

My "new" rule was/is no unusual cars. I like that I'm tripping over parts for the Mustang. Most Toyotas (MR2s) and Mazdas (Miata, RXs) are about the same too. Boring maybe, but not frustrating.

...and I bet R_B_S is going to buy it anyway!

When we got married my wife had a new Mercury Cougar she had just bought. I had a couple well used cars that I spent a lot of time and money keeping on the road.

She kept records on her Cougar and all the various vehicles I had until she got rid of the Cougar 10 years later. She was able to show me that I had spent 30% more than her on vehicles over that 10 years. I was convinced to buy new from then on with the condition that I was allowed to modify them as I wanted.

Been doing that since 1978 and do not regret it at all.