I didn't think it was appropriate to hijack a thread so I started a new one.
I am 26 years old and when I was 16, my dad gave me a 1985 Ford Tempo. I drove that until it died and being 16, a lot of it was stupid stuff I did. Anyway, then a few years later I got a 1991 Ford Tempo. Again, drove it until it started to have shop visits every week costing $400 or more each time.
Fast forward to 2005 and I bought a USED 2002 Toyota Corolla CE. Couldn't be happier with the car. Other than minor maintenance, a tensioner pulley replacement, a new cat (thanks to me using gas cleaner all the time), a new oxygen sensor, and brakes -- nothing MAJOR has gone wrong. It consumes no noticeable amount of oil that I am aware of. It gets great gas mileage. Really, not a problem car at all... and I have driven it from Medford, OR to Fresno, CA and back more times than I can count. That's a 7 hour, 500 mile drive ONE WAY.
Any way... my question is:
Why don't people tend to drive vehicles into the ground? I sure as hell don't want another car payment. I have 2 years on this and I plan on KEEPING the car until the damn thing keels over. Or possibly
-- sell it in 2 years for $3-5k or whatever and then hopefully have some money saved and pay cash and finance very little if at all on a newer model Toyota something or other.
Just curious why most trade them in as opposed to keeping them until they die. Perhaps it's a cost thing. I would think it's more economical to drive it until it dies and/or starts costing an arm and a leg. So far, 147,000 miles and mine still runs like a champ... knock on wood.
TIA,
Steve