Aron9000

Just wondering if anybody is crazy like me and drives around in 20+ year old cars for their daily drivers. And they would take off and drive said car on a 2000 mile road trip tomorrow if they needed to. So for the last 5 years, my fleet has consisted of:

1992 Lexus SC300. Bought in 2012 with 60k miles, now has 89k on it. So far I've replaced the tires, clutch hydrolics, and recharged the a/c. Car has been a total beast, I'd drive it anywhere and plan to keep driving it for the next 4-5 years.

1998 Camaro Z28 convertible, bought it in 2010, wrecked in 2012. Had 93k miles on it, wrecked it with 97k on it. Bought it in Connecticut, drove it back to Tennessee. Had it for 2 years, drove it when the weather was nice.

1991 Cadillac Brougham. Bought it back in late 2008. Car had 100k on it when I bought it, sold it in 2012 with 135k on it. In that whole time I owned it, only thing it needed was the sunroof motor, brakes, and tires. Hell it even got good gas mileage, 17-19 in mixed driving, 24-25mpg on the highway.

1993 Toyota truck, bought with 153k on it, now has 174k. This has been a project, since I bought it has a new clutch, new clutch hydrolics, new belts, new radiator, new battery, new front brakes including a new caliper, new hood, new hood latch(it had been hit in the front), new muffler, Looks like a total pos, but its reliable enough to get me back and forth to work, even with 5-6" of snow on the ground.

mmarshall

20 years old, for some, is nothing. There are some people (albeit few and far between), that still run around in Model T and Model A Fords from 80-100 years ago. Many parts are still readily available, and they are dirt-simple to service and repair.

SW17LS

I'll pay you $1,000 if you find me one person who daily drives a Model T or Model A Ford and "would take off and drive it on a 2,000 mile road trip".

LexBob2

If you do find one, they are probably stranded on the roadside 10-20 miles from home.

SW17LS

And it took them an hour and a half to get there!

chikoo

And gas mileage is probably just as good as a tank

SW17LS

No matter how bad the gas mileage is, its always going to be cheaper to drive that old, fully depreciated car.

Anyways, gas mileage hasn't improved that much. For instance my 2015 LS460 doesn't really get any better mileage than my 1998 LS400, despite being 17 years newer.

1998 LS400: 17city/23hwy/19 combined
2015 LS460 RWD (apples to apples): 16 city/24hwy/19 combined

Wanna go further back? Comparing the minivan my parents had when I was a kid to the minivan my family has now:

1987 Ford Aerostar 3.0L V6: 15city/20hwy/17combined
2015 Kia Sedona SX-L: 17city/22hwy/19combined.

So even with the Kia being 28 years newer, I'm only getting 2MPG better.

Now, I know I'm getting a ton more performance for that economy, but if you're driving an older car you totally cannot say that you're paying enough more in fuel to make it worthwhile to trade it in for a new car for that reason alone. On that van, you have to pay the $200 more in annual fuel a long time to make the $40,000 cost of the van make economic sense. For the LS, there is no annual fuel cost savings at all.

tex2670

The question was whether people use them as a daily driver.

FrankReynoldsCPA

My family has always used older cars, even in excess of 20 years of age. I don't think my dad has ever purchased a brand new vehicle, and I'm not sure if I ever will. Just 2 years ago they barely upgraded from a 91 LS to a 2006 Chrysler 300. And they'll probably drive that car for 10 years.

Ain't nothing wrong with it.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

I still daily my 92 sc300 5 speed

UZJ100GXR

A friend daily drives a 1985 Land Crusier FJ60 with over 500 thousand kms, it literally is a tank.

mmarshall

For commuting everyday or long-distances, that's true. That's why I said few and far between....though not unheard of.


And thanks, but save your money; I don't need it LOL.........I make more than what I need, even in retirement.

SW17LS

So again...what you're talking about has nothing to do with the topic at hand, check.

Aron9000

WERD

That's my daily driver as well, 1992 SC300/5 speed, 90k miles on it now. It had 60k on it when I bought it in 2011. I figure this car should be good for another 15 years or so lol at the current rate I drive it. That is if I don't get a significant raise and decide to retire it from daily driver duty and put a massive turbocharger on it.

mmarshall

I often see 90s-vintage Lexus models still running around with 200K miles on them. But, no, not with massive turbos or superchargers LOL.