[TurboSpecC]

Safety is the main reason I'd never buy an old CRX or something to drive to the supermarket and whatnot. It is hard to find a balance when looking for a used, cheap but newer car like a car from the early 2000s.

How much safety (or emission control) would you be willing to give up for the price?

You’ve had ’em. We’ve had ’em. With the exception of the Sultan of Brunei, pretty much everybody’s had an old and ugly—but fuel-efficient—beater rusting away in the driveway in their past. And with gas prices doing what they’ve been doing of late and the economy threatening to implode, those old POS’s are starting to look as tempting as a cold Popsicle on a hot day at the county fair. Their prices have been on the rise, the posterchild for the movement being a 1992 Geo Metro XFi—a car said to get more than 50 mpg—that recently sold on eBay for $7200, according to U.S. News and World Report. Perhaps now is a good time to mention that the car sold for roughly $7200 new.

http://www.caranddriver.com/re...d=303

[gonzo]

I know they hold value so cheap may not apply but Mini Coopers are high on the safety ratings. I love using mine for running around. Taking a buddy in her for a football game about 300 miles south Saturday. 28 city has been great.
Check auto trader for some older models maybe?

[flyinb501]

I wouldn't...

[epbrown]

It never makes sense to buy a 2nd car just to save fuel costs, because the numbers never add up. In order for this to work, the beater would have to be cheaper to buy, register, insure, fuel, and maintain than the fuel savings.

[Spec 1]

Originally Posted by epbrown

It never makes sense to buy a 2nd car just to save fuel costs, because the numbers never add up. In order for this to work, the beater would have to be cheaper to buy, register, insure, fuel, and maintain than the fuel savings.

A lot of my clients (I'm a State Farm agent) have been selling their pickups for these. Many folks have 2 or 3 trucks, and they're getting rid of 1 or 2 and buying a little Civic for gas. You're right, it doesnt make sense to buy an additional vehicle simply for fuel consumption.

[Sh0cker]

I have a corolla that was $2k to buy, $400/yr to insure and it gets 30-35 mpg (on regular). Maintenance isn't much, I don't have to carry collision or comprehensive and even the tires are cheap.

35mpg @ $3.50 regular vs. 20 mpg @ $4.00 premium takes 20k miles to pay off a $2k car ($0.10/mile) benefit. That's only 1-1.5 years for me. So in 2 years it balances out the purchase price plus all the maintenance/insurance cost accrued in that time frame, I figure. After that the savings are even more.

Even if it would take a few years to pay itself off, it keeps mileage off the 335 and make me appreciate the bimmer that much more when I drive it. I guess the biggest factor on whether it's worth it or not is the purchase price, I got my beater cheap from my brother.

BTW, I use to ride a motorcycle to work to save gas so the Toyota has got to be safer than that.

[ChrisV]

How much safety would you give up? I've been driving for 30+ years, and I've driven cars that by modern standards were inhenetly unsafe. In fact, I just sold my '81 Fiat 124 Spyder that was a great driver for a few years, even though it was "too old to be safe." I'd drive a vintage car on the street daily. And I have. Simply put, safety has always been about the driver, not the car. You can avoid the idiot soccer mom and the raging drunk if you are paying attention, even in an older car.

As for cheap beaters to get good fuel mileage, you can have lower insurance rates on not just the cheap car, but because you have multiple cars you can get a discount on your newer car, too. Especially if you say that your beater car is your primary car, you might actually save overall on insurance costs by having a cheap beater.

Buying a $500 older car like say, a '90s Mazda Protege, for example, can pay for itself in the first couple months of ownership, due to the low buy-in. What doesn't make any sense is buying a NEW economy car to save money, as you have to have full coverage, you've spent $14-15k AND you still have to buy fuel.

[flyinb501]

We're all enthusiasts here, which is why I don't understand why anyone would want to drive around a piece of sh!t everyday just to try and save a few bucks. Doesn't make sense to me...

[TurboSpecC]

I was thinking about those of us with families who have multiple cars. I know we are thinking about replacing our 1998 outback (extra car for the kids) with someone more modern, albeit with less amenities (leather, moonroofs, etc) like an 09 Fit, that would be safer (4 more airbags, stability control) and have better fuel econ.

[ChrisV]

Originally Posted by flyinb501

We're all enthusiasts here, which is why I don't understand why anyone would want to drive around a piece of sh!t everyday just to try and save a few bucks. Doesn't make sense to me...

Maybe you are made of money and think nothing of buying two or more new enthusaist cars so that you can driven one while the other one is either in the shop having warranty work done, or taken apart while you do mods on it. Not everyone is in that position. And as "enthusiasts" we aren't so stuck up as to think that just because a car is cheaper/older that it's a POS that we'd be embarrased to be seen in, or that doesn't perform as well as be economical to own. And, as was mentioned above, some people simply want their main car to stay nice while using the cheap car for the commute in bad traffic/bad weather.

But then you probably think my 7 series is a POS because it's 10 years old and has 160k on it.