I enjoyed a cruise some years ago and the ads on television leave me to insist that on a future cruise any ship without traventine stairs is just slumming.
Americans deserve all the conspicuous consumption that their credit card limits will allow. And with $10,000 off MSRP and ZERO interest for a 7 year loan who can’t afford all the car they truly deserve? In 3 or 4 years when the warranty is out they will have to worry about mechanics but in the mean time they can FLAUNT IT.
Why would anyone even look for one of those vehicles ?
I would prefer a well maintained 2000 Escort to most SUVs or any European vehicle of that age @VOLVO_V70. The 4 door wagon was a lot of bang for the buck but it was rare that Escorts, Neons, etc were well maintained.
Having a basic cheap car can have its benefits. I have my old 1997 F-250 Light Duty. I NEVER would have bought the truck had I known how many repairs it would need. I would have driven it straight to the scrap yard after the sale had I known how much trouble it would be. I would never buy one of these oddball model years again. It was a “Fix Or Repair Daily” at first but now is a solid reliable truck. Finding parts can be hard at times. I once gave the Ford dealer my VIN and he told me the truck didn’t have the part I was requesting. I told him to come out and look under the hood. He was like "Your truck does have that part but that doesn’t show up on the parts diagram for your VIN number lookup. I have the one with the strange 8th digit in the VIN and that is like 6% of all these trucks so mine is a real oddball. Some of the parts are 1996 parts while others are 1998 parts. I have given up just going and buying parts with the VIN number. I take the old part off and drive it to the store in another car so that I can match them up and not count on their computers which are often wrong.
That being said, it is now a good solid truck after many repairs have been done. There is an occasional problem but nothing terrible. I put new headlights in it as well as a new wheel bearing and hub this summer. I took it to the shop for the hub/wheel bearing assembly and paid them $300 or so to change it. Several people were like “You put $300 into that old junker???” I was like yeah, it is worth it to me since I know the good and bad about the truck. One truck payment would cover that and then some. If it is only a couple of those a year which is possible with the low miles I put on the thing, it is very worth it to me to keep this old clunker. It is starting to use oil pretty noticeably which I guess is not surprising considering the fact it has 300,000 miles or so (odometer quit a while back at 281K) and came to be in very neglected/abused condition. I won’t put any major engine work into this thing but adding a quart of oil a month isn’t a huge deal.
Many of my friends have nice trucks they paid good money for. We like to go camping, floating, etc. Some of the river accesses are pretty rough and isolated so you never know if someone will break in to your vehicle or take some metal part or wiring to sell as scrap. Mine always gets left at the far out places with rough roads and such because of this. I don’t worry. One of my buddies is ultra paranoid and gets upset at the tiniest little scratch. There is something to be said for having a beater farm truck that you don’t care about dings, etc. on. I use it for hard use on the farm and wouldn’t buy a real nice truck to replace it. I would definitely get an upgrade from what I currently have but see no reason to replace it until something major fails.
As bad as it was and with all the frustration it caused when I got it, this old beast has never left me walking.
Yes, many considered economy cars to be throwaways or whatever. They didn’t care for them, resulting in their premature demise. Most of these types of cars still have a loyal following among certain groups. I know the Escort is one as long as you avoid the dreaded 2.0 SPI engine that was used in some of these as well as early Focuses.
Again, doing basic maintenance and replacing parts on a cheap and low-value car is usually cheaper than making a new car payment. This isn’t always the case on computers and other electronics as their value drops so rapidly and a new unit might not cost much more than a repair and bring a faster and more reliable system as well. That is one area where servicing cars and computers is quite different. A 10 year old car is likely still quite useful while the same cannot be said for a computer of that age, at least for most of the users that I deal with.
Actually, the last time I needed a car, I looked long and hard for one of those kinds of cars, but there just aren’t any for sale in good condition anymore. Occasionally, I see one, but they always have super-high miles, and are pretty much used-up. I ended up buying a Daewoo Lanos instead, not a very good car at all, but it gets the job done.
I really like the Dodge Spirit/Plymouth Acclaim, and the Shadow/Sundance too, but those are very rare now.
I guess we differ in opinion on how close to the ground a $1000 car is actually. There’s a reason people won’t pay more than $1000 and it’s not because other than needing this expensive repair, it’s in great shape! 
The third or forth owner of an entry level auto is likely to be living pay check to pay check and only gives any attention to maintenance when the car is becoming undriveable. If such a car survives a year or so of total neglect and the timing belt breaks it would be a big mistake for anyone to buy it hoping to get it ‘up and running’ for a few bucks. But then it would be just as big a mistake to buy a 20 year old Rover, BMW or Volvo that had been poorly maintained. Some well maintained cars among those brands prove to be money pits more costly than a 20 year old Escort though
I don’t necessarily agree
I would take a well maintained model year 2000 4Runner over a well maintained model year 2000 Escort
I’d even take a well maintained model year 2000 Exploder over a well maintained model year 2000 Escort
I’ve known a few people that liked the Spirit and Acclaim . . . but I’ve NEVER heard anybody talk fondly about the Shadow and Sundance, not even when they were new
My sister told me the story as stated from when she was a manger at a store that starts with s and ends with s. I do not spread crap and take offence to your comment. I can call my sister and reconfirm the story if you feel the need. If she feels comfortable I will provide her phone number so you can confirm, but in the meantime been here so long to be accused of spreading crap is a real insult! She told me the story in the 80’s. Formaldehyde common in embalming fluid exposure from the internet, “Skin contact with formaldehyde solution or paraformaldehyde can cause skin rashes and allergic skin reactions. For the individual allergic to formaldehyde, even very low levels of formaldehyde are likely to cause skin reactions. Splashes into the eyes can cause irritation, corrosion of the cornea, and possibly blindness.”
I bought an almost new Dodge Spirit 2.5L naturally aspirated OHC 4-banger. It was a rental unit at LAX, had 5,900 miles on it and lots of factory warranty.
It was one of the best cars I’ve owned and an adequate replacement for the 3 Dodge Aries 2.2Ls I owned. They never disappointed us, either.
All these cars were bought used during a period of time my wife and I were driving 5,000 miles/month, each, in weather from 90 degrees to -30 degrees, snow, ice, etcetera.
Excellent, excellent cars, all!
CSA
You believe Snopes? How gullible are you?
Don’t you know everything you see on TV or online is true NOT.
I was thinking more about my business model and why it works. There are a few things I did when I started up that I would never do today.
I have talked to employees of corporate chains (auto parts and office supply stores included) and they hate how corporate dictates they sell some low end model. There are usually like 3 grade of auto parts. A guy at one of the stores is like “I wish we could not sell that cheaper grade but they won’t let us. The mid grade is really just the same as the most expensive one but doesn’t come with a lifetime warranty.” The same applies to an office store I hit up frequently. They hate dealing with the low-end and low-price PCs because of all the complaints and returns they get. Corporate wants them to sell these but then gets angry when they have a 60% return rate. They have ways of discouraging people by not putting them out on display but often it will be in the sales flyer and they have to go get one to sell out of the back. Eventually these get sent back if they don’t sell by the time the new model rolls out. Corporate doesn’t like this either but it doesn’t hurt their numbers nearly as much as a huge number of returns.
This eliminate the types who buy a system for barely over cost and then want support when they can’t figure it out themselves. That works against the people who want to buy a $6 part and then want me to provide all the free support in helping them install it over the phone. I will be more than happy to sell them a $6 part but will also require they pay for the services to make sure it is installed properly and working.
There are lots of fly by night “buy here, pay here” car lots around town as well as a couple that sell decent used cars with a warranty, new tires if needed, a fresh oil change, new coolant, etc. These cars cost a little more but don’t come with the trap of expensive financing. You can either get financing through them or bring your own. You can even pay cash and they don’t balk. That is more the mentality I follow. Provide a superior product and service that people can’t get from a big box store, etc.
I think filling a niche that box box stores cannot or are unwilling to fill is how you have to do it these days.
The Dodge Omni and Horizon were a little before my time but I know they had followers in their day. These were cheap “throwaway” cars as well. They made a turbo GLH which was supposed to mean “Goes Like Hell” that people though was great. I guess it was pretty common to blow the motors sky high if you tuned them up but followers of the car at the time could always find cheap junkyard replacements.
I guess the Chrysler K Cars were the same kinda deal but a step up. I always thought they were ugly but guess they made for great basic transportation.
I don’t believe that I included Toyotas in the “money pit” brands to avoid relative to an Escort @db4690.
I remember a couple bad Camry models 10 years ago or so. A buddy had one and it was not the legendary Toyota reliability that everyone talks about. I seem to recall it being a 2007 and looked it up here: https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Camry/2007/ Yep, massive oil burning was one of many problems he experienced. He went through several quarts a week!
Overall I would say the Toyota brand is better than most others but even the good brands have a dud model/year from time to time.
I agree. Not all Toyotas were stellar. The 5ME engine in my Cressida is not half as reliable as the 20R engine in my Celica. And I had a lot of electrical problems in the Cressida, including a voltage spike which fried practically everything electronic (relays, radio, etc.).
Cheap rotors. Hey one side is good anyway. What’s the prob?
