Drive your car to death, save $31,000

By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.

In its annual national auto survey, the magazine found 6,769 readers who had logged more than 200,000 miles on their cars. Their cars included a 1990 Lexus LS400 with 332,000 miles and a 1994 Ford Ranger pick-up that had gone 488,000 miles.

Consumer Reports calls the Honda Civic a "Good bet" to make it to 200,000 miles.

Calculating the costs involved in buying a new Honda Civic EX every five years for 15 years - including depreciation, taxes, fees and insurance - the magazine estimated it would cost $20,500 more than it would have cost to simply maintain one car for the same period.

Added to that, the magazine factored in $10,300 in interest that could have been earned on that money, assuming a five percent interest rate and a three percent inflation rate, over that time.

To have much hope of making it to 200,000 miles, a car has to be well maintained, of course. The magazine recommends several steps to help your car see it through.

Follow the maintenance guide in your owner's manual and make needed repairs promptly.

Use only the recommended types of fluids, including oil and transmission fluids.

Check under the hood regularly. Listen for strange sounds, sniff for odd smells and look for fraying or bulges in pipes or belts. Also, get a vehicle service manual. They're available at most auto parts stores or your dealership.

>>The point I was trying to make was: Isn’t it excessively risky to be driving a car that is likely to break down if you are in a place where the outside temperature will kill you in a short time if you break down?<<

Joking aside... all good Alaskans carry a sleeping bag, food, flares, flags, and other cold weather gear in case they are stranded for any length of time along the highway in the winter. The other guy above me here writing about Minnesota winters is correct, too, although our winters are more severe and lengthier than theirs.

The balance we have to make up here is this: the elements quickly destroy cars. Rubber seals crack; plastic breaks; metal gets brittle; glass shatters (happened to me once hauling water in Palmer); tires deflate. Buying a new car certainly forestalls those problems for a while, but they haven’t built anything automotive that can really withstand the winter here in the Alaskan interior without some damage. That truth is even worse for me, since I’m 300 miles away from the North American road system on gravel streets and worse weather than most places, even in Alaska. My car is a 1994 Subaru Legacy station wagon, which has an engine that can stand the winter (although I’ve replaced a bunch of those plastic parts and tires; I go through at least one CV joint a year). I bought it used, but not so used it was a wreck. However, seven years out here and it’s turning into a wreck. I figure I can get another 10 years out of it before the dents turn into big rust holes. It’s a balance between spending enough money on a car that works and too much money on a car that will get ruined quickly. Besides, most of us out in the Bush live with the fact that we have to fix things ourselves, so we’re ready for that, too. It’s just a way of life out here.

Yes, the weather can kill you. That’s why those of us who like it here prepare. Hell, I don’t even go on a plane ride to Fairbanks without wearing a parka and boots rated to -80 degrees; if we had a crash, I’d hate to be a survivor and lose my foot to frostbite before the rescuers arrived. I also go way out into what you guys in the Lower 48 would call Godforsaken wilderness on my snowmachine in -30 and -40 degrees, too, and I’m ready to camp out if I have to, and even survive a plunge into water and lose my machine. You got to watch out for all contingencies.

Hope that answers your question. You should actually come up in the winter and check it out; it’s an awesomely beautiful place. Wear wool socks, though.

The car looks really good. It’s been painted but it looks like an unusually good paint job. They say they had it stripped, then media blasted, then painted with factory quality paint. Color is kind of a darkish metallic grey with a light tan interior. Looks really sharp. Plus it’s a stick, which I like, and which seems to be pretty rare.

$4k was my gut on it. Kelly Bluebook for a private seller has a car of that year and condition at just under $4k. So your sense of it is right in the same ballpark.

How does a 633 stack up against a 635? Does the 3.3 liter engine in the 633 have as good a reputation as the 3.5(?) liter engine in the 635?

You and I chew very similar automotive turf. Jags and inboard brake discs still give me shudders. Here is my lastest effort. A little off the BMW path:

1973 Alfa Spider 2000 Veloce, belonged to my wife's older cousin, a retired art professor. She was the only owner and wanted it to go to some one who could fix it up and applicate it. Needless to say I was happy to oblige her. 71,000. Body is great, and the engine is sound but needs all the rubber bit and a brake system. I am rebuilding her from the ground up, she's apart in the shop now.

The 3.3 and the 3.5 motors are basically the same, both are anvil tough and good for 250,000 miles if properly maintained. Indeed the only issue is the head really, it needs going through at the interval, or maybe sooner depending on how it was raised. The timing set and oil pump need to be replaced then too. The bottom end is nearly indestructible. I have seen engines with 500,000 miles that still show the crosshatching on the cylinder walls and turn in stock compression numbers with a refreshed head.

The thing you want to watch for on the Big 6 M30 motor is get them after about 82 or 83 when they switched to the Motronic engine control system and got away from thermal reactors and their heat. Also even on later models, if the owner has used standard Antifreeze then it is possible the cooling passages in the head have been clogged. The head is aluminum and reacts with stand coolant forming a soft fluff that clogs things and overheats the head. Bad news, but fixable. If the car is running good, just flush, fill with real BMW anti freeze or its equal and hope. Also there are banjo bolts that hold the oiler bar above the cam that can back out and starve no 1 cyl cam lobs causing them to wear. Again fixable and preventable.

If you get to the point of leaping, mail me, I can give you the hints you need for years of care free driving in a mid 80s BMW. They are worth investing in.

You and I chew very similar automotive turf. Jags and inboard brake discs still give me shudders.

With three master cylinders, brake bleeding was a major event..

While most of the guys were fooling around with huge, heavy, clumsy cars in high school, I was driving sleek, agile cars and spending more time sober with girls in them than in a garage full of grease and beer...

This is the Alpha I would like to find...

You think BMW got some ideas from Alpha???

I would give up non-driving body parts for an Iso Grifo like this:

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