Just buy a Toyota Tacoma and change the oil occasionally.
I could buy 3 Rangers or S10s for the price of the Taco. The Toyota isn’t anything special, there’s not a lot of “bad” trucks out there.
Or just one diesel Mercedes that will live longer than the Toyota and do it while not making me look like a dirty beaner. I haven’t had to spend much time in beige Camrys, Infact I’ve never owned one.
Things I liked better:
LT1 Roadmaster
Nissan SE-R Classic
CRX Si
Mercedes 300TE 3.2
Vibe GT (Matrix XRS)
My Volvos
Amongst others.
As far as turnover rate, my truck I’ve owned for four years. My last Mercedes was over 2, bought for $900 with a $50 box of parts. Drained the waterlogged fuel, rebuilt the lift pump for 12 whole dollars, and polished the paint, resprayed the cladding & wheels, and drove it all over north Texas, getting stinkeye from hicks in $50k+ trucks acting like
I’m flaunting wealth. Then sold it to a young diesel mechanic who always wanted one & understood the assignment for $2500. Had multiple offers at that price, too.
So, I end up with my truck that I wanted - lowered but not slammed OBS Chevy, Torq Thrust IIs, rorty Flowmaster exhaust, ice cold AC, vortec V8, big dumb stereo, and a free topper - for
F R E E and pocketed $1500, which covered the minor mechanical repairs it needed to get it on the road with $1200 in change.
The Merc money came from a Civic I paid $700 for, dailied for a year, drove with all my shit from Cali to Indiana, and from there to Texas. Sold for $900 to a beaner, which tbh is a wash because I threw a set of Fit 16s on it instead of buying new 13” pizza cutters.
That $700 was mostly covered by the sale for parts of my previous 300SD, sadly succumbed to frame rot - Colorado car. Which because of said rot I bought for $650. I drove it for almost a year, from Washington to LA, and sold it almost dollar for dollar for parts.
That was bought with the $1300 payout on my totaled but driveable Volvo 740, which sadly I only owned for a few months…bought for $800. Of which, $650 was from selling my Vibe GT off with transmission issues to a beaner with a dream, after paying $1400 and driving it like an absolute maniac for a year. It’s basically a Toyota badged Integra Type R in nerd clothes, and was fun as hell. No one knew what it was, and on the highway an Infinity G37S was or similar tier car was simply prey.
Tbh though, sold my Volvo 740 after 3 years and probably seeing 40 states in it, for a G note after I bought the GT with my tax refund. So I only paid 400 to upgrade to something far more entertaining.
So, you’re talking about 12 years of driving vehicles cross country willy nilly, occasionally as a complete hoon, for basically free. In cars people actually want to own, even dream about.
The come ups cover the maintenance. If I didn’t love my truck and want to restomod it, I could easily be driving my highly modded TDI for free, too. I just finally settled in and wanted a second vehicle, because there’s aleays a non zero chance a given car breaks down, and one needs to be able to get to work.
The truck does truck things, the TDI sips fuel and zips like a good sport compact, and all told it cost me less than the used Sportster I’ve been eyeing, or a down payment for a later model car at a used lot.
But nah I should totally pay Toyota tax - because it’s not a cult, and they’re magic - to the tune of thousands, just to end up with a faded mini truck with 200k and a nasty interior that smells like newports, modelo, and the former beaner owners.
Because fuck 12 years of driving for essentially free, right? If my truck spontaneously combusted tomorrow I think moving me from Texas to Florida and four years of commuting and use have covered the $1000 I paid and every dollar since. However I did better than all that.
So many ways to skin this cat. If you can’t tell, I’m also a bit more demanding than the average commuter. There’s no reason someone can’t get a beater together to drive to work, run errands, and the occasional run to the beach or the next county over.
You might not look cool in traffic in a beige $1200 Hyundai, but nobody looks cool waiting at the bus stop, either. Beats getting into a tin can filled with monkeys after a hard day’s work.
