typical repair costs at around 75k miles - conver my weekend car to daily driver???

[23109VC]

I have a 2000 base 5 speed. it had a new motor put in my Porsche at about 15k.
brakes are recently replaced, tires are virtually brand new. clutch stock. i believe the car had the 60k service...but nothing major was replaced as far as I know.

top was replaced under warranty a few years ago, it looks very good.... suspension, bushing, etc all stock.

I use the car a a "toy" on weekends. my daily driver is now falling apart, and I found someone who wants dirt cheap wheels - so it is in the process of being sold. i'll pocket a couple grand, that's it.

i'm debating about buying another DD, which means I'll likely get something like a used Acura TL, or something in that range. IS350, TL, etc etc. figure I can get something like that for 25-30k CPO, in excellent shape. but that means I'm back in debt on a loan for the next 4-6 years on a car.

i have thought about just using my Boxster as a dailyl driver. I am 36, married, 3 kids. We have a 2007 MDX as our "family" car. my existing DD that I am unloading i sa odler S70 volvo. it's big enough to fit all three kids in the back, but it has 150k miles and rattles, and is not 100% reliable, so we essentially never use it as a family car. I drive my S70 to work and back - I hae a whopping 5 mile commute!!

so part of me is thinking, either I just drive the boxster as a daily driver and figure that I'll have more repair costs on it than if I had kept it as a toy and put hardly any miles on it.

one other option is to just buy a little civic or other crap car to go back/forth to work and keep the Boxster in it's "weekend" car role. i could probably find a decent low mileage civic for $10k....

so - IF I decide to convert the boxster to a dd and suddently go from 75k to 85k on the odometer in the next 12 months - which would be on the "high" end for me...i might only put 5000-7500 on it.... as I commute 10-20 mioleis a day max in the car....

what kind of items shoudl I anticipate breaking on me, that I will hae to fix.

what would you guys do? buying a 30k car would have been on my plate, but my employer is hitting everyone wiht a 10% pay cut. i hae Zero chance of being laid off, i am gov't employee...but due to tax revenue drop off in my area, our budget was slashed...and pay is being reduced next fiscal year..so I lose 10%...which for me is about 15k/year. that was fluff money that would have paid for the car..now it's gone.

i can buuy a cheapo civic for $10=-15k and i twouldn't hurt much...and woudl get the job done...or just "save" that money and figure i'll drive the box everyday and the 15k I would have spent on a POS that I hate to drive...I can just use to tires, repairs, etc on the boxster. and drive the car i Love everyday.

i'll sacrifice having a second car that COULD double as kid hauler...but we rarely use my car for that. i someetimes take my oldest to school..and the box works for that. the othe rkids are so small they wno't be in school for at least another two years.. so back setas in my car woudl be nice, but n ot necessary.

maybe I can run the boxster two more years...wait for the job / economy to bounce back, and when the little ones are a smidgen bigger and need me to take more than one to school - i can sell my then 100k mile boxster, and roll the money into a 911.... hmmmm..

anyway...long rambing post, with various questions. any one car to chime in with suggestions, thoughts, observations - fire away.

[mikefocke]

5 miles to work every day and back is the worst type of driving that a car can do. Never gets fully warm enough to burn off the stuff in the crankcase (even in CA). So lots of oil changes needed...every 5k miles. Can you do that yourself to keep the costs down?

Not spending $10k for a DD or borrowing $20k to get a newer DD gives you a lot of $ to spend on repairs. Who knows what it could need, some do...some don't. Varies from $600-1200 for the 15k/30k servives to $15k for an engine. And inbetween.

But what if your wife's car goes down...then you are stuck. Yes you can drive her back from the car repair place. Or the older child to school or wherever. But not the whole family.

[spine911]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

5 miles to work every day and back is the worst type of driving that a car can do. Never gets fully warm enough to burn off the stuff in the crankcase (even in CA). So lots of oil changes needed...every 5k miles. Can you do that yourself to keep the costs down?

Not spending $10k for a DD or borrowing $20k to get a newer DD gives you a lot of $ to spend on repairs. Who knows what it could need, some do...some don't. Varies from $600-1200 for the 15k/30k servives to $15k for an engine. And inbetween.

But what if your wife's car goes down...then you are stuck. Yes you can drive her back from the car repair place. Or the older child to school or wherever. But not the whole family.

+1 on everything previously stated above....

IMO, i would let go of both the aging Box and the S70 and use the sale $$ as downpayment for a 4 door japanese sedan within the price range of $20-27k TOPS!!....considering your family situation, Ca. budget/job cuts, current recession i would rather play it safe--this is no time for "weekend" cars not unless you have a deep slush fund ready for disposal...in the end it is all up to you :ah:

A 5 mile commute? Get a bike. Loose weight and save money! Take the savings in 12 months and buy DD.

[23109VC]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

A 5 mile commute? Get a bike. Loose weight and save money! Take the savings in 12 months and buy DD.

driving to work in my suit would not work out so hot a I'd likely smell a little yucky at the office.

I do know one guy who bikes to work, keeps his suits at the office, and he changes in a men's locker room that has showers. his office has a suit rack with hsi entire wardrobe..... i'm not gonna do it.

[Boxtaboy]

I am doing that just now with my car- I used to use my 01 boxster as only a weekend fun car because we lived in NYC and I worked there too. After having a baby boy, we moved to NJ, and now also got a chance to change my office location to an office complex in NJ, which is only 5 miles from my home.

I contemplated buying a junker car to do the daily commute, but then thought what for? My car, although in pristine condition, is already 8 years old, and in reality isn't worth that much anymore anyway, so why only enjoy it on the occasional weekend when I figure I can drive it everyday to work?

I have been driving it everyday to work for about a month now, and absolutely love it. I get to drive top down to and from work, park in a secure garage with security cameras, and am smiling from ear to ear everyday as I go to and from work. Can't beat that with a stick, and I'm not worried about the wear and tear or mileage because I bought the car for the pleasure of using it and not for saving it for anything.

Before I was using it everyday, and only using it occasionally on weekends, I used to think the car was a bit of a waste, as we already have an 08 Audi Quattro as a family car, but now, it's pure permagrin. I say use it as your daily driver!

Originally Posted by 23109VC

I do know one guy who bikes to work, keeps his suits at the office, and he changes in a men's locker room that has showers. his office has a suit rack with hsi entire wardrobe.....

Smart dude.