shatto,

my (personal) property taxes came in at just under $5 (for this car)

fowljess,

my goal when I first got the car was to keep it long enough to get something that would last me a while. I was hoping to get 120k-130k out of it. several people I work with have been suprised by this little car.

In California, my Tundra license is......a bit higher.

Does your state have income tax?

most seem to focus on miles, and what we often forget is the cost/mile. you likely spent a great deal less than a honda owner did over those miles. IF a honda or toyota lasts longer, cost/year might factor in. who knows, for the $$ saved, you might be able to buy another car to get to the miles reached by an import.

congrats!

shatto,

my state does have income tax. I was hoping that when we got the lottery, they would do away with it or at least lower it but I have also heard that states that don't have income taxes kill you with property taxes and other such taxes. in the end, they will definitely get their money.

bowtie,

though I would agree with you on this car as being a very good CPM (cost per mile) car, most cavaliers I have seen for sale have had major repairs done. new engines, transmission work, etc... I am thinking that my car is the exception to the rule. I will admit that I got a good deal because the guy didn't want to deal with leaky injectors and I think his wife thought I was cute. I probably have less than $3500 in the car over the years including purchase price. obviously, that doesn't include gas.

I think the main problem is that many people treat Cavaliers like disposable cars. I believe if proper maintenance is done they will probably run relatively trouble free for several hundred thousand miles. By the time they hit 100,000 miles people don't want to pay to have services done like fluid flushes and such, then declare the car is a POS when they have tranny problems at 150,000 miles.

I will agree with that. many times, cars are deemed POS cars and neglected to the point of no return.

I have several friends that get rid of cars and the list of stuff that just flat out doesn't work goes on for miles. my comment is usually, all that stuff didn't happen all at one time. they usually let it go to the point where they can't take it anymore.

I have let the A/C go on this one but that was years ago and I am sure that is an expensive one to fix. I can stand to not have that. the window motors both work as does the heater, wipers, breaks, etc, etc. many times these small things (not small to me) are let go of and neglected.

a little money now saves loads later. I think around here, we already know that

Yep... no sweat off my back to do my own brakes, routine oil changes, suspension work, etc. Just saving money, prolonging the life of a decent car returning fuel economy equal or most times BETTER to those paying a monthly payment for something that might shine a little brighter and ride a little smoother.

BEEF - look into your A/C. I charged mine this year with $15 worth of refrigerant and so far so good. Was blowing 41*F last week when it was 90*F+ here in KY. I went w/o it for 2 years then finally decided to buy a guage and a few cans and give it a shot. $15 a year, supposing it leaks out over winter, isn't a bad price to pay for comfort and arrivnig to destinations in dry clothes instead of sweaty nasty ones. :)

over the past 5ish years, I have tried to recharge it about 3 or 4 times. several people have told me that the dryer may need to be replaced and it may fix it. the clutch pulley is actually spinning so nothing is locked up.

a buddy of mine just put $400 into a compressor for his van. that motivates me more into not fixing it.

I feel that this is something I would have to take to someone in order to figure it out so even more motivation not to fix it.

I will admit that I am fairly mechanically inclined but I lack experience with certain things. I am slowly building my experience base with doing things as I go.

one thing I will say though is with all the motivation against fixing it, the triple digit temps of this past week is a big motivation to rethink my position.

****edit****

the sweaty nasty clothes are usually on my way home as I get to work around 7 in the morning. not that it is a whole lot better but my family is kind of used to me being a little nasty anyway. lol

How far are you from Winston Salem?

They have a pull-a-part there: https://www.pullapart.com/Inventory/Main.aspx

Looks like you could get a compressor for around $25 and a dryer for around $8.

The closest thing to checking it out before you buy it would be to pull one that still had freon in it under pressure (verify it by pushing in the shrader valve).