So, over the past year, there was a bit of shifting around in my garage as far as vehicle ownership is concerned. I kept my 1990 F150, I got rid of the 1998 Chevy Cavalier that I had with 359,833 miles on it and purchased a 2013 Elantra.
Next, I bought a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 (Manual Trans) as a daily driver, which leads me to this thread.
The Focus is fuel efficient (31mpg avg), which provides a clear benefit over driving my truck daily and I don't care in the least bit about depreciating value, which is a benefit over driving my Elantra daily. Also, the Focus has power options, which my old '98 Chevy Cavalier did not have.
Upon purchasing the Focus, I did quite a bit of work to it with regards to replacing old parts such as sensors, alternator, starter, coil pack, battery, battery cables, wiring connectors, etc. and a number of repairs on the engine such as the timing belt and removing/cleaning the intake manifold and lots of other stuff. You name it, I've probably either cleaned it, flushed it, replaced it or at least inspected it. I did this over the span of a year. I kept the old parts as spares in case I need to use them for some odd reason.
Now, the Focus runs absolutely great and I did all of this for the intent of making the car as reliable as possible for at least the next 10 years. I've taken it on road trips up to 5 hours one way and it didn't blink an eye. I plan on driving it even further distances in 2015.
I recently had an issue with the sunroof (which I have yet to fix) and in looking around at sunroof parts, I noticed that there were some parts that have been discontinued by Ford. I'll eventually get the sunroof fixed, but that led me to the question........
What factor(s) would make me get rid of a car in the future?
Do I have a predetermined length of ownership? Lack of available replacement parts? Do I simply tire of it? Mileage/age deteriorating more parts than what I care to replace at once? Better vehicles available at the time? For some people, they may be forced to get rid of vehicles when their familial status changes.
For my '98 Cavalier, I had a list of reasons, but eventually, I just felt that it was time to move on as I had owned it for 15 years and my wants in a car had changed over the years.
I like my '90 F150 a lot, but the thought of a 2004 or newer King Ranch F150 has started to creep into my mind for a quite a few reasons.
Aside from all of my rambling, what factors make YOU get rid of a car? I'm just asking out of curiosity.
Next, I bought a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 (Manual Trans) as a daily driver, which leads me to this thread.
The Focus is fuel efficient (31mpg avg), which provides a clear benefit over driving my truck daily and I don't care in the least bit about depreciating value, which is a benefit over driving my Elantra daily. Also, the Focus has power options, which my old '98 Chevy Cavalier did not have.
Upon purchasing the Focus, I did quite a bit of work to it with regards to replacing old parts such as sensors, alternator, starter, coil pack, battery, battery cables, wiring connectors, etc. and a number of repairs on the engine such as the timing belt and removing/cleaning the intake manifold and lots of other stuff. You name it, I've probably either cleaned it, flushed it, replaced it or at least inspected it. I did this over the span of a year. I kept the old parts as spares in case I need to use them for some odd reason.
Now, the Focus runs absolutely great and I did all of this for the intent of making the car as reliable as possible for at least the next 10 years. I've taken it on road trips up to 5 hours one way and it didn't blink an eye. I plan on driving it even further distances in 2015.
I recently had an issue with the sunroof (which I have yet to fix) and in looking around at sunroof parts, I noticed that there were some parts that have been discontinued by Ford. I'll eventually get the sunroof fixed, but that led me to the question........
What factor(s) would make me get rid of a car in the future?
Do I have a predetermined length of ownership? Lack of available replacement parts? Do I simply tire of it? Mileage/age deteriorating more parts than what I care to replace at once? Better vehicles available at the time? For some people, they may be forced to get rid of vehicles when their familial status changes.
For my '98 Cavalier, I had a list of reasons, but eventually, I just felt that it was time to move on as I had owned it for 15 years and my wants in a car had changed over the years.
I like my '90 F150 a lot, but the thought of a 2004 or newer King Ranch F150 has started to creep into my mind for a quite a few reasons.
Aside from all of my rambling, what factors make YOU get rid of a car? I'm just asking out of curiosity.