VNTS, you are making incorrect generalizations about all cars - The first generalization is that any car with over 200k is a money pit. Let's take a look at that:
Say I go out and buy a new corolla and finance it for 5 years - I'm going to put maybe a thousand dollars down and spend about $275 a month on the car. The first year I spent $4300 and each of the next four years I spent $3300. Even if I trade in my 200k mile corolla, I'm still looking at a minimum of $225 a month, or $2700 a year.
On the other hand, lets say I keep my 200k mile corolla, which is already paid off, and it now requires an average of $1500 a year in maintenance.
Which of the two cars is the bigger money pit?
To take that one step further, consider this: my GF's 2001 Grand Am, at 180,000 miles, has lived its whole life in the midwest. She paid $2000 cash for the car 4 years ago. IMO, the car has been abused. The cooling system is a giant ball of sludge. As far as I can tell, the spark plugs and wires are the originals that came in the car from the factory. It gets washed about four times a year. The car only gets about $100 a year in maintenance, plus about $125 a year in tires (if averaged out over the last 4 years). Oil changes are the only preventative maintenance performed. Against all odds, the car keeps going. You think it would be cheaper for her to buy a new car?
The second generalization is that all cars are rotting away at 200k miles. While that may be true of a lot of cars in NE and perhaps the midwest, you aren't considering cars that are driven their whole lives in more moderate climates. Sure, salt tends to kill old cars, but there are a lot of cars in the south with 200k+ miles that have never once seen salt, and don't have a spot of rust.
