Don’t be silly. Jesus left behind a bigger sedan:

1. Most shops offer loaner vehicles these days and even a $5k repair is cheaper than a year of $500 payments.
If lump sum is the problem, there’s personal loans, if you can get a $40k vehicle loan, you can get a $5k personal loan. My local lender will do so at only 1.2% higher interest than a vehicle loan. Over a year…

I did my first transmission swap in a parking space over the span of a week while learning how to do it in a dodge neon. I spent $250 on a used transmission, and $275 on a “racing clutch”. On jackstands, in the middle of the winter with only hand tools. Being poor and stubborn will force your hand in ways never…

I did it on the Jackstands pictured

Things I don’t have:

Not if you’re an adult and understand how to keep an emergency fund.

Let’s say you have a car and the transmission goes out. These are your options:
 
1.) Spend anywhere from $1500 to $5000 for a repair at a shop. This is assuming you can find a reputable shop, and it also means being without your car for an indeterminate amount of time. Better hope you have a backup for getting to work,…

Well—normal person wouldn’t want to touch ECUs on their regular ICE cars anyway.

Modern ICE vehicles are rolling computers as well.

Everything but the drive train is same on an EV, and while the drive train is significantly different it is also much simpler. Maintaining evs tends to be a lot easier. Yes when batteries start going bad that is a more complex repair, but people are already doing it. I would argue it is no more complex than having an…

That is Awesome. With a 10yr old 4runner, I guess we don’t fall into the “should I fix it or sell it” crowd.

Paint jobs don’t have to cost that much. I have a 27 year old Tacoma and its paint was totally worn out. I went to a local place that did the job for $1600. That was 4 years ago and it still looks great.

I’m in the fix-it-until-it-can’t-be-fixed-no-more camp. Having grown up in a family of auto mechanics, I am used to the treadmill of “buy an old car with some life left in it, repair it until something major breaks, then dump it and start the process again.” When I was young, we never spent time or money on stereos…

Well, there’s a few contenders with my Dad.

Coolest car. Either a blue MGB he had before kids were around or a 1956 Nomad he and I worked on in high school, but had to sell before it was finished because of kidney issues (my brother gave him a kidney, he’s still kicking).

My dad was never a “car guy” but he did appreciate nice things, and did have some great cars. Over the years he went from US Luxobarges to Imports. Here are most of of them from when I was born on. All the pictures are stock, but are the same colors of the ones he had)

1937 Buick Special. It’s mine now. This is where I learned that cool cars dont have to be fast, they dont have to have a ton of power. cool cars can just be slow, old, quirky, and temperamental.... and that’s just part of the charm.

My dad owned a ‘69 Chevelle SS 396 when the gas crunch hit. He traded it in on a....

My dad had a third-gen 200SX turbo. I remember being late for school one day, and that car feeling like an absolute rocket as we tried to get there as quickly as possible.

My Dad inspired my love of cars. He had a lot of cool cars, including snagging a 1990 Miata when they were so new that he had to fend off other buyers to buy it before even seeing the car, an ‘84 Rabbit convertible that I found for him when I was in 5th grade, and one of those extended 2-door Jeep Unlimiteds before…