354,000 on a mid-80s Pontiac Sunbird. 254,000 on an early-90s Pontiac Sunbird. Over 300,000 on a few different Jeep Cherokees. Over 200,000 on a BMW, a Cadillac, and a Ford van, all from the late 80s/early 90s.

I remember when Clarkson, Hammond, and May used to enjoy and encourage car culture.

🤣 I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a car with so few miles. At 150,000, a car is just barely broken in, from my perspective. But then, I’ve driven an 80s GM sedan to 254,000+ miles, and a 90s Jeep to 333,000+.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this. Just welding 1/8" plate steel over holes would, indeed, be a terrible idea, but done properly - cutting out the rust and patching in new steel - is how body work is done. Since you do a lot of welding, you know that the end result, done correctly, is stronger than the…

Oh, big fella, I can’t wait until this plague is over so you can see how much 1/8" steel my baby girl requires. This site would catch fire if any of these adorable, delightful people saw the underside of my daily driver (and only car).

Brother, I so wish you could look under my Cherokee, just so I could see the shock and horror on your face. Everyone has a different tolerance for danger (to themselves and to others), from “If it’s not a brand new Volvo, it’s a deathtrap” to “There are still three wheels on the car, so it’s pretty fine”, and you and…

Well, I’ve never been accused of being sane or responsible, but I’ve driven tens of thousands of miles on front brakes only on Jeep Cherokees. I’m not sure why you think it’s apocalyptically demented to do so, but speaking from personal experience - with all the pros and cons apocrypha entails! - it’s legitimately not…

Astonishingly, virtually everything is really just because what is, is what it is - despite our own view of it being simply a perception of das ding an sich. It is that noumenon perceived through our subjectivity that produces a variation in phenomenon.

Interestingly, aesthetics are intensely personal. For example, I find red Jeep interiors to be quite pleasing - even moreso if they’re the dark red variety. Other people think they look vulgar and absurd. This bizarre notion even has a name: subjectivity. All very strange, if you ask me: you’d assume all humans would…

Superb. For a better seal, magnets. (On the windows, simply use magnets on the inside of the glass.)

Oh, yeah, sorry if that wasn’t clear: I’m the idiot in question. This is my daily driver (and my only car):

This is not durability testing. Ford, if you’d like actual durability testing, you just let me know. Your SUVs can’t be properly tested until you’ve given them to a real idiot.

This is a legit question, assuming you asked it in seriousness, and there’s a legit answer, no doubt. I’m not expert enough to give it the content it deserves, but if you really want to know, you can really just Google “crack racism” and there are a number of very good articles explaining the history of crack use,…

That’s been a real challenge for me, as well: I generally tend to live in places that not only don’t have garages, but also don’t allow you to work on your car. Sometimes this means being sneaky, sometimes it means desperate measures, sometimes it means getting yelled at so you can have brakes again. Can’t wait until…

...well, I was going to post something about how my windows don’t roll up at all, but now I feel self-conscious that I, too, can’t shut up about the car I drive.

An excellent point: there is substantial variation in cost of living in different areas - both urban vs rural and regional - as well as major environmental differences in the kinds of decay you find. A car that’s been in the rust belt for 10 years could have dangerous levels of corrosion; a car that’s been in the…

A fine point, but I gotta tell you, friend, they don’t like giving us poors financing. Not sure why. Also, don’t tell the bank where to find me.

You can rent a lot of loaners for the $18,500 you’ve saved by not buying a brand new car.

What’s a “shop”, and why would someone short on money go to one? 😁 (Source: me, being poor.) Parts + tools still cheaper than parts + markup + labor.

Here to say this. And a lot of people will talk about reliability, or the costs of having other people do your repairs. Those people are either not poor, or are not good at being poor. I am an expert at being very good at being poor, and have spent less than $3000 in the last five years on my car, including its…