Cheaper to keep and maintain 2 very old cars (vs 1 newer one?)

(John Yang, MD) wrote:

> Might it be cheaper to keep/maintain 2 very old cars versus 1 newer
> one, if you need to be sure that at least 1 will work every day?  Do
> any of you take this approach?

I do just that. I have a 1992 Subaru with almost 190K miles, it had
the entire drivetrain replaced. And a 1993 Chevy full size V8 car with
165K miles with newer engine. 

Neither one is super reliable, occasionally I get a failure like
recently the computer failed in Subaru, stranding me, and Chevy had
an alternator problem. High mileage. 

It works for me, because I have a socket set and factory service
manuals and often fix them.  

It may or may not work for you. Consider: Do you have a place
to park these vehicles? When you move, it is hard to move two
cars.  You have to worry about maintenance on two vehicles.
Fix twice as much. If you can keep one car, it is simpler.

Your 1989 Toyota  is not "very old" nor high-mileage. I would
drive it at least until 150K. Some make it much farther than that 
but after about 160K, you start having on-going problems. 
Just drive it until a major repair and then don't fix it. 

I think that instead of messing with older cars, or 1 newer car,
I would just keep 1 older car and when it really fails, 
replace it with another. Off ebay, it is full of used cars - in your
area.



> A 3rd alternative's to get rid of my current car and get like a
> $4000-$5000 car, but who knows if the newer used car would be THAT
> much more reliable and that much better than my 14-year-old Toyota?

You will not get anything in resale value, just pennies. You might as well 
keep it and get some mileage out of it.