the replacement focus is a 2010 2.0 that cost $1800 and I hope that lasts equally long, plus without cam belts it should overall cost less

realistically though, if cheap motoring is all someone needs I've worked out it should be possible to replace your car yearly and spend no more than $400 a year on a car, if it runs for longer than a year it's a bonus

that might not be achievable in the US though

I'm talking cheap motoring with all the various accoutriments

Such as, most importantly, a warranty

Which mine still had. Factory, too

do you guys have used car warranty companies?

They're usually scams

Well, almost invariably

the most prevalent one here is warrantydirect

basically the whole concept is that on average, there will be less repair cost over the course of a warranty than the cost of the warranty

in exchange for the extra cost, you get peace of mind

the optimal scenario for things like that is if you're a small business running pool cars because it gives you fixed costs for the vehicles regardless of problems

Again, though, typically scams

Yeah, pretty much fleets only

And even when they aren't, not worth it for individuals

Factory warranty is really the only warranty I'd pay for.

but the thing is, it's still cheaper to buy a used car and a third party warranty than anything close to being a new car

Its cheaper to just "have a guy"

Cheaper right up until you need something fixed

not really

but yes

Then whatever you save in money is paid back in interest with frustration

if you have a mechanic

who will fix your shit

or do it yourself

that is the best way

Well not everyone has that

My friend has used warrantydirect and had no issues with making claims with them

including when he had to have his S4 transmission replaced

which is not a cheap job at all

the thing is, most modern cars are pretty reliable and most problems are pretty common to certain engines/models so you can actually pick extremely good reliable cars second hand

plus the older a car, the longer it's been around to show its faults

if I were buying a car right now, I'd probably be going for a lexus IS250

because they're reliable as hell and for the comfort they offer really cheap

and here's the thing - even if you don't get a third party warranty or anything, it's pretty easy to identify what kind of cars might incur costs which make them nearly irrepairable

second hand is the way to win if you want cheap motoring, from what I've seen the optimal point tends to be <17 years old, <150000 miles as a start point, obviously servicing records make this variable

anything <7 years old tends to be overpriced though, plus depreciation still hits a little too hard

Depends on how you value it.

Personally, I probably could have gotten something older and it would have been fine.

But I get a bit paranoid with this. Having family members who have had horrendous 3rd party warranty experiences doesn't help. So I went with something newer with the factory warranty