Trash or Treasure?

A ramble about the 'throw-away' mentality and its association with cars, by a person who doesn't know anything about either.

4y ago
1.6K

When I lie awake in the dead of night failing to understand exactly how an engine works, every so often a question pops into my mind: is it better to buy an older car and maintain it for as long as possible, or simply wait for something to go wrong and then buy a new car? For many, the answer is usually the latter. As soon as something costs slightly more than is comfortable for the driver, the easiest resolution is to simply not fix the problem and find something that isn't broken. This means trading in your slightly used Corolla with a coin-sized rust spot on the side door, and a wonky transmission that is too much hassle to deal with, in for a cheaper, preppy hatchback with an obnoxiously vibrant paint job and all the finicky technological bells and whistles your heart desires. You then wait for one of those whistles to break, and repeat the cycle.

But that just doesn't seem right, does it?

There is a rusty old Ford truck that sits by my house. Everyday I drive by it, and everyday I wonder how it is still alive. Yet everyday, it takes my neighbour to work, on road trips across the country, and it always comes back. That truck was the inspiration for this little rant, because it got me thinking; will modern cars ever last as long? The short answer is no. They won't. Most mainstream cars are designed to be fast to assemble, fast to sell, and fast to break down so that the customer can buy another car from the company. They are slowly (although in some cases very quickly) moving toward the method of production similar to most cheap plastic products sold at the local Walmart.

For example, some of the most popular vehicles that I see on the road where I live in Canada are the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Sentra, and the Hyundai Accent. All of these are relatively small, cheap, and common. I have had the opportunity to drive all three of these cars, and the first ting that comes to mind is the cruel mantra "you get what you pay for". Even the new Accent, while economical and wallet-friendly, is already outdated in its interior and quality by its more powerful and user-friendly peers. The Yaris is a tin can on wheels and is about as reliable as a stray dog, and if you want to get the Sentra that doesn't take an hour to get to top speed, you have to get the one that has the same engine as the Juke (and that is not something I can live with). The question must be asked then, is it really worth paying less for a new car that will need to be replaced before your coffee maker does?

Now, before I conclude, I do understand the other side to this argument. There comes a time when a car loses its luster. Its once gorgeous sheen becomes mottled with scratches, the interior fades and sags, and the once top-of-the-line stereo now buzzes and rattles more than it plays music. What if the car just isn't worth maintaining? What if the amount of effort needed to put into the car ACTUALLY isn't worth the value of the car itself? That is the point at which I question myself, because I am in this case myself.

So to the 3 people who might have actually made it to the end of this article, where is the line at which you 'lose hope' in a car? Is there a point at which you could fix something, but the car just isn't worth it?

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Comments (12)

  • Very deep question. I'm gonna have a think on it.

      4 years ago
  • Very entertaining read, Hmm, you make a fair point about the modern Japanese cars, I drive a Mitsubishi Lancer from 2005 and I've read that its the most reliable generation of the car ever, all the modern ones have become pretty unreliable according to those stats. Yes the modern cars use cheap plastics, thinner metal and so on! One of my uncles had a very old Toyota Corolla and it was so old that he needed to do an engine overhaul but the cost of that was more than the worth of the car so he just junked it and bought an Audi A3😂 Great read, I still can't believe that beat up old truck is roadworthy! About your dilemma, a brand new Toyota Prius costs as much as a 10 year old Maserati Quattroporte and I know which one I'd rather have, even considering the maintenance costs!

      4 years ago
    • Thanks! And yes, that kind of thing is what i'm getting at, your uncle probably could have sold his Corolla long before it needed such a huge haul, but he didn't. Probably because it is familiar and he likes it. An A3 is quite the step up! :) And I...

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        4 years ago
    • Great minds think alike ;) Yes I was very used to pulling up in his driveway and seeing the old corolla but then once the A3 was there it was a shock! I've had my car for about 2 years now and it also was the first car we bought when we moved to nz and my...

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        4 years ago
  • Absolutely, it does come down to affordability for those who aren't on constant lease or have huge cash flow. A car is like a house, its built with everything you need to have it function as intended, which means everything arrives at a breakdown age around the same time. Double whammy with autos because not only is there the effect of cost of repairs but the unreliability. If your heating system goes in your house you can still get to work with none the wiser and make the money to fix it or pay back the credit line. If your car is unreliable and you depend on it for work and other essentials, life essentially grinds to a halt. At some point the owner has to pull the plug to avoid risk. I have been through this situation and saved my papers for said car because as I said goodbye I made an internal promise that should I ever have the means, I would hunt it down by VIN and lovingly restore it! Said day has not come...yet...

      4 years ago
    • Haha those are some great points! I find that if something goes wrong with my car I am way more worried about it than in my house (now mind you the house I live in is about 50 years old and there is always SOMETHING wrong with it!). I know I'm going to...

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        4 years ago
    • By the way that picture is an absolute postcard! Nice!

        4 years ago
  • I find old cars lots of fun to drive. If you maintain them properly they will out live you.

      4 years ago
  • My grandparents used to have a stinkingly commie Lada 2106. To say that they cared about it... well, that would be one of the biggest lies of this century. It has only been maintained when otherwise it would break completely or would be illegal to drive.

    It was one of those rare cars that both was falling apart AND was almost perfectly drivable. Up to its very last days with wooden floor, malfunctioning speedometer, radiator fan that worked 24/7 non-stop and many other issues I can't remember anymore, you could still drive it, knowing it would take you from point A to point B no matter what. Think Toyota Hilux.

    WRiting posts like these about that Lada make me sort of miss it. "Sort of", because in everything besides taking you from point to point, it was an an absolute hunk of shit.

      4 years ago
    • Haha! A family friend of mine has an old Moskvitch 402 that they have treated similarly, in that it has nearly all the original parts on it, but anything that broke was basically just put together with duct-tape. I'm pretty sure the car is...

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        4 years ago
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