The New Money Pit

I’ve owned several Nissan Frontier pick-ups, including my current 2002 model, which is now almost 20 years old. I’ve decided to continue holding it for at least another ten years because it’s a whole lot cheaper to do that than buy a new Frontier.

The reason: new cars and trucks are the new money pits. You cannot save money anymore with them.

That’s the reverse of how it used to be when buying a new car saved you from pouring more and more money into your old car or truck, which had likely long since become not worth putting more money into to make it go.

This happened pretty quickly because cars used to wear out faster and cost more to keep on the road the longer you kept them. That’s no longer true, either, but differently (more on this follows).

The main thing is, it’s often cheaper these days to repair what you have already than to replace it with something new–leaving aside all the other disincentives to buy almost anything new.

Among the heaviest reasons is their creepy “connectedness” to corporate/government interests interested in monetizing, monitoring, and micromanaging our every move and every inclination without or knowledge of your consent.

I prefer my relationship with my vehicle to remain between us. I most definitely have no interest in anyone else having any way to hear, listen, or know about what goes on inside my vehicle.

I don’t want any embedded cameras, microphones, hard drives, or WiFi–nothing that’s new because many new vehicles have some if not all of these devices. There is no way to know whether they’re on and no surefire way to turn them all off short of melting the whole works into slag. And even then . . .

There is also this insufferable “assistance” business, which is nothing of the kind. It is programmed-in pre-emption. The vehicle is intervening to chasten and correct you over your driving.

This is nothing less than having an electronic backseat driver all the time. I’d rather have a real person back seat driving because at least you can kick them to the curb–the “assistance” tech, not so easily done.

Also, that over-teched/disposable aspect of new vehicles is problematic. They are less and less owner-repairable. More and more likely, these computers on wheels will be rendered economically useless on account of some critical electronic functional component bricking without which the vehicle won’t run or won’t run right. Or something might no longer be available or costs so much it’s not worth replacing it.

A good example of this is the tablet-style touchscreens used to tap/swipe most of the car’s functions. Almost every new car and truck now comes standard with these things. With each new model year, they are getting bigger and used to control more of the car’s essential functions. Instrument clusters are becoming flat screens, too. And almost everything in a new vehicle is controlled remotely, via signals rather than directly, through cables and switches.

People are attracted to these glittering, glitzy E-Baubles in the way that seagulls at the beach are drawn to pieces of shiny tinfoil. But ten years hence, these “state of the art” displays will look as cheesy as your 2012 flip phone does today. And like your old flip phone, your in-car tablet’s OS probably will no longer be supported long before the car itself gets close to what would otherwise have been the end of its useful service life. Until they began embedding all this stuff in cars, that useful service life was around 20 years–the age my ’02 truck almost is.

And it’s still going strong mechanically and electronically because it doesn’t have a lot of electronics beyond those that run the fuel injection system. It’s pretty simple — relative to anything new.

Thus, it still runs almost as new and will be easy to keep it running for years, even decades to come.

It will save me a lot of money in addition to the money it has already saved me. Here’s a prime example that will convey the point I’m trying to make.

A new Frontier–the one Nissan just transformed from a modestly-sized, modestly priced, and not over-the-top-teched pick-up like my Frontier into a nearly full-sized truck–comes standard with a very full-sized price: $27,840 to start.

This, of course, does not include the considerable add-on costs of the taxes applied to new vehicles, based on price, nor the cost to insure a new vehicle, based on the repair/replacement of new vehicles, which is also maximally high.

But let’s call it $28,000 (rounding off) to run some numbers.

If I had to replace the engine in my truck, which I may need to do eventually, the cost would be around $1,500 for a good used engine and approximately $3,000 for a new/rebuilt engine (as here). This is because it’s a simple engine: no direct injection, turbocharging, variable cam timing, or cylinder deactivation “technology.”

A going-through of the manual transmission (if necessary) and a new clutch will cost maybe another $2k.

Now the odometer of my truck’s drivetrain has been re-set to zero for about $5k, ballpark.

I still have $22k to spend if I need to spend it, which isn’t likely because it’s unlikely I’ll need to replace/repair everything and certainly not now or all at once.

That $22k is money I can use to make more money–not having paid the opportunity cost of spending it (and then some) on a new money pit.

It is also simple to pay for the as-needed replacement of worn suspension parts, brake parts, exhaust parts, etc. Keep in mind that these parts also wear on new vehicles, with the difference being you haven’t got $22k (and then some) to spend on fixing what needs fixing when it needs to be fixed because you already paid the $22k (and then some) on the vehicle.

I could even have my truck repainted to look like new, and the interior freshened while I’m there and still have a tidy sum in my pocket rather than some finance company’s. Plus, the keys (the physical keys) to a truck that isn’t over-teched, subject to electronic obsolescing, and obnoxiously second-guessing of my every move while monetizing and monitoring my every move.

There’s one more perk, too.

Even if rebuilt to as-new, the government and insurance mafia would still regard it as old, which is a boon as far as the taxes and insurance go.

That alone saves thousands over ten or fifteen years, which means you’ll have plenty of money on hand to fix whatever needs to be fixed whenever it needs to be fixed.

I’ll soon be able to hang Antique Vehicle tags on it and thereby avoid annual registration and “safety” inspections, too.

Now that is an investment worth keeping.

Eric Peters lives in Virginia and enjoys driving cars and motorcycles. In the past, Eric worked as a car journalist for many prominent mainstream media outlets. Currently, he focuses his time writing auto history books, reviewing cars, and blogging about cars+ for his website EricPetersAutos.com.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

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One Response to “The New Money Pit”

  1. Rich K. says:

    Just like you, I have a 2002 and a 2013 car. My only fear is that, given another couple more leftist administrations like this one, it may become ever more difficult and expensive to get the evil gasoline. Pray that we don’t all get forced into electric and/or shared, public transportation run by Uncle.