<p>Last night the odometer on our 1994 Toyota Previa minivan turned over to 300,000 miles. My frugal husband is just so darned thrilled. He called his even more frugal dad, who is also thrilled.</p>
<p>The kids used to be ashamed of our ancient minivan. (I keep telling them that it’s almost vintage.) But the two who can drive both have new cars. They now realize that not having a car payment of our own enabled them to get new cars.</p>
<p>I think my husband should be in a Toyota commercial or something.</p>
<p>We just recently had to stop driving our 1994 Escort station wagon because it is too rusted out underneath to pass inspection–it is not visible except when on a hoist–and too $$ to fix . (We did have a couple of little spots fixed last year to keep her going.) The penalties of a northern climate.</p>
<p>Yeah, being in Texas helps a lot. Before the Previa, H drove a Ford Fairmont that had been his grandpa’s before grandpa went to the home. It just lasted a bit past 200,000 because it had spent most of its life in Chicago and Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>Kudos to you !<br>
We are pretty frugal but haven’t had that experience. Our North American cars usually give out on us after 10 years. We are also not handy so at that point the upkeep expense outweigh the new car one. We also lived in cold cold climates and the salt cause the cars to rust out too. </p>
<p>I remember our daughter, who grew up at the North Shores of Chicago, being so embarrassed of our old and stodgy cars. </p>
<p>The little princess is going to have a rude shock one day. I do occasionally wonder what had we done wrong. </p>
<p>Hopefully our Toyota Sienna will give us the same experience.</p>
<p>I have the newest car in our family and it’s 8 years old. H has a 12 year old car- and our son has a 16 year old car. All have well over 100k mileage. No car payments. I don’t think we’re overly thrifty - just don’t like to shell out $ on cars. I can’t believe these folks that spend $500 more per month for a leased car and then end up with nothing after the lease period. Give me travel instead. Or good food. I’m really not a car person at all…</p>
<p>MissyPie…now your H is in a whole other category though. 300K…wow.</p>
<p>Haha! Good for you. And you don’t have to worry about it taking off like the newer ones.</p>
<p>I plan to keep my '01 Highlander until it drops. It still looks and runs like new even though it will be 10 next year. I can’t figure out if it has the electronic acceleration, though. I don’t think so, from what I’ve read, but not sure. I’ll ask at the next service.</p>
<p>The 1993 car is just shy of 190k. It will definitely make it to 200k, but 300k is unlikely. I’m feeling a little envious. Is it envy if the object of envy is someone else’s far older car? :)</p>
<p>Other car is 3 years old, so many miles to go before it sleeps.</p>
<p>Got about 100,000 on my 2002 Ford Windstar. So far no problems with it, and everyone thinks it looks like new. I must admit, however, that I’ve begun to worry with my “needs, wants, desire” column. Getting a new car has been staunchly in the desire column, but as both kids are now in college, and I’m finishing caregiving all the parents in our family, I realized that I have been driving a mini-van since 1993. So, I’ve moved the “new car issue” into the want column, justifying it by total selfish reasons that I don’t typically use. Wondering how long it’ll stay in the want column before I figure a way to justify need. LOL</p>
<p>I saw this thread and had to jump in. I’m a freshman college student, and have lived endlessly with my mother’s love of frugality. I currently drive our family’s 1991 Volvo wagon, which now has…ready?..347,000 miles on it. The thing is indestructible it seems lol. It’s had its share of break downs, but we always get them fixed for a relatively low cost. My mom says I’ll be driving it until it blows up.</p>
<p>My mother drives a 2001 Volvo XC, which now has 290,000 miles on it. She travels for a living, and puts about 45,000 miles on the car a year. Seeing as though she is resigning from that job this June (she’s excited to quit that job), she says once the XC gives out, she’ll buy a fully-loaded Mercedes. Well deserved, in my opinion, after decades of running cars into the ground.</p>
<p>You’d think my DH is a frugal individual because he has a 10 yr old truck with only 35K miles on the odometer. Nope, he just drives a car that has a better gas mileage. :rolleyes: You can calculate how many more years it will take for our truck to get to the 300K mark :D</p>
<p>The “ultra frugal” (title of the thread)? Yes, although it often isn’t necessary. They live in smaller cities, or in big ones with public transportation. If it’s actually impossible to find work in the same city, they move where the job is. They don’t drive 500 miles a week for 15 years unless the job takes place in the car or at house calls – ultra frugal cabbies and plumbers don’t have any way to avoid it. But in my book, keeping a really old car to commute tens of thousands of miles per year is sorta frugal, not ultra frugal.</p>
<p>Oooh, that would cut H to the quick to find out he is only sorta frugal! (But of course, his gas mileage* is *abysmal.) He’s a musician, and gigs are all over the place.</p>
<p>missypie…do you remember those Tigthwad Gazette books from the 90s? Lady was named Amy Dacysyn (sp?). </p>
<p>Anyway,my BIL used to get me those books as gifts…lol. I remember some of her tips. To collect the rinds off the ketchup bottles (nothing goes to waste!) And to re-use baggies by washing them out and hanging them out on the clothesline. Ewww. Now, to me, THAT’S ultra frugal.</p>
<p>Heck, I wash some baggies! Why litter the landfill with plastic when the bag can be clearly used again after a short rinse? (However, I will never, ever reuse a baggie that had uncooked meats or something greasy in it)</p>
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