Hey Scotty huge fan, I watch all your videos. I would like to know how old is too old for a daily driver? How old is too old for a knock-around car? I'm all about saving money buying an older car with lower mileage, but I understand that at a certain age things start to break down.
On a side note, I've seen a lot of early 90's Camry's still driving around my town!!
For some insight see below:
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/how-old-is-too-old-for-a-daily-driver/#post-37986
I don't know what the consensus is. I got a 1999 Accord with 270K+ miles as my daily driver. That's a 22 year old car!
And I have a 2000 Acura Integra GSR with a manual at 309,000 miles as my daily driver.
Amazing!!!
My opinion is that this will vary depending on the condition of the vehicle and how it was taken care of.
A 90s Camry could be a good grocery getter or beater car. A daily driver shouldn't be more than 10-15 year old or have more than 130-150k miles in my opinion, but this could be greater or lower depending on how the owner uses it and takes care of it.
You might see 25 year old Camrys and Accords going around being daily driven, but you will have a hard time driving a 6 7 year old Altima around, even if the Altima was taken care of.
Also, this question has been asked it seems like multiple times a month use the search bar tool and the link given above to check out previous responses.
After that age span of 10-15 years, it comes down to other factors than the cars quality to keep it as a daily driver like the conditions its used in and how it is maintained. I guess a short answer would be, the newest and lowest mileage you can afford, and there are too many factors so a case by case basis analysis would be ideal.
I daily drive a 24-year-old car and know people who drive vehicles much older. (Some diehards are still daily driving Ramblers and Studebakers from over 50-60 years ago.)
How old is too old really depends on what your needs are and whether you can do your own repairs. If you have to go to a mechanic for every little thing an old car can eat you out of house and home whereas if you can DIY it's not a big deal. Helps to have an alternate vehicle available when regularly driving something really old in case you have to wait for parts.
I just traded in my 2005 BMW (15 years old), but mechanically it was in great shape. I still ran strong and got 32 MPG at 55 MPH. But Texas heat just destroyed the Paint and Headliner. And the "Moon Roof" stopped working. I probably should have kept it; but I "upgraded" to a newer 2012 BMW X-3 325i. Looks great and it seems like the previous owner took good care of it. It is 9 years old now; 86,000 miles: And it will outperform quite a number of cars.
