Yuck. Maybe others have had better experiences with used cars? After dumping the volvo, losing a lot of money, I bought a 1990 wagon. It was in great condition for its age, but it still needed a fair bit of work. Rotors, shocks, cooling hoses that broke, and a water pump that started leaking after it overheated, from the cooling hose Three window motors all died within months of buying it. I've actually had a blast fixing it up, and have done much, much more than what I listed above --the things that strictly had to be done for a safely running car-- to get it running well, and learned quite a lot. So I don't resent it in the least, and unlike the volvo, I don't need to take it to the dealer for $100 diagnostic fees, and I won't need to be rebuilding the transmission anytime soon (or the engine, as was threatening to happen next...). The repairs have all been smaller swaps, plug 'n play if you will, that the tyro mechanic can manage on his own. But at the end of the day, if I didn't have the time and the will and the pleasure of doing my own repairs, this car would have still counted as a disaster for the average buyer. Ideally you buy a car and it maybe needs $500 for this or that small thing but gets you to work every day without trouble. My 20-year-old wagon would have cost another $2000 at a shop to minimally fix up, on top of the $1900 paid for the car. Well, I guess where I'm going with this is... is there any $2000 car that actually runs? Or will any older budget car always need its book value over again in repairs in the very near future? Anyone here have a car they bought for $1000, maybe $4000, and didn't need to do anything but oil changes for the next 30,000 miles you owned it?
How many MILES did he get out of it? If it's 200,000, I don't know that I'd be TOO upset that it finally failed. Nothing lasts forever. But if went at 75,000, I would be very upset. By the way, isn't it called a "Mystique?" The Mercury counterpart to the Ford Contour?
