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Should "Beaters" Be Taken Off the Road?
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Comments
I steer clear of those beaters whenever possible. Not so bad with a truck or big SUV. I straddled a big piece of something yesterday out on Interstate 8 I thought it was going to hit something underneath when I ran over it. Thank goodness for 9 inch clearance.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Getting back on track I sometimes worry about what some people call a beater. My second car is a 92 Sun Bird with 32,000 miles on it. It gets 26MPG and works very well as a daily driver. I can save the Tahoe for bad weather, weekend trips and going out to dinner with friends. I have kept the Pontiac in good shape yet still some people call it a beater.
I think "beater" is one of those words that can have multiple meanings, like so many words in the English language. For instance, if you see some dogpile driving down the road, losing parts and spewing chemicals along the way, that's one definition of a beater. But in another sense, when you have a car to drive and run into the ground and keep the miles off your good car, and you really don't care if something happens to it, then that's your beater. Even if it's in good shape.
For example, my uncle's '03 Corolla, which he bought to keep the miles off his '97 Silverado, is his beater. And I'm sort of to the point now where my 2000 Intrepid is my beater. Even if it's my newest car!
YOUR beater is probably an older car with low maintenance and operation costs that you use in foul weather and to keep miles off your newer ride.
OTHER PEOPLES' beaters have to meet one of the following conditions, IMO:
- belching smoke every time it moves
- enough body damage to cause its sheet metal to extend beyond its original "footprint" (applies to my miscreant of yesterday)
- body damage causing it to have inoperative or patched-together lights, reflectors, or signals and/or missing glass - my little "friend" from yesterday qualified on this count too.
- riddled with rust
- brakes and/or suspension that is shot (this one is less evident to the casual observer), or bald tires (and I mean BALD, not just worn)
My incident yesterday smashed one of the underbody trays - it is plastic and should be cheap to replace, I figure it is not urgent. However, that in turn connected to the left front wheel well, where the inner wall is now hanging down in such a way that whenever I go around right-hand turns, ti rubs on the tire and makes a loud noise. That's probably not urgent either, mechanically speaking, but it is annoying me every time it occurs, so I will probably get it fixed next week.
I'm sick of beaters, and I'm sick of car owners being so irresponsible about the upkeep of their vehicles. :-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Good Car = 1989 Cadillac Brougham
Everyday Car = 2007 Cadillac DTS Performance
Beater = 1988 Buick Park Avenue
My newest car is practically becoming another good car like my Brougham as I don't like driving it in the winter as it is black and a royal pain to keep clean in inclement weather. It doesn't help that the city recently threw down an ocean's worth of salt on the streets.
I would drive the 2002 Seville STS just about every day when I had it and reserved the Park Ave for really bad weather or excursions into the less desirable parts of the city. My Park Ave has been driven 99.5% of the time these days.
That's a slippery slope my friend. I could classify your car as a beater simply because I didn't like it's LOOKS. Subjective classifications like that lead to snobbery.
I don't care how a car looks as long as those looks don't indicate underlying safety concerns. I drive some pretty beat-up vehicles but they all are maintained.
"You can have my beater when you pry the steering wheel that just came off in my cold dead hands"
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
That's precisely what is worrying environmentalists and new-car dealers, who say falling trade barriers are fueling an invasion of smoky junkers. More than 3 million late-model vehicles have rumbled legally south of the border in the last 2 1/2 years. Millions more are on the way, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The vintage metal is rattling Mexico's retail car market. Sales of new vehicles have stalled at 1.1 million a year as used imports have overtaken them. Sales of new subcompacts -- the most popular class of cars in Mexico because of their price -- skidded 16.4% last year as buyers snapped up cheaper, roomier used vehicles from the U.S."
In Mexico, old U.S. cars find new homes (LA Times - if you can't view it, try a Google News search for the headline.)
But in truth there are some vehicles we see that should be taken off of the road. Not like the Japanese do however. We don't need to retire a vehicle just because it is old.
That story I am sure is duplicated over and over with wholesale car auctions. Cars get sold and re-sold over and over. Used in who knows what kind of clandestine operations.
PS
It was a beater after about 3 years.
But yes "beater" also implies a lack of safety and a strong aura of neglect. It is MEANT to be a derogatory term.
Just because you have a grass stain on your Levis that doesn't make you a bum, so a couple dents in your car doesn't mean you have a "beater".
But if you have red tape on your tail light lenses and Goodyear Bald Eagles on your rims, you could be driving a beater and not know it! :P
LOL. I love it. "Goodyear Bald Eagles". How much does a set of those cost.
I have a 1985 F-150 pick-up that I use for farm work that looks like it has been through a war. It ain't pretty but I keep everything fixed and up to specs. If you just went on looks it would be taken out and shot. I bet it is safer than some of these late model cars that have never had the oil changed and go years without service or inspections.
I've got no problem taking dangerous cars out of service but it has to be more than a beauty contest. If junkers are endangering the public it is up to the respective states to enact inspection laws. The laws here in New York are a PITA but they tend to weed out the really bad vehicles.
I worry that if we set the bar too high the burden will fall hard on people who are too poor to afford better.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Let's retaliate. Let me go down to Mexico, purchase and import one of the many subcompact models that are readily available down there ...
If you are going to have a state inspection where the car has to undergo inspection once a year for safety issues like in Virginia, I am all for it.
If you are going to have an inspection like in Missouri where honest shops like WalMart fail 35% of the vehicles and other places fail NOONE, forget about it. It irritates me when my car fails inspection when there is a crack in my headlight plastic yet another vehicle with MAJOR front-end damage (including a missing headlight) passes.
BTW, I see some great looking 1980-1990 Chevy Caprices and older GM cars with no rust and in good shape in Chicagoland. Unfortunately, I never make it to the estate sales that they are offered at.
I sort of like the Ford Ka (no one else did - it's no longer offered in MX as of last month due to poor sales) and you can't beat the old VWs (I guess they finally quit making them a few years ago).
For real, I could see myself driving an Nissan X-Trail. Nissan sold those in Canada too but I don't know if they are still on the market up there. Boxier than a Rogue, more like an old Cherokee.
Saw a lot of them in McAllen, TX. In fact, I was so smitten with the vehicle, I chased the car 10 miles to Reynosa in order to figure out what it was. Heck of a nice looking car and I am not a car person.
And twine run through the punched out trunk lock hole is a pretty good credential. And of course, a coat hanger around the tail pipe is...well....classic.
I think a beater should say something...it should say...."Stay away from this car".
I've heard though, that those yearly inspections aren't all they're cracked up to be. PA has a yearly one too, and I think West Va might, as well. Here in Maryland, a used car only gets inspected when you first register it. Back in 2001 I bought a 1979 5th Ave from a little sales lot in West Va. The seller said he'd guarantee it to pass inspection in PA, VA, or West Va, but in Maryland, I was on my own, and good luck with that! So I'm guessing the Maryland inspection is a lot more stiingent?
Luckily, I got through it without too much trouble. Obligatory headlight adjustment, new rear brake shoes, some minor suspension work, and one new tire.
BTW, I see some great looking 1980-1990 Chevy Caprices and older GM cars with no rust and in good shape in Chicagoland. Unfortunately, I never make it to the estate sales that they are offered at.
I've always had a soft spot for those old beasts. Comfy, roomy, decent fuel economy for their size, cheap to fix, okay handling with the right tires, and easy on the eye.
The inspections in Virginia looked fairly reliable. They would adjust headlights and at least, would go through the vehicles.
The ones in Missouri were a joke. People, hearing that my car failed for something minor, gave me a list of a station where it would pass for a small fee. And of course, never take it to WalMart as they were very straight.
Drove a 2003 Intrepid this weekend. Wish I had one off lease when I needed a car last year. The gas mileage wasn't that great though.
What we call 'beaters" nowadays are probably still emission-controlled vehicles. It's not like the old days, the 60s, when one car's emissions might be the equivalent of 60 modern car's output.
I was disappointed that "sniffer" technology never worked out, wherein a state vehicle could sniff the tailpipe of a visually offending car. I often see cars spewing black (not blue) smoke and I know that this vehicle is putting out enough hydrocarbons to drop birds out of trees. These vehicles should be off the road.
There are plenty of 8 cylinder beaters to be had for cheap. One doesn't need to be driving a 7 cylinder beater. You can buy running beaters on craigslist for $500 bucks. If you can't afford that, you can't afford insurance, and that is totally irresponsible behavior IMO.
I'm not so sure that the modern cars built in say 2000--2001 (given that the average age of cars on the road is something like, roughly, 9-10 years) would TOLERATE being neglected like an old 1970s American V8 would be.
In the old days, when Shiftright was younger and the earth was still cooling, you could easily patch up a car and keep it running. But now, all the duct tape in the world is not going to fix a faulty MAF sensor, nor can you disassemble your little DOHC 4 cylinder motor in your driveway so easily and hand-lap a new valve into the cylinder head.
I once drove my fintail knowing fully well it had a leaking brake line, I told myself it had "3 or 4 stops left"...but this was on deserted residential streets for only about a mile on the way to the shop.
Regarding rust...bodies don't rust like they used to, but I bet some cars still get some structural rot, especially in the suspension.
I've heard some mechanics say that suspensions are actually LESS durable and long-lived than they used to be! Supposedly, the older suspensions that had all the grease fittings you had to lubricate every so often actually were more reliable...IF you kept them greased up, that is!
And I guess it would make sense that, with the proliferation of independent rear suspensions, they'd be more complicated than the simpler, older live axles of yesteryear.
I dunno how much truth there is to that, though. Thinking back, I think the only suspension-related work my 2000 Intrepid needed was one new bearing hub around 130,000 miles, and then the other around 138,000. My 2000 Park Ave needed new swaybark links around 60,000 miles. I'll have to ask my stepdad if their '99 Altima ever needed any suspension work. That thing has about 320,000 miles on it now, and still looks pretty good. They offered to sell it to me really cheap, and I was tempted, but with that kind of mileage, it's a rolling time bomb, no matter how nice it may look.
Going back a bit further though, I don't think my '85 Silverado, with around 134,000 miles on it, has ever had any suspension work, although it does need it. Grandma's '85 LeSabre needed new upper ball joints around 144,000 miles. I don't think my '86 Monte Carlo, which Mom bought new, ever needed any suspension work in the 192,000 miles that it lived.
Wheels and stick on chrome trim are the worse offenders. I loathe the chrome rings posers put around the front and rear lights of some MB. Big 20"+ wheels are also inexcusable.
My E55 needed some front suspension component at 45K miles - I forget what it was, probably related to cruddy local roads and lots of tight parking garage maneuvers. Warranty covered it.
The fintail needed new kingpins at about 200K, and it got some bushings and junk then too, along with a steering bushing. Other than that, I don't bother with it...it has old bits, but its an unrestored car. Maintaining it as new just isn't economically feasible.
Meaning we are in worse shape with respect to beaters today than we were two years ago, because in that time about 8 million people who would have replaced their cars in years past decided not do so because of the economy. I would bet good money that the average age of the roadgoing fleet increased by a year or more just in the last two. So if 9 years is now the average age of a car, we have a significant number out there that are 12 years old or more. On their original suspension, with balding tires, and screeching brakes.......watch out! ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Just after WWII, the average age of a car was 7 years old and the majority of the nation's rolling stock was about on its last legs. This fueled the huge sellers market following the war.
I have a friend whose folks have a 12 year old Camry, ALWAYS has at least two bald tires, cracked windshield, and I drove it once - scary experience, the front suspension is totally shot, the thing just bounces everywhere. Yet it's still a daily driver, and they take that thing out on the freeway every day. Perfect example of the kind of car I DON'T want behind me on the freeway when all the traffic suddenly slows down......
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Nowadays I think it's easier to neglect cars and get away with it. You sure can't kludge a fix on a sensor, but they don't go bad all that often.
Back in the day, you could get 3 years out of a new car before you really had to start repairing and replacing stuff besides the wear and tear items. I didn't do much at all on my '82 Tercel that I drove for 17 years; I got 10 years out of a Voyager (thanks to the extended warranty) and my current rides are both in their second decade of service.
We thought about trading in the '99 Quest during Cash for Clunkers, but nothing really appealed all that much. It still runs good and we put 10,000 miles on it the last couple of months doing road trips, and just passed 150,000 miles. I wouldn't hesitate to hop in it tomorrow and drive cross-country.
I think new cars tolerate neglect pretty darn good. Shoot, that reminds me - I'm overdue (as usual) for an oil change. Last one was back in March, a little over 12,000 miles ago.
And like Fin says, the paint is so much better these days the old rides still clean up pretty well.
Like a Rust
Yup, same thing was already happening on the bumpers of his 04 and 06 Sierras that he had before he got his Tundra. Harsh New Enlgand winters... :sick:
My first thought was crap, another unexpected expense I don't need. But then I remembered my '67 Catalina did the same thing, just with a harsher lurch, and 3rd not engaging until almost 70. That just turned out to be a vacuum leak. So, I was hoping it would be the same thing with my truck. However, I couldn't find the problem on the Catalina, and had needed to pay the mechanic to do it, and I was worried the same thing would happen with the truck. But I decided to take a chance and look under it, and see if I saw anything. And sure enough, there was this long black hose dangling down, almost as if to taunt me. I saw a metal tube that looked like where it would fit, shoved it in place, test drove it, and voila!
So, the old rustbucket has had a stay of execution. Although honestly, even if it needed a transmission rebuild, I'd probably do it. The local shop said with a transmission that simple, they could do it for around $650.
Oh, on the subject of rusty GM trucks, I have to say my uncle's '97 Silverado ain't holding up so hot. Now, my '85 looks worse, because the rust is visible on the body parts. But last fall, he got his truck stuck in my back field when he drove back there to dump some leftover deer parts (don't ask, long story. :P ), and I had to pull him out with my '85. I remember when I hooked the chain underneath his truck, being shocked at how rusty it was. Everything seemed covered in scale, and it seemed to be getting pretty thick, to the point I could foresee bolts being hard to get out, welds that probably weren't long for this worlds, etc.
In contrast, my '85 still looks pretty good underneath. And the odd thing is, my '85 has spent a lot of time parked on the grass and such, which can't be good for them. His '97 has spent most of its life on asphalt, or gravel at least.
This is in Maryland though, where our winters aren't all that brutal (although '09-10 wasn't exactly a picnic). I'm sure in New England, both the '85 and '97 would be ancient history.
tell that to the thousands of Toyota Tundra and Tacoma owners whose
frames are rusting away to the point of being unsafe to drive