$3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations!

JayNoonce

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I bought a $3000 09 Civic LX coupe (not in the best condition) just to commute and also to save my mileage on my Civic Hatch and so far it has exceeded my expectations! This thing is tough as nails! Great on gas, got me through heat waves with working a/c, rain, slowly hauled ass up a mountain and even got me to multiple distant cities! Got it at 128k miles and now has 142k within just a year and hasn’t had any major problems yet(knock on wood). Hopefully it gets to that high mileage club. Has anyone had any good experiences with their “beater, commuter” cars? Feel free to share! P.S. it deserved a glow up so I gave it one. Much love to the 8th gen Civic! (Pictures of it before+after and it sitting next to my 10th gen) :D

Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! 3A640C5A-C698-4A98-8E4A-0C2D8121D172


Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! 16EDBA25-419B-4546-A123-095A1F6BCAD2


Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! 03F68A6F-5474-4501-A1DA-3313B85E0CCA


Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! 5B04DE9D-C367-40F3-B326-2B71A8DE58E9


Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! F6E49853-4D2D-43FF-B666-0CD1A57BBECA
 

longthaitran91

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I’m amazed that you were able to buy an 09 civic for 3k. What horrible acts to humanity did you commit to get one for that price? Even before pricing hell I never seen one for that low. About the best beater I had was the 96 civic ex 10 years ago had 180k before I sold it for 2k in 2013.
 

arpypat

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Before I bought my Si, I bought an 05 TL 6mt with 90k miles for $9k. It was a 1-owner car and all stock and SUPER clean.

Used it for a few years and 30k miles and sold it for $5k. I kind of miss that car sometimes. Put some mods into it and it was a great daily/beater

Could rev the thing to oblivion and never had any issues with the engine/trans/clutch or anything.

Worst thing that happened was one of the axles snapped, but that was poor maintenance on my part for not knowing the CV boot was ripped off...

Anyways, here she is:

Honda Civic 10th gen $3000 commuter aka “sh*tbox” exceeded my expectations! 4a4d023a557bb0e0920acb2796465756
 

charleswrivers

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I’ve had that F-150 for several years. It was my late fathers and maybe worth $1000. It’s never let me down.

Spent $1300 on a ‘86 300zx in ‘04. Drove it to ‘08. Sold it for 2 grand. Put one set of rear shocks in it

Spent $6k on an old Caddy. Basically unloaded it on a trade for 2 or 3k. Needed very little (coil cassette, rear shocks and one solenoid) in the 3 years I had it.

Spent 8k on an RSX I drove for 3 years and sold for (what I thought was) a killer deal for $6k. Needed an O2 sensor in all that time and bought some cheap rims with some decent used t it is for the winter.

Was given a broke RSX base. Got it running for a few hundred bucks. Had it alongside the type S for maybe a year. Sold it to a friend for… $2400 maybe? 3600? I can’t remember. They had the thing for years.

Buying an old(er) car that’s had its depreciation hit and is 1/8-1/3 it’s new cost is generally a good prospect. Most 100-150k mile cars are just broke in mechanically so long as they were maintained, even if they look a little rough around the edges aesthetically.

Honestly, I’d like to go back to just getting 6-12 year old cars every 2-4 years and keep driving different things. I don’t see me replacing the Civic with a new car unless I catch the EV bug.
 

BoxsterSteve

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Buying an old(er) car that’s had its depreciation hit and is 1/8-1/3 it’s new cost is generally a good prospect. Most 100-150k mile cars are just broke in mechanically so long as they were maintained, even if they look a little rough around the edges aesthetically.

Honestly, I’d like to go back to just getting 6-12 year old cars every 2-4 years and keep driving different things. I don’t see me replacing the Civic with a new car unless I catch the EV bug.
Im envious, more-so because of the relatively rust free area you live in.
I used to do that as a frugal young man, but it was made more difficult living in the rust belt where typically you have to really fight with rusted fasteners when cars are even just a couple of years old.

Now I live vicariously through the Grassroots Motorsports website.
Some guys on there buy some seriously ratty clapped out out vehicles and bring them back.
It’s a testament to not spending a ton of money on a depreciating asset and the value that a little sweat equity adds.
 


charleswrivers

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Im envious, more-so because of the relatively rust free area you live in.
I used to do that as a frugal young man, but it was made more difficult living in the rust belt where typically you have to really fight with rusted fasteners when cars are even just a couple of years old.

Now I live vicariously through the Grassroots Motorsports website.
Some guys on there buy some seriously ratty clapped out out vehicles and bring them back.
It’s a testament to not spending a ton of money on a depreciating asset and the value that a little sweat equity adds.
Yeah… both the RSXs were in NY state. While they seemed fairly rust free at the time I let them go I sold them off before moving back down to the southeast. The ‘86 (actually my 2nd ‘86… I totaled my first when I was a teen) I let go since I was moving to NY and I didn’t want it to rot out. It was a super clean car, though the paint was tired and engine had a pile of miles on it.

I’d like to think it’s still on the road all these years later.
 

xcoreflyup

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Paid $1500 for a 30 years old 1981 300SD to got me thru college, car had like 180K on the clock, beside the electric windows, nothing work on that car but it just kept running. most of the suspension bushing are worn out, never had the right tire alignment. I didnt bother to fix the constant oil leak.

I drove it for 5 years, even drove it on a trip to AZ. 2 people reported me to the CA emission board saying my car smokes too much. lol Dont they know these old cars are exempted from smog check. At the end, i sold it to the junkyard and replaced it with my Civic Hatch
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