Ever since I moved 60+ miles away from work, I have been contemplating the purchase of a ‘beater’ car to drive every day instead of my 2005 GT for the following reasons:

• Better gas mileage, which is getting more critical every day.

• Stop adding an average of 30K boring interstate miles a year to my Mustang.

• The salvation of my Mustang from the relentless barrage of interstate flotsam and jetsam. (In all honesty, this may be the main reason!)

I sat down and ran the numbers. I determined that I could by a beater and barring any major problems, it would pay for itself in a little over 2 years. And my Lime beauty could stay safe at home in the garage and only be driven when I wanted to drive it.

So, I bought a 1998 Ford Escort wagon. It’s a 4 banger with a 5-speed manual transmission. It is as slow as dog doo and it ain’t too pretty, but it gets me where I want to go and does it at 35 miles per gallon! The wife won’t go near it because it’s ‘nerdy’, but the fact that it’s a wagon just makes it more versatile in my opinion.

Bonus! After driving the Escort for a few weeks the Mustang will feel like the fastest car on the planet!

So let’s see your beaters!

 

Oh man, that car is all you baby!!!

 

moved to General Vehicle Discussion........

as for a beater, mine is a 97 Pontiac Grand Am SE but that is just for winter. I decided there is no point in just having a nice mustang sit there and not be used.

 

My beater's an '88 Toyota Celica GTS. 107,000 miles on the odometer. 4 cylinders. Sunroof.

 

I had same Escort, but mine was 4 door hatchback. I liked that car. Sold it when I got Mustang.

 

My beater is a black primered 1947 Ford coupe with a Chev 350/350 combo and 3.0 gears (soon to get AC)

 

1995 Honda Accord... 2.2 Liters cranking out 130 bhp @ 5200 and 144 ft/lb @ 4000 RPM. Can run the 1320 in 17.8 sec @ 76mph.

Buckle up and hold on

 

Double post... oops

 

I kept my old ride when I got the Mustang. '95 Chevy Blazer. 150,000 miles and still going, but the Mustang gets much better gas mileage.

 

Why would you have Chevy engine in Ford?

 

dime a dozen for them motors...btw 1995 cutlass supreme, slightly better millage but where i work, there are idiots in a hurry and gravel all around, the stone chips on my cutlass are outrageous

 

My '94 Bronco rust bucket, the Mustang gets slightly better mileage, like +12 mpg, but when it comes to snow, or running from the cops, she's unstopable!

 

Beautiful Bronco.

 

The way I look at it is: life is too short to torture myself by driving around in a ugly, slow uncormfortable beater car every day. That's why I drive my '06 Mustang to work every day, unless I have to haul more cargo/passengers than it can carry.

Besides, I've got two "project" cars that I'm working on now, a 240Z and my Valiant, plus our F150, so I don't have room for any more cars.

 

Here's my beater/commuter:
2006 Scion Xa and I'm getting 32 to 36 mpg on average. Had to be blue and a stick, the rest didn't matter. I just got it at the end of last year when I moved to Old Bridge,NJ from Brooklyn, NY and my commute became 85 miles roundtrip up from 25 miles.

The 2 other rides in the house are:
1999 Pontiac Firebird and the 2004 RX-8 (the wifey's toys).

 

Funny thread.

I was still driving my 1989 Honda Civic when I finally bought my 2006 mustang. I kept the Mustang in the garage and drove the honda to work for 6 months. I eventually let Vic go after 3 accidents and 2 maaco paint jobs. Talk about beaters... this was the same car I took my drivers test in back in 1993. How do you like that 8 ball shifter? (put that one in back in high school). It got around 36 mpg.

Now I actually drive my motorcycle to work, sometimes even in the rain. It allows me to use the HOV lanes, plus I really don't like taking the mustang out in the rain if I don't have to. I think it gets around 40 mpg.

This winter I did metro a lot = infinity mpg. Mustang saw snow only once (weather man lied to me that day).

 

Thak you for your transportation pictorial...it really helped..hehe...

 

My beater is also my daily driver. 1989 Escort wagon w/5 speed., 116,000 miles. Great mpg but it doesn't reallly matter because even when gas is now 3.40/gal I only spend six bucks a week for gas. A friend gave it me a year and a half ago and a buddy from work is buying it from me for $350 in August when I move to Poland. Ther my beater will be a tram!

 

the Bullitt is my DD, and therefore my beater... looking to get into an old foxbody to take over the role, though...

 

My leased 07 Impreza is my daily driver. I guess it could be considered a beater, but I take really good care of it. I will put just shy of about 15k on it per year. Couldn't beat the $260 per month for a new car with AWD and when the 36 months are up I move on which is how I like it.

I retired the 95 Olds Cutlass to the garage to keep the miles down so I can give it to my sister as soon as she is done with college. I just need new tires and a muffler. Other than, it's only got about 54k on it and runs like a top and is fantastic shape! Gotta run it more though and get an oil change soon

Once next spring comes around the Cutlass will be out and a new (to me at least) Mustang will be in.