Confession: sometimes I feel guilty driving my camaro

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by Comrando

The cars built in the '60's-70's had a lifespan of 5 years. That is why there are so few left that they are rare.

Lifespan then isn't much different than now. The cars that are neglected and treated badly might be worn out in 5 years, the ones that are maintained and cared for will last generations.

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by Comrando

No, they were all worn out and rotting away in 5 years with normal use.
There was no need to neglect or abuse them.
You could buy the Ziebart and STP but it didn't help. Three years was old for a car.

Only above and beyond normal maintenance, along with low miles, allowed some of the vehicles to survive.

Thats just not true for many cars. Maybe the econoboxes and imports but I grew up in a family who bought quality cars and maintained them properly, 20+ years on the road was not uncommon, and I'm not talking about cars that never got driven. As for Fbody's, I'd say the racetrack put more of them in the salvage yard than normal wear.

The only vehicles I can think of that were rotting after a couple of years was when dad decided to buy a couple mazda pickups in the mid 80s because they were cheap... when they had holes rusted in the rockers and doors at 18 months old he found out why they were so cheap.

[tmcclint]

OP,

Don't feel guilty for driving the car, after all that is what it was built for. If you're keeping the miles down for the next owner, then I'd ask why you bought it in the first place. But, it you are keeping the miles down for yourself, the I'm right there with you. I want my car to stay "nice" because I don't plan on ever selling it. It's my "permagrin" therapy so of course I want it to last. Choose your experience with the car. Only driving it on special occasions or just after a bad day at work can go a lot further than driving it to the supermarket and the bank everyday. I'm not knocking the guys that have DD Camaros, on the contrary I wish I could spend that kind of money knowing i could just go spend another $50k or so in 6-7 years for another one. For me though I'll stick with my $5k used car as my DD for 4-5 years and then go get another $5k car knowing I've got the Camaro to break the monotony.

[CamaroGuyNYC]

remember, half the world can't afford camaros.. enjoy bro

[freddyD]

shut up and drive

[habunow1]

I picked up a POS DD to save the 60 mile a day I drive to work from being on my Camarowith that being said the second I have a chance to get in my Camaro and do some driving I jump on it. If the miles you put on it is quality fun time you will not regreat a single one of them.

[United_727]

Originally Posted by Dave1222

It has 6,600 miles on it and since that's low mileage for a 2010, sometimes I feel guilty driving her. Also since I have a loan, it makes me think the more I drive her, the less she will be worth. It's a sickness I tell you.

Jeez,my '11 has 1,800 miles on it . I guess I'm worse than you

[el ess A]

Originally Posted by Outlander

Use kbb.com. You'll see that 6,600 or 48,000 miles doesn't change the value by much.

If that's not the truth. We still have the wife's 2002 Z28 we bought new. It's got like 75K miles on it and we were seriously thinking of selling it. Great car but we need to downsize the fleet. Thinking of around $6500. Last night on the way home from the store, we stop by a local bank that allows individuals to park cars they have for sale in their parking lot on weekends. A white 2002 Z28 that had a few dents on it was there, with comparable equipment on the car. Looked half-way decent but not quite as nice as ours. Mileage? posted on the sign was 223,000. (yes, 223K). Looked like a typo to me as the car seemed more like 123,000 miles but it also said it was always garaged. Asking price? $6000.

[MBS]

Never drive your Camaro , I might want to buy one later, and for the extra $1000 i will pay for the low miles , But hey you get a extra thousand for not driving your car more than a 1000 miles a year.

[Josh The People]

1500 miles on my 2010 but that about to probably quadruple this summer lol.... drive it, experience it, enjoy it.

[wadeh]

Cars are depreciating assets. Financially, the worst thing that you can do is to buy one and not drive it.

I once bought a car that was over $100K. When I first got it, I drove it all the time as my daily driver. At some point I started to get worried that it was too expensive to risk driving it in traffic every day and I started driving it less and less. I sold it less than a year after I bought it. I lost a huge amount of money on it, but it was still the right thing to do. I took the proceeds and bought a car that was less than half the cost and even more fun to drive.

So enjoy the heck out of that Camaro. It was built to be driven.

[SSGUNNER]

No guilt here for me, drive the crap out of mine currently at 26471. Picked her up with 48.

[Angrybird 12]

I heard Jay Leno say something one time that struck me as what a true car guy should say. He was asked if he drives all his cars and he said yes, cars were meant to be driven, I drive them until they are tired then rebuild them and drive them some more.(not an exact quote).

[OHIOSS]

Originally Posted by 87GNX

Dude it's just a car, drive it or you might not get a chance the next day. We were not built to last forever.

I agree with this.

I don't understand the logic of not driving a car you bought for the purpose of driving it.....I don't get it. It's not like the car is going to appreciate in value in the next 10-20 years so you may as well enjoy it.

The only Gen 5 Camaro's that I think have a chance to appreciate in value is the 2010 R6P Camaro's. There are a limited quantity of these that were made and they aren't making any more 2010 R6P cars.

I know most everyone don't think these will appreciate in value but they have more of a chance than the non-R6P cars.

Russ