Average Yearly Maintenance/upkeep costs?

[Jerm]

Hey guys, I've finally decided that I might be ready for the financial responsibilities of owning a MkIII.

Anyway, I was wondering about how much you guys have to pay every year to keep your cars on the road, not insurance-wise, but including gas, tires, repairs and all that jazz.

I know it's going to range from very little to very large sums of money depending on the car and owner, but I'd like to know what I might be getting myself into (be it thick/thin).
Also, many of you guys are going through crazy build ups or something, but I'm hoping I can get at least a little input from guys who are going steady with their mods.


Any guesstimates would be nice :icon_bigg
Thanks

[gixxer750]

honestly..... a lot. I go through tires every 3-4 months....(back ones at least). I have to change plugs about every 3000 miles, and change the oil with mobil 1 synthetic every 1500 miles. Thats about $40 an oil change or so with a good quality filter. I do a lot of modding too, and some repairs when I break stuff. I use quite a bit of gas in it, and some of that includes race gas.

I have owned my car about a year, and have put close to $10k in it, but I am also looking for 500+ hp. This may or may not apply to you, it depends on your goals

[born2drv]

figure an engine rebuild every 2 yrs..... oh and a tranny rebuild every 2yrs too if you opt for an auto trans.... + $1000/yr for misc electrical sensors/relays/you name it that add up very quickly and other items like alternator, rack and pinion, springs/shocks,etc...., so like $4000/yr.

If you're less then that, it's just bonus money in the bank and you can count your blessings :)

[stratoayu]

wow u guys must abuse ur cars or something... mines sitting at ~307 rwhp and its been my DD for the last year... all i have done is 3 oil changes ( full synthetic) replaced the starter, battery, thermostat, tranny/rear end fluid... but that was mostly just because i wanted to and in total costed me 300 bux?... annnd yea.. i did put on a bunch of stuff.. but it was by no means mantaince... if something does go wrong with my car.. i do figure out what it is right away and fix it.. its usually small things... my car has seen races.. and some visits to the dyno too... i dunno.. my yearly costs are quite low if i did not mod my car..

[robbo185]

figure an engine rebuild every 2 yrs..... oh and a tranny rebuild every 2yrs too if you opt for an auto trans.... + $1000/yr for misc electrical sensors/relays/you name it that add up very quickly and other items like alternator, rack and pinion, springs/shocks,etc...., so like $4000/yr.

If you're less then that, it's just bonus money in the bank and you can count your blessings :)
ok thats crap.....you dont need an engine build every two years if you do it right and if you build your tranny and cool it properly it will be fine....done listen to him

[GrimJack]

I'm sitting at about $6000 / year at the moment. Hopefully that will drop significantly as the years go by, I think I've pretty much swallowed the big ones already.

[JustAnotherVictim]

If I added it up I would be sad.

[rakkasan]

To expand on what Grim said, it depends on what you goals are. If you want a solid daily driver, you might have to spend $500-$2000 on it depending on the condition of the car when you bought it. If you want to mod the hell out of it, well that's a different story.

[SupraDreamPDR]

all i know is that the initial costs of making the car run right and replacing all the old and worn parts (theres alot, its an '88!) is starting to add up. but i figure once i get a solid base of a car, and then its time to rebuild the engine. but after all that it shouldnt be too much of a yearly upkeep.

[rakkasan]

.....and then its time to rebuild the engine. but after all that it shouldnt be too much of a yearly upkeep.

LOL, I've just about crossed the rebuild bridge.......almost 8K later.....:biglaugh:

[xarewhyayen]

((salary/2)+bhg*1.73)/4+(rate of inflation)+(Cost of 1 tank of gas*2.5*52)+(cost of good oil+filter*4)+(tires)+etc. etc. etc. etc.


in other words... alot.

A running supra spanking that ricer... Priceless.

[born2drv]

i just like to figure worst case scenario to someone considering buying this car.... it's very easy to go through 3-4 engines before finding a "good" one if you don't know what you're doing.

8 years ago when i was just a kid, my parents had the engine replaced 3 times because the "JDM engines" installed by professional shops were crap... 2 of those times they got stuck with the bill because it was out of the warranty period... mind you they never came to this website or knew it needed a rebuild with MHG+arps, neither did the mechanics working on them.

Also auto transmissions on these cars are known to fail if pushed hard a lot. I've had mine rebuilt 2 times as well in my youth days... sure I pushed it hard a lot.

But now that I'm older and wiser sure I will rebuild the engine properly and get a tranny cooler, etc. But to the average person buying this car getting work done by the average mechanic, I think there's a lot that can go wrong and they should assume the worst or they'll be dissapointed and just ditch the car after the engine or tranny blows again.

[Draken]

lets see, for me, 8 oil changes a year @ 3000 miles each, $45 - 50 each, 2 tanks of gas per week, figure at current prices thats around $40ish per tank, front breaks, 50ish....and i still need to go though the whole suspension system and steering system and replace ball joints/bushings and anything else that might be slightly worn..but thats not a yearly expense...new tires, cheap agressive all seasons ran me $300 for all 4, still need some good summer tires

as far as the gas and oil, you have to figure i drive 80+ miles just about EVERY day

[stratoayu]

ill say that it mostly depends on what type of car you buy then... if you flip a big bill when u first buy the car for one that has been documented and taken care of iwth all receipts since it was new... then your shouldnt be doing bad.. as long as you do keep up with regular matainence... chaning oil regularly with good oil.. not walmart special... i dunno.. i guess there is too many variables.. and if your talking mantaining a car your self, or bringing it to a shop and getting charged up the ying yang for everything... also if your modding it or just keeping it stock...

[7M-GTE]

They're not cheap if you want any fun out of them... I'm in somewhere around 8K...

EDIT: but I'm shooting for 450hp daily...

[americanjebus]

daily driving, $40 gas tank gets me just over 220 miles, walmart mobil clean 5000 is like $1.95 at walmart per quart, tranny flush with royal purple (expensive ass shit) $10 a quart x 7, not much more than a normal car if you start with a clean condition supra, if you buy an older one with allot more miles, more hoses will need replacing and the price will shoot up for upkeep.

how much you spend will depend on how much performance, and how much care to put into your car. Insurance is most expensive part.

[MKIIINA]

around 400-600 a year probibly. thats oil changes (mobil 1) plugs every 3k, and usually i break something large once a year (clutch, turbo) so depending on what it is that gave up a touch more or less. mods dont count as upkeep for me :)

[jetjock]

8 oil changes a year at $40-50 each? Yikes. Ignorance is expensive. My oil expenses are $28 per year, $20 of which is analysis. Once every 3 years (25-30K miles) or so oil cost jumps to $25 when it gets a full change out.

I've found this car to be one of the cheapest, most reliable, and easiest to work on of any I've owned. Depending on how bad it is when you buy it (how hacked up by the previous owner), how badly it was maintained, how much you abuse it, and how much you mod it, it can be spendy at first but otherwise it's pretty cheap to own. If we're talking strickly maintenence costs, mine average somewhere around $150/year. Most years they've been less and some years they've approached zero. The car is pushing 140K miles at this point and runs like a watch. Even has the original turbo.

I do all my own work of course but even then the car rarely needs something. It's all depends on how educated you chose to be and how well you stay on top of things.

[Mr.PFloyd]

ive spent about 4000 this year. cdn. but i always seeem to have brake problems. i think mine are wapred... again. always the rear ones. mine sound like they are hiting the pads every spin. gonna go check it out soon :D

[Draken]

8 oil changes a year at $40-50 each? Yikes. Ignorance is expensive. My oil expenses are $28 per year, $20 of which is analysis. Once every 3 years (25-30K miles) or so oil cost jumps to $25 when it gets a full change out.


thats 7 quarts of royal purple + filter...15w40 royal purple is $6+ per quart, that gives me 5 quarts to dump in, and 2 extra because my valve guide seals leak slightly and i go though about 1 1/2 - 2 quarts per oil change....don't call someone ignorant if you don't know what kind of product someone is using...and like i said, i drive A LOT and put a lot of miles on my car, and i drive it hard, so i want something that i know is going to hold up in my oil pan, thats why my choice of royal purple oil (and all other fluids), he asked what our cost is, thats my cost, just that simple

[turbo4toy]

LOL......Supra is japanese for $$$$. I spent over 2K on just tires the last year that i was using as my DD. Honestly the upkeep costs are probably just as much as any other car. It's more when you get the go fast bug and start buying all of the performance parts when it all starts adding up.

[jetjock]

thats 7 quarts of royal purple + filter...15w40 royal purple is $6+ per quart, that gives me 5 quarts to dump in, and 2 extra because my valve guide seals leak slightly and i go though about 1 1/2 - 2 quarts per oil change....don't call someone ignorant if you don't know what kind of product someone is using...and like i said, i drive A LOT and put a lot of miles on my car, and i drive it hard, so i want something that i know is going to hold up in my oil pan, thats why my choice of royal purple oil (and all other fluids), he asked what our cost is, thats my cost, just that simple

Fair nuff but being called ignorant isn't a slam, it simply means you don't know any better. Why would you change expensive syn oil every 3K no matter how many miles you put on the car? Why would you use such an expensive oil if the car burns it? Why would you even use 15-40 in the first place? In Michigan no less? Because the car burns it? Why don't you repair the car? And do you honestly believe RP is the only oil that'll "hold up"? What do you base that belief on? Sorry, but your statement has ignorance written all over it.

It's your car (and your money) so you can do as you please. Nor do I have a problem with $6/quart oil. The oil I use costs almost the same, I'm just not foolish enough to throw it away after 3K miles. You say you need an top of the line Group V synthetic that'll hold up, yet you believe that same oil only does so to 3K miles. Does that make sense? Does it reveal even a basic knowledge about what happens to a motor oil in service? I mean come on, the cheapest SM rated Group II dino oil on the market will "hold up" to 3K miles no matter how much you beat on it.

He asked for costs and you contributed. From where you sit you done good but your costs are not representative of owning the car because they're not represenstative of someone who understands the right way to care for the car, nor the way to get value while still doing right by it. You might as well tell him the cost of putting new tires on every 3K miles or what it'll cost to gold plate the wheels. Since ownerships costs are behind his asking the question in the first place what you're doing makes the data point next to worthless. I'd go so far as to call it misinformation. All it accomplishes is him thinking the costs are more than they should be.

As for yourself, you have two choices: You can get bent or you can get educated. I suggest the latter.

[91T breezen']

I've got about $4500.00 into my car. Gas is about $100-$140.00 per month, depending how much I drive her, oil is pricey...Amsoil 15-40, every 3000 miles, + filter er, $50.00...Insurance is pretty cheap for me $79.00 per month(full coverage!) Odds and ends, I'd say about $400-$500.00 per year. Not the cheapest car to own, but she's been pretty reliable, and could have been alot more expensive. I count my blessings. I figure I've got at least another $10,000 left to go, to get her to where I want...550whp, and 550+ rwtq!:icon_razz

[jetjock]

Btw, since we're jawing about oil here's something those of you who care about cost versus value might like to know.

Valvoline is giving away 5 quarts of either their MaxLife regular or full synthetic free. That's right, 100% full PAO syn oil free. It can be had in 5-30, 10-30, or 10-40 grades. Don't let the high mileage label fool you, both of these are excellent oils that can be used in any mileage engine.

The regular oil is a syn blend (18-20% PAO) while the full syn is just that. Go to the Valvoline website and print out the mail in rebate form then go buy either 5 quarts or a 5 quart jug of either oil at your local Wally World or PepBoys. Better hurry though, the offer is limited to the first 100,000 rebates.

[Suprastic]

My acr is a DD in the summer and for the past three years I haven't had to do anything other than regulary changing my fluids. Everything I replaced was due to normal wear and tear like tires and brakes. I found that my car has been soo reliable to me that I was able to concentrate on doing minor repairs to the body and repainting it. I also have been anble to completely change my interior around. The interior will be finished this tommorow and the car will be painted by April 17th. By then it'll look and feel like a brand new car. I replaced the engine three years ago after I blew the HG. Since then regular maintence and no other problems what so ever. I love it.

[jd20phill]

You know the movie The Money Pit. Its kinda like that, only with a car. :drink1:

[Mr.PFloyd]

my friend quoted my car as being a drug. you get the good feelings but have to pay for it haha.

[Draken]

Fair nuff but being called ignorant isn't a slam, it simply means you don't know any better. Why would you change expensive syn oil every 3K no matter how many miles you put on the car? Why would you use such an expensive oil if the car burns it? Why would you even use 15-40 in the first place? In Michigan no less? Because the car burns it? Why don't you repair the car? And do you honestly believe RP is the only oil that'll "hold up"? What do you base that belief on? Sorry, but your statement has ignorance written all over it.

I used to run castrol ful systhetic, i would get between 270ish and 280ish miles out of a tank of gas with mixed highway and city driving, someone recomended i try RP, so i did, 2nd change i now get between 320ish and 330ish miles per tank, same mixed driving. you asked why i use 15-40? because i use less of it, with 10-30 would go though about 3 quarts per change, so i raised the weight that i'm using and i burn a little less oil...

now do i believe that RP is the only oil that will hold up? no i do not, i know there are a lot of good oils out there that would not have a problem at all, i run what i like

It's your car (and your money) so you can do as you please. Nor do I have a problem with $6/quart oil. The oil I use costs almost the same, I'm just not foolish enough to throw it away after 3K miles. You say you need an top of the line Group V synthetic that'll hold up, yet you believe that same oil only does so to 3K miles. Does that make sense? Does it reveal even a basic knowledge about what happens to a motor oil in service? I mean come on, the cheapest SM rated Group II dino oil on the market will "hold up" to 3K miles no matter how much you beat on it.

i change my oil and filter ever 3000 - 3500 miles because thats my choice as you said, but with all the cars i have had i have had:

1. engine blow because an oil like blew and a 1/4 inch like can dump a lot of oil real fast when its at 60psi

2. blew the apex seals in my RX-7 from running to high of revs in it while racing when the engine already had 223K on it with no rebuild

He asked for costs and you contributed. From where you sit you done good but your costs are not representative of owning the car because they're not represenstative of someone who understands the right way to care for the car, nor the way to get value while still doing right by it. You might as well tell him the cost of putting new tires on every 3K miles or what it'll cost to gold plate the wheels. Since ownerships costs are behind his asking the question in the first place what you're doing makes the data point next to worthless. I'd go so far as to call it misinformation. All it accomplishes is him thinking the costs are more than they should be.

These are repesentative of owning the car, because i do own the car, this is just how I treat my cars, and my treat me good. yes, I run expensive oil, yes i change said oil every few thousand miles along with the filter, but as has been said, my choice, i personaly don't agree with changing the oil every 25k - 30k miles, but thats your choice.

as for my data being "worthless" is is a long way from that, I offer how much I drive, how I drive, and how I treat my car, you may not agree with how I treat my car, but like i said, i don't agree with how you treat yours either. I'm at one extreme, you are at the other extreme and if mine is misinformation, then yours would be also, we just treat our cars diffrently is all

As for yourself, you have a choice: You can get bent or you can get educated. I suggest the latter.

both of us are a long way from avarage costs, you don't chage your oil as often as most people, I drive much more then most people, but we each choose how we do it

[jetjock]

Wow...just wow. I was wrong: you have three choices. I don't know what to say except there is no point in beating a dead horse. Best of luck to you.