Matthew Johnson operates out of Doc Johnson Restorations in Klamath Falls, Oregon. There, he brings neglected classic cars back to life. He personally owns an older Suburban 2500 and recently prepped it for a 2,000-mile road trip…including his entire family of five. With the 2500 in the background, he created an incredibly helpful (and funny) tutorial on how to justify buying a beater car. As Johnson says, this is worth sharing with “a buddy who keeps buying that 2003 Audi A6 and wondering why they have such bad luck.”

How to find a “good” beater car

Make sure you can check off these seven aspects before buying a well-worn vehicle:

• Bang for buck
• History of reliability
• Inexpensive replacement parts
• Transmission reputation: It should be a manual or a “legendary” automatic
• Large population in the wild
• OBD-II diagnostic system*
• You think it’s cool

In terms of “bang for buck,” you’ll need to strike a balance between starting costs, reliability, and overall costs of ownership. Johnson mentions a good example: Many Tacomas are reliable, sure, but they’re difficult to get into if you’re on a tight budget.

There’s a bit of an asterisk on the OBDII point, here. In general, this means avoiding pretty much anything produced before 1986 or anything made after with OBD-I. Carburated cars are “okay” since they’re fairly simple machines. While folks who know them inside-out are a rare breed these days, it’s not impossible to learn them. Get a fuel-injected car built without OBD-II, though, and you’re more likely in for a nightmare ownership experience.

That last one is important. You’re going to spend time and money on a beater car. As such, it should be something you enjoy being in and around a whole bunch.

Examples of “good” well-worn used cars according to real owners

Heading down to the comment section, lots of drivers shared their positive experiences with certain hoopties. Here are a few:

• 1997 and 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 2500
• Jeep XJ (1984 to 2001)
• 2001 Toyota Tacoma, 260K miles
• 1996 Ford F-150, standard cab, short box
• 2001 Toyota Camry
• 1999 Chevrolet Suburban GMT400
• 2014 Toyota Tacoma, base trim
• 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee
• 2002 Chevrolet Silverado
• 2003 Lincoln Town Car
• 2005 Acura RSX with a manual trans, 332K miles
• 2005 GMC Yukon, 390K miles

Note the lack of European models on the list. We have a 2004 BMW 325i E46 sedan stick-shift and love it. Bought it for $2,000 years ago and yeah, have had to do some stuff. Most recently we decided on fixing the broken fuel gauge and warm AC. We love driving it and will hang onto it for the time being. Having worked so long at a shop, though, I can’t say I can heartily promote buying a used Beemer. You might be better off researching very specific generations of the models above and catering your pick to whatever make and style will have you grinning about.