An old beater car can be a huge inconvenience though. My 16-year old (when bought) Saxo had to have bearings replaced, but the bolts for the suspension arm were so rusted they snapped during the process and cost me 1/2 the price of the car to get a new arm and bolts, too. Replaced that car with a 15-year old Astra for a little more oomph (1.6L over 1.1L) which recently had it's handbrake rust onto the disc. A few whacks with a hammer fixed that, but I couldn't use it until after the place I wanted to go was closed because I needed my girlfriend to be able to hit the foot brake when I hit the handbrake off.

Both cars required a replacement battery within a year of buying, as well as new stereo wires for the Saxo which I had to acquire from a Peugeot 106 in a scrapyard and various bulbs for the Astra. These problems are less about age but more about previous owners and myself.

I can't wait until I can afford a newer car, something closer to 5-10 years old instead of 15-20, because I won't be praying that my car will pull off every time I haven't used it for 3 days.