Hell of an idea of how much one should spend on a "beater."
And a hell of an idea of what "beater" means in the context of cars.
At first, I was in total agreement with Josh on the idea of a "beater," but for slightly more expansive reasons (and a lot less weight placed on some of the ones Josh lists). After skimming the thread again, I'm not sure.
I'm unclear on how critical the need for a car is. The impression I've wound up with is that she wants a car to fit a certain role much more than she actually needs an additional car.
Whether she needs on or not, she looks to have dug herself into some real clyde-level analysis paralysis on the choice at first glance, but upon review, it seems much more clear that there's even more clyde-like self-sabotage going on. WDC wants a new BMW SUV, but doesn't want to spend what it will cost today, so keeps looking at other things and kind of trying to talk herself into them even thought they're not really what she wants. The only two things that fix that are 1) spend the money or 2) let it go and move on. (and yes, that's advice for myself, too)
I could be way wrong about all of that. Most of all, if there's an actual need for an additional vehicle "now," a beater could be the best idea. But a real beater. This is why:
A real beater is an appliance that serves the practical need when you need it while not needing care about appearance, broken/torn/worn things that don't prevent safe and reliable operation (even then, allow some wiggle room), and the driving experience is a byproduct...all at a cost that if it dies and leaves you stranded somewhere in the first year, you'll literally walk away from it with no hard feelings as you start looking for the next one.
Anything resembling "new" is not a beater. Low five figures is not a beater.