I think some of you guys have what I consider a prime purchase and you guys consider a beater.
A beater car is a rustbucket that runs. Something that has at least 150,000 miles (that is when the rust will start to begin around here.) A beater is something you can purchase from $1500 to $2000.
A Honda with 140,000 miles that looks good still and costs $4000 is not a beater. A 10 year old car is not a beater, though probably will be shortly.
I won't buy brand new again. Our Ford Escape is at 117,000 miles and I still owe 2 more payments (stupid 6 year loan.) I would buy something used the age my Ford is with around 70-80,000 miles. I would drive that to beaterhood. As it is now, the Ford is rusting prematurely and will prematurely become a beater far before it should. My 2003 Jetta is only at about 108,000 miles, purchased 7 years old with 70,000 miles on it. It will outlast the Ford both because of quality and because it was 7 years old with 30k miles less than the Ford is at 6 years old. Mechanically it is far stronger than the Ford.
I bought a brand new car in 1992 as I was talked into it as a young adult by my mother. Big mistake. Fast forward to 2007 and I've been stuck the last 15 years paying car payments on 5 year old used purchases and thought it might be wise to buy a new car again. Again, a big mistake. I could have had a comparable Toyota or Honda (really, the Ford can not be compared to either of them) and had twice the vehicle at half the cost by buying used.
Back to being a beater, I drive my cars until I get sick of doing body work every year for state inspection. That is usually around the 175-225,000 mile mark. Mechanically, my cars have always still been perfect at that age because I've only ever owned Japanese vehicles until I was stupid enough to buy a Ford.