diff --git a/lib/compress.js b/lib/compress.js
index f09f2b9b..cfe63e54 100644
--- a/lib/compress.js
+++ b/lib/compress.js
@@ -4230,26 +4230,13 @@ merge(Compressor.prototype, {
                     }
                 }
                 if (init) {
-                    var value_length = init.optimize(compressor).print_to_string().length;
-                    var fn;
-                    if (has_symbol_ref(fixed)) {
-                        fn = function() {
-                            var result = init.optimize(compressor);
-                            return result === init ? result.clone(true) : result;
-                        };
-                    } else {
-                        value_length = Math.min(value_length, fixed.print_to_string().length);
-                        fn = function() {
-                            var result = best_of_expression(init.optimize(compressor), fixed);
-                            return result === init || result === fixed ? result.clone(true) : result;
-                        };
-                    }
-                    var name_length = d.name.length;
-                    var overhead = 0;
-                    if (compressor.option("unused") && !compressor.exposed(d)) {
-                        overhead = (name_length + 2 + value_length) / d.references.length;
-                    }
-                    d.should_replace = value_length <= name_length + overhead ? fn : false;
+                    d.should_replace = has_symbol_ref(fixed) ? function() {
+                        var result = init.optimize(compressor);
+                        return result === init ? result.clone(true) : result;
+                    } : function() {
+                        var result = best_of_expression(init.optimize(compressor), fixed);
+                        return result === init || result === fixed ? result.clone(true) : result;
+                    };
                 } else {
                     d.should_replace = false;
                 }
diff --git a/test/compress/collapse_vars.js b/test/compress/collapse_vars.js
index b5b97d24..1e44e6e1 100644
--- a/test/compress/collapse_vars.js
+++ b/test/compress/collapse_vars.js
@@ -47,25 +47,23 @@ collapse_vars_side_effects_1: {
     }
     expect: {
         function f1() {
-            var s = "abcdef", i = 2;
-            console.log.bind(console)(s.charAt(i++), s.charAt(i++), s.charAt(i++), 7);
+            var i = 2;
+            console.log.bind(console)("abcdef".charAt(i++), "abcdef".charAt(i++), "abcdef".charAt(i++), 7);
         }
         function f2() {
             var log = console.log.bind(console),
-                s = "abcdef",
                 i = 2,
-                x = s.charAt(i++),
-                y = s.charAt(i++),
-                z = s.charAt(i++);
+                x = "abcdef".charAt(i++),
+                y = "abcdef".charAt(i++),
+                z = "abcdef".charAt(i++);
             log(x, i, y, z, 7);
         }
         function f3() {
-            var s = "abcdef",
-                i = 2,
+            var i = 2,
                 log = console.log.bind(console),
-                x = s.charAt(i++),
-                y = s.charAt(i++);
-            log(x, s.charAt(i++), y, 7);
+                x = "abcdef".charAt(i++),
+                y = "abcdef".charAt(i++);
+            log(x, "abcdef".charAt(i++), y, 7);
         }
         function f4() {
             var i = 10,
diff --git a/test/compress/issue-1609.js b/test/compress/issue-1609.js
index dffa54a5..86617e19 100644
--- a/test/compress/issue-1609.js
+++ b/test/compress/issue-1609.js
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ chained_evaluation_2: {
     expect: {
         (function() {
             (function() {
-                var b = "long piece of string";
-                f(b).bar = b;
+                f("long piece of string").bar = "long piece of string";
             })();
         })();
     }