PDA

View Full Version : Critique for my car want



RosieTR
9-10-12, 12:31am
I would like some feedback, esp critique if you have it, on my car want. Here's my situation:
We own 2 cars, both paid-for: a 1999 Nissan Sentra and a 2009 Honda Fit. Both get high 30s mpg. I commute ~70 mi round-trip per day since January and we are in northern CO. Having a fairly old car we started a "car fund" a year or two ago, which now has about $6k in it. We also have other general savings which is basically an emergency fund, that's about 6 mo of expenses or so. The Nissan still works OK but is starting to have more "issues" crop up. So far, nothing catastrophic but it feels like the start of more and more small and possibly bigger problems. Whether this will be in a year or 3 years, I wish I knew. In any case, we would eventually like to own an SUV, both because of snow and especially to support our mountain climbing habit, since many trailheads require high clearance and we had to have a transmission repair on the Fit after hitting a rock on a supposedly passenger-car-OK road. My absolute dream car is probably a Toyota 4Runner, but of course that's not the only vehicle that would potentially work. So I suppose there are two things that I am debating about all this. One is whether to get set on my dream car, buy it new or very nearly so and just baby it to last 20+ years or to set my sights down a couple notches (like a Subaru Forester) and save the extra $. The other is whether to keep waiting with the Nissan for awhile longer, maybe get snow tires for winter, and put off having what I really want, or starting to shop around now while the Nissan is in good shape for selling leverage or just not having to have car #2 in a big hurry. In either case if I decide to buy now I would have to either delve into e-fund or go with a car payment. Neither feels good but in the long run the e-fund is probably a bit better option. But since the car is not an immediate emergency need, maybe it's best to wait even if we might wind up having to buy in a hurry if the Nissan suddenly dies (even a fender bender would total it at this point). It would probably be good to have our fingers on the pulse of the market for vehicles we're interested in but if I get DH researching it he'll likely want to buy sooner than later. Any thoughts? I think I'm sort of looking for encouragement to stay the course and put off a big purchase for now, but the little devil sitting on my shoulder keeps whispering non-frugal things.

ToomuchStuff
9-10-12, 1:01am
You have a fund for a car, what is your current market value at, for the one you want to sell? (sounds like the Nissan) This is not blue book but what you see them disappearing for, via your local CL.
Personally, I would start looking and letting people I know, know that I am looking (and for a TYPE, NOT make and model of car). Use patience and keep socking money away, until you find a deal. If you want your "dream car", see what Consumer reports says about it, and if there are good and bad used years, to watch for (get a slightly older car, as someone may not like the mileage their pathfinder gets, and be wanting something with better gas mileage).

I have bought in an emergency, but my best purchases, were ones that I waited and let come to me.

try2bfrugal
9-10-12, 1:31am
Subarus are great for snow but the all wheel drive can be expensive. If you get a flat that is near the side of the tire and can't be fixed - you have to buy 4 new tires because of the all wheel drive. Ouch. We found that out after we bought our Subaru. Just hought I'd pass that along since that was a little surprise we had recently.

If it were me I would not dip into the emergency fund or take out a car loan. Consumer Reports has quite a long list of reliable used cars you can buy for under 10K. I would save up a few thousand more if you think the Sentra will last that long without some major repairs, add that amount to the 6K you have saved plus whatever you can sell the Sentra for and get something not new but newer from the Consumer Reports reliable used car list. The lowest price Subaru they recommend is a Subaru Impreza (non-turbo), '04-05 for under 10K.

SteveinMN
9-10-12, 9:02am
Some very good advice so far. My thoughts:

Many people make the mistake of buying the vehicle they think will cover all of their needs all of the time. The trouble with that is that, most of the time, you're enduring the negative aspects of that vehicle for the sake of the few times you actually need those capabilities. Buying a RAV4 or a Forester would be great for the times you go climbing. But you will pay for that ability every other time you drive the car, in both wear-and-tear and in fuel mileage. Let's say, for example, that your Nissan uses two gallons of gas a day on your commute (about 35 mpg). You probably will get around 25 mpg on the Toyota/Subaru/whatever. So now you're using almost three gallons of gas a day. So an extra gallon a day times 5 (days a week for work) times 36 (average number of work weeks in a year) equals $714. That's $60 a month more that you'll pay just to fuel the dream vehicle. Plus whatever additional maintenance you incur for putting on those miles (extra oil changes, more expensive tires, tuneups, etc.). And, as try2frugal points out, maintenance on AWD/4WD vehicles is not inexpensive. Insurance may not be, either.

You don't say much about the Sentra, but assuming it has had recommended maintenance and is not super-high mileage, it should last for many years to come. Even if you run into a repair bill of, say, $1,200, that's still only a few months of car payments. It may seem like a lot compared to the value of the car, but it's not much compared to 24-48 months of car payments. And shouldn't the point of this be to get you safely and reasonably efficiently from Point A to Point B?

Finally, I do not recommend Consumer Reports as a source of information about used cars. Well, I would use it as one point of information. But I would never buy a car (or not buy one) based on their recommendation. Anyone familiar with statistics could tell you that there are severe issues with how CR determines its "reliability" ratings: too small a self-selected sample of owners, poorly-defined criteria/questions, and insufficient granularity of the data. I would include Web sites like Edmunds, The Truth About Cars, and TrueDelta to get a more accurate picture of reliability.

pinkytoe
9-10-12, 10:06am
MY brother lives in CO and is also an avid hiker/climber. He keeps a very old Isuzu Trooper strictly for his mountain forays. I know having three cars might seem onerous but that is one option. Or if your dh doesn't have far to drive to work, he could use it for that too.

iris lily
9-10-12, 10:17am
We had both cars go kaput in the same year, one of them very old. It's a PITA to scurry around looking for the Right used car. Prior to this car shopping event we had had two used cars that fell into our laps sort of and we liked both of them, and we were amenable to used cars. But this time we just gave up and bought new ones and I do not really regret that. But if you are counting pennies, it's smart to identify a used car BEFORE your car is done.

Rogar
9-10-12, 7:53pm
My Toyota 4x4 pickup is about in the same situation as your Nissan, so have also been thinking and asking around. I am not a hard core off-roader, but use some rough back country roads to access trail heads several times a year. The problem for me is that off-road capable SUVs like the 4runner are not only expensive, but get poor gas mileage. A step down are the Foresters and RAV4, which are some what reasonably priced, get half decent gas mileage, 4 wheel or all-wheel drive, and have higher clearance than a family sedan, but don't have the suspension, clearance, gearing, or undercarriage skid plates that an off-road capable SUV would have. So there really isn't the perfect option. A hiking friend has a Forester and it actually does surprisingly well on some back roads and has decent clearance and lower gearing. I'm leaning more to the RAV4 option or another Toyota pickup.

I am a fan of Consumer Reports. It not only gives stats like gas mileage for comparison, but from my experience and observations the reliability ratings have been accurate.

SteveinMN
9-10-12, 8:09pm
My car (VW Jetta diesel) is known to be kind of low to the ground around the oil pan; many of us driving that model have fitted thick aluminum skid plates to our cars. They don't make the car higher, but they help to keep the oil pan from getting crushed or punctured from "surprises" on the road.

Some others driving this model have put a "lift kit" on their car. These likely won't be available from the dealer, but from places that work on tires and suspensions and certainly on-line. These raise your car an inch or two, which might be enough to reduce or eliminate damage on gravel roads, etc. It may not pay to do that on Rosie's Sentra given its age or condition. But others might want to check into it.

RosieTR
9-11-12, 11:26pm
Thanks for the thoughts. What will happen when we get a higher clearance/4 or AWD vehicle is that I will take the Fit and DH will take the gas guzzler or bike. His commute is 7-8 miles and when the weather is good he can do 2-3 times/wk on the bike. I can also sometimes cut the commute by about 10 miles each way by taking a bus, though the schedule doesn't work for every day. If it's snowy I'd take the big car if we had one. I'm a little worried about winter but I suppose two snow tires are better than a whole new vehicle. The Sentra has almost 140K miles, though really it's probably more like 150+ because the odometer didn't work for a year. It spontaneously stopped working in Jan of 2011, then started working again when I got to CO during the move from Phx. Been working ever since, so go figure. I'm not sure if I have to declare this when I sell it, since I never had any work done on the thing (ethically yes, legally not sure). As for value of the Nissan, I'm guessing maybe 1500?

fidgiegirl
9-12-12, 8:09am
I wouldn't personally be too worried about the odometer thing, especially if it's a question of a few thousand miles and you're not being deceptive, like "rolling it back" to hide something. But I suppose you would sleep better at night with a mention, and I'm guessing most people buying a car with 150K+ miles aren't really expecting the car to be perfect, anyway.

SteveinMN
9-12-12, 8:57am
I'm a little worried about winter but I suppose two snow tires are better than a whole new vehicle.
Umm, maybe not... Using only two winter tires is one of the fastest ways I know to make the back end of a car the front end. Take it from someone who thought he'd save a few $$ by buying only two winter tires -- the difference in grip between front and back is dramatic and even braking in a curve is enough to start you sliding. You're better off with four cheap winter tires than two really good winter tires. Or four good "all-season" tires instead of just two winter tires. In fact, conscientious tire places won't install just two winter tires.


As for value of the Nissan, I'm guessing maybe 1500?
Hard to say without knowing more than you've said. Kelly Blue Book says a mid-line '99 Sentra with 150,000 miles in excellent condition and with a few options is worth more than 4,000 in trade at a dealer. Subtract from there for a stick shift, rust/dents, mechanical issues, etc. There are other sources, like Edmunds and craigslist, which can help you put a value on the car.

RosieTR
9-16-12, 12:03am
Thanks for the advice! DH talked to the tire guy when getting a rotation and yeah they strongly advise all 4 tires as snow tires. This would be roughly $320. Not worth it if I'm getting rid of the thing halfway through the winter, but certainly far less than even a couple of months of a pretty low car payment. So that would likely be the prudent thing to do unless I win a car in some alternate universe ;) have not done extensive research on the value of the Nissan but that figure stuck in my head from something I had looked up awhile back...maybe an advertisement for one on Craigslist or something. I can't imagine it's worth as much as $4K because I bought it for like $8-9K 11 years ago. Maybe with dealer tradein but then I'd really wonder about how the dealer was making the money back. Anyway, I'll start doing some baby research on possible vehicles but probably go ahead with the snow tires for the time being. Something makes me think the snow this winter will be a little more serious than last winter. I lucked out in terms of driving though of course there were other nasty consequences of the mild winter.