View Full Version : Buying a car
a friend of mine has a choice between
Audi A4 1.8T Quattro
or
Lexus IS 300
Which one would you go with?
He'll probably buy in a couple months...
I told him I'd prefer the Lexus...
WilliamJ
05-20-03, 11:11 AM
330ci
Originally posted by WilliamJ
330ci
Nice but out of his price range....
chipshot
05-20-03, 11:14 AM
The used one.
NinerAdvocate
05-20-03, 11:15 AM
If he's gonna keep it for a while: the Lexus. If less than 3 years, it's a toss up. I like the Quattro, but honestly, the Passat 1.8T is basicly the same car & a better buy.
DON'T EVER EVER EVER BUY AN AUDI IF YOU EXPECT TO DRIVE IT FOR MORE THAT 30000 MILES.
hasbeen99
05-20-03, 12:05 PM
Lexus.
slydevl
05-20-03, 12:06 PM
I think I just read or heard the Lexus retains its value better than any other car.
mathmajors
05-20-03, 12:09 PM
Originally posted by hasbeen99
Lexus.
jazzbluescat
05-20-03, 12:17 PM
Originally posted by slydevl
I think I just read or heard the Lexus retains its value better than any other car.
Cadillac retains pretty good value, especially older models.
mathmajors
05-20-03, 12:21 PM
Originally posted by jazzredcat
Cadillac retains pretty good value, especially older models.
Hey Sav, is your boy pimpin'?
Originally posted by mathmajors
Hey Sav, is your boy pimpin'?
nah...he's a sporty sedan type....
chipshot
05-20-03, 12:29 PM
I will never buy a new car again.
Originally posted by chipshot
I will never buy a new car again.
why is that?
chipshot
05-20-03, 12:38 PM
waste of money. one of the first rules of saving, not that I am very good at it though
builder
05-20-03, 04:48 PM
Originally posted by VOR
DON'T EVER EVER EVER BUY AN AUDI IF YOU EXPECT TO DRIVE IT FOR MORE THAT 30000 MILES.
OR A VOLKSWAGEN!!!!!!!!!
unless you don't mind replacing the transmission.
DeltonaDeBary
05-20-03, 05:15 PM
Originally posted by builder
OR A VOLKSWAGEN!!!!!!!!!
unless you don't mind replacing the transmission.
Are you talking manual or automatic? I have almost 45000 on my New Beetle (manual). Are you saying that I'm doomed any day now?
builder
05-20-03, 06:01 PM
I had a 98 Volkswagen Golf. On a trip to DC, the transmission started making a clicking type sound with only 24k miles on it. I drove it another 10k before I traded it. I never replaced the tranny, cause I was gonna drive it til it dropped. It was a manual, btw.
mailman
05-20-03, 06:06 PM
Rules for buying a car
1. Never buy new.
2. Pay as much as you can in cash. Borrow as little as possible.
3. Pay it off as fast as possible. What the hell is a $200 car payment if you'll be paying for 5yrs.
4. Keep it until the wheels fall off. Think how much money you can save or apply to something else by not having a car payment.
Puttingood
05-20-03, 06:10 PM
Mailmans right !
chipshot
05-20-03, 06:26 PM
325?
WilliamJ
05-20-03, 06:46 PM
Dave, find a 2 door. My understanding is It is much more driver friendly. but that is still a sweet ride.
only reason we are even buying this car is it's my parents good friends that is seliing it. The owner is the most anal person I've ever met as far as car maintenance. It is still in showroom condition. Not a scratch on it. Been kept in the garage.
plus we will be able to sell leslie's honda and not have any car payments on our vehicles.
WilliamJ
05-20-03, 06:55 PM
what year?
SilverSurfer
05-20-03, 07:26 PM
I've never had a car payment in my life. I drove 3 different cars that were either given to me or I paid cash for until 85, then I had a company car from then until 97, and I bought the company car I had then when I got laid off, paid cash for it and still driving it. It's got about 140,000 on it now, so I'll probably have to buy a new one next year, but not new new. I'll buy a 1 or 2 year old car and probably have to finance 10-15K, or might just 2nd mortgage the house for a small amount so I can deduct the interest.
Anyway, I like the Beamer, but I need some sort of SUV or pickup to haul stuff in. Like my drunk buddies or my dogs.
jazzbluescat
05-20-03, 09:53 PM
Originally posted by jazzredcat
Cadillac retains pretty good value, especially older models.
Originally posted by mathmajors
Hey Sav, is your boy pimpin'?
I beg your pardon?
The Brahma Bull
05-20-03, 11:40 PM
Fuck em both..
Go buy a WRX.
Originally posted by The Brahma Bull
Fuck em both..
Go buy a WRX.
It's nice to live at home and have dad and mom foot most of the bills.
The Brahma Bull
05-21-03, 12:18 AM
Originally posted by VOR
It's nice to live at home and have dad and mom foot most of the bills.
WTF does that have to do with anything?
gridfaniker
05-21-03, 09:53 AM
you can get a nicely equipped CTS for around $35K.
Originally posted by mailman
Rules for buying a car
1. Never buy new.
2. Pay as much as you can in cash. Borrow as little as possible.
3. Pay it off as fast as possible. What the hell is a $200 car payment if you'll be paying for 5yrs.
4. Keep it until the wheels fall off. Think how much money you can save or apply to something else by not having a car payment.
Sorry, gotta disagree. If you buy new you get a much better interest rate than you do on used. Right now you can even get 0% financing on some cars. With that kind of rate it's like free money. Youc an take any extra amount that you would put down and put it in a bond or even a savings account and earn interest on it since you the loan isn't costing you anything.
Used cars don't have warranties either. You buy it, it breaks you pay.
Under different circumstances I might answer different but with all of the incentives on new cars, if there is any way you can afford one and you need one then buy new.
Don't ever buy program cars either. They get ragged.
chipshot
05-21-03, 03:10 PM
Spend about 7K on a used Honda and you dont need a warranty.
Originally posted by chipshot
Spend about 7K on a used Honda and you dont need a warranty.
I have one for sale. 7k.
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0302scc_neon/
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0302scc_neon07.jpg
Fastest street car under $20,000
a neon? No thanks. I'll take the bus.
Originally posted by chipshot
Spend about 7K on a used Honda and you dont need a warranty.
Just sold a Honda. '88 CRX with 309,000 miles on it. Bought it brand new in 1988. Never did anything to it other tahn general maintenance.
Figured it up one time and with gad, insurance, taxes and everything it cost me an average of .03 cents a mile to drive the thing. If I had kept it another year it probably would have started spitting pennies out of the exhaust.
Still sold it for $1300.00. :shakehead
Originally posted by Meow
If I had kept it another year it probably would have started spitting pennies out of the exhaust.
:rofl:
Buy a real car Davebiatch..............
Originally posted by riddel
Buy a real car Davebiatch..............
that car dui proof?
Originally posted by DaveW
that car dui proof?
I don't know Dave....I think he needs a reminder :D :D
guess this answers that dui question.
Nope but it cost more than your crack house, BIATCH!
jazzbluescat
05-22-03, 05:49 PM
........Used cars don't have warranties either. You buy it, it breaks you pay.......
Oh yes they do; depending on mileage and if you buy from a franchise dealer.
Hopefully my next car will be a three years old deVille w/30-35K miles w/some warranty left. There're good for 200K miles.
Plus, a new Cad looses $15K+ the first year; it's just starting to get broken in by then---a great buy.
TOTALPACKAGE
05-22-03, 06:25 PM
Originally posted by Meow
Sorry, gotta disagree. If you buy new you get a much better interest rate than you do on used. Right now you can even get 0% financing on some cars. With that kind of rate it's like free money. Youc an take any extra amount that you would put down and put it in a bond or even a savings account and earn interest on it since you the loan isn't costing you anything.
.
I'm sorry, no offense but that has got to be the worst logic I have ever heard. A new car will depreciate 20% the minute you drive it off the lot. A $35,000 car will be worth $20,000 in 2-3 years. Some of the following is from an article on the subject, I don't have time to explain this all myself so read this or go to the link below for full explination.
Bottom Line: Do Not Buy New!
The hidden factor here is depreciation, the steady decline in the resale value of any vehicle that you buy. As a rule of thumb, figure that a car's value drops by half every four years. For new cars, the bulk of that depreciation occurs in the first year of ownership. A new $30,000 car is worth only $22,500 after just the first year -- a full 25% less. Over the next three years, its value will fall by another 25% off the original price to $15,000.
The longer you own the car beyond this, the smaller the bite taken each year by depreciation. If you bought the same car when it was four years old for $15,000 and resold it when it was eight, it would be worth about $7,800, according to CarPrice.com's Depreciation Calculator. So you save almost $8,000 over four years just on depreciation by buying used, to say nothing of added savings from insuring an older vehicle
But that's just part of the story. Let's take a look at the difference between buying a 2003 Lincoln Town Car and a similar 1999 model. The invoice price of the 2003 model, according to Edmund's.com, is $40,661; the cost of a 1999 Lincoln Town Car is about $16,000. The table below shows you the net cost of buying new versus paying cash for a used car and investing the difference. Overall, you come out almost $25,000 ahead!
New vs. used
Lincoln Town Car New 2003 Used 1999
Purchase price $40,661 $16,000
Tax & license (8%) $3,253 $1,280
Total initial cash outlay $17,280 $17,280
Amount financed $26,634 $0
Total finance charges* $3,980 $0
Maintenance** $610 $5,651
Total 4-year cost $48,504 $22,931
Resale value after 4 yrs. $20,310 $8,352
Net cost after resale $28,194 $14,579
$638 monthly payments invested over four years at 10% $0 $37,132
Cash available for on next car purchase $20,310 $45,484
*48-month loan of $26,634 at 7% with monthly payments of $638 for a total of $30,614. Despite the proliferation of 0% financing, many buyers simply don’t qualify.
**Maintenance costs driving 15,000 miles per year, based on Runzheimer estimates for 2001 and 1997 4-door sedans. First three years of new-car maintenance covered under warranty.
Your total net cost after four years is more than $10,000 less for the used car. And by investing your monthly payment instead of repaying a car loan, you've saved enough to pay cash for a brand-new Lincoln, if you want. The caveat, of course, is that you could be unlucky enough to suffer the early demise of your transmission or need some other major repair that blows a hole in your estimated $1,400 annual maintenance budget, though certified used-car programs are a great way to combat this (see below). Also, the 10% return on your investment is a historical average, and can be hard to come by in bear market like we've had for the last few years. But even cutting the annual return to 3%, you still come out with $32,468 in savings after four years of investing your $638 monthly payments. Add the $8,352 you get from selling your used car and you end up with $40,820 for your next car purchase -- roughly $20,000 more than you'd have after selling the newer model car.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Saveonacar/P37267.asp
hondas don't depreciate that much after a year or two, do they?
we've GOT to get a new car.
gina has a 93 4-door civic and i've got a 93 4-door accord. both are gettting to the point that we're spending money to fix them. no car payments is nice -- especially since we're bringing in $2,000 less per month after making the move from charlotte to tallahassee.
she bought hers new and i bought mine used in 96.
we'll probably get another honda and drive it until 2010.
we'll probably get another honda and drive it until 2010.
got one for sale
mailman
05-22-03, 07:09 PM
Originally posted by Meow
If you buy new you get a much better interest rate than you do on used. Right now you can even get 0% financing on some cars. With that kind of rate it's like free money.
0% interest is funny to me when I hear it on commercials. It's also a lie. READ THE fineprint, when you do you'll see that they charge you $16.67 per $1000 borrowed. So if you borrow $20,000 your car payment with that special 0% interest, what you call free money is going to be $333.40. Yeah it's cheaper than the rate you'll get on a used car but you'll be paying for that new car longer than a used car.
Just bought a 97 Maxima for 6,500 put down 2,000 in cash. Financed 4,500 at 7.99 for 3yrs. For a grand total of 140.99 per month. If you research a car you can find out if it was taken care of or not. The Maxima is a one-owner, local car(bought and traded in locally) that was well taken care of.
Never rush into a buying a car take your time and find a good one.
Trust me I've rushed in to a few that I wish I hadn't.
Used is almost always better than new unless you like throwing money away.
Bought my LS400 used 2 years after it was new and paid a 1/4 of the price.
NinerAdvocate
05-23-03, 09:40 AM
My last buy was a certified used vehicle. I think I'd recommend the experience - idealy you get most of the warranty benefits of a new car purchase without worrying about the initial depreciation loss. I feel like I got that with my purchase.
In reality though - it really depends on who you do business with. I was gonna buy a 2000 or 2001 Acura TL from Hendrick, but they wanted to fleece me. The asking price was outrageous and they didn't wanna come down. Later, I found some more realistic dealers out of town. A good price coupled with the certified warranty (CHECK YOUR PAPERWORK - make sure the warranty stuff is there, intact), is a lot like getting a new car for cheap. At the time, I could get 5.49% financing, which I'm willing to pay on any loan.
The one other caveat with the certified purchase is mileage - there is an absolute ceiling that the factory places on the cert. coverage. It's usually 50k to 75k for bumper to bumper and 100k for drive train, etc. It's of course stupid to buy a certified car that only has a couple thousand miles left before the warranty expires.
As far as which make & model, and thenw hich particular car to buy - I read consumer reports, edmunds.com (thebest!), and also put my faith in lists like the top 5 mass production engines in the world auto market, and in longstanding development/history. There are several cars out there (especially japanese ones) that are using the 5th, 6th or 8th generation design of the same engine and trany that were founded on - meaning, they took a good product and refined it that many times. A good example was the Maxima until the latest incarnation (although that 3.5 V6 is supposed to be a very sound power plant). I know a lot of guys at work that bought something like a 96 or 97 Maxima, which now has 140k on it, but still looks and runs almost like new & they have no car payment and little to no maintence costs. Plus, it's still a pretty darn good car (they arent embarassed to drive it). That's the smart way to do it.
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