All things considered, like resale value, reliability, etc., the Honda Civic is a no-brainer.
Car recommendations again
So I've been diligently putting a little money away each month to buy myself a new car to replace my somewhat abused 10 year old Altima. Figured I could buy myself something around 20Kish in about 2 years or so.
Then my parents jumped in and said they want to buy me a car for my 30th birthday... I negotiated them down to a 50-50 arrangement (I like to earn my stuff) so suddenly, my car budget is much bigger than it was. I'm faced with too much choice. Eeek! :yikes:
Anyone care to help me narrow the field?
Here are my car-needs:
Most of the time, I'd be the perfect candidate to only drive scooter. (Planning to get one as soon as I get time to do my license.) I do a lot of short city driving, particularly downtown, particularly trying to park downtown, usually solo, mostly without carrying much stuff around. So small is good--the Altima feels big to me sometimes.
But I do need to drive year-round, and a few times a month I am carting around lots of stuff from Home Depot, the tile place, the paint store, etc. So storage room is also good. I'm also hoping to do some more road-tripping and such.
I want a very reliable car, as I plan to drive it into the ground... and considering that I only put about 8,000 km on the car per year (less once I get a scooter) that *should* take a while. Ideally, I'd like a car that will last me another 7-10 years or so, despite my somewhat haphazard approach to maintenance.
Fuel-efficient is a definite nice to have. Peppy is good... I've eased up a lot, but my foot still tends to be a touch heavy.
I am irrationally biased against the Toyota Corolla. Don't even go there.
Budget: 30K or so, but I am cheap so while I'm splurging on a new car instead of a used one, I'm very happy to spend less. This will give me a good base to start from to allow me to diligently save up for the next car.
Then my parents jumped in and said they want to buy me a car for my 30th birthday... I negotiated them down to a 50-50 arrangement (I like to earn my stuff) so suddenly, my car budget is much bigger than it was. I'm faced with too much choice. Eeek! :yikes:
Anyone care to help me narrow the field?
Here are my car-needs:
Most of the time, I'd be the perfect candidate to only drive scooter. (Planning to get one as soon as I get time to do my license.) I do a lot of short city driving, particularly downtown, particularly trying to park downtown, usually solo, mostly without carrying much stuff around. So small is good--the Altima feels big to me sometimes.
But I do need to drive year-round, and a few times a month I am carting around lots of stuff from Home Depot, the tile place, the paint store, etc. So storage room is also good. I'm also hoping to do some more road-tripping and such.
I want a very reliable car, as I plan to drive it into the ground... and considering that I only put about 8,000 km on the car per year (less once I get a scooter) that *should* take a while. Ideally, I'd like a car that will last me another 7-10 years or so, despite my somewhat haphazard approach to maintenance.
Fuel-efficient is a definite nice to have. Peppy is good... I've eased up a lot, but my foot still tends to be a touch heavy.
I am irrationally biased against the Toyota Corolla. Don't even go there.
Budget: 30K or so, but I am cheap so while I'm splurging on a new car instead of a used one, I'm very happy to spend less. This will give me a good base to start from to allow me to diligently save up for the next car.
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I'd love to be more specific, but the truth is that I don't know. I've never actually picked out a car for myself--first time buying my own car here.
My current car (Nissan Altima) was bought for me while I was in university so that I could travel back and forth from school to home more easily--being lucky enough to get a car, I wasn't about to question what kind I was getting.
I've been driving it for 8 years. Before that, I was using my brother's Nissan Stanza for a couple of years. So I'm pretty used to driving a sedan.Been going through a fair amount of internal debate about what size of car I really need.
On the one hand, if I had more storage capacity, I could pick up a lot more renovation materials for the building--like, my mom has a minvan so she can cart sheets of drywall and kitchen cabinets around. (But I'm so NOT getting a minivan.)
On the other hand, a large car doesn't suit my life outside of work, and I currently work around the storage issue by either getting anything that is too big for my car delivered, getting one of my trades with a truck to pick up stuff for me and reimbursing them the straight cost, or borrowing my mother's van. It doesn't work out too badly... in fact, it arguably works out better because I don't have run around as much picking stuff up--I delegate all that.
I don't think I want to go any bigger than my present car, though. Running around downtown, it sometimes feels like I'm driving a boat.
I think you're thinking straight. When I tried to figure out what car I needed (this is only my second new one and I was about your age when I got my first new one too), my criteria came down to some main things: dependable, last along time, as must mpg as I can afford, affordable, safe. If you narrow down what your main criteria for the car is, you will probably then discover you only have a choice of a few models then go from there. Throw out the extras you feel you can live without if they aren't important to you. If they are, leave them in.On the other hand, a large car doesn't suit my life outside of work, and I currently work around the storage issue by either getting anything that is too big for my car delivered, getting one of my trades with a truck to pick up stuff for me and reimbursing them the straight cost, or borrowing my mother's van. It doesn't work out too badly... in fact, it arguably works out better because I don't have run around as much picking stuff up--I delegate all that.
I don't think I want to go any bigger than my present car, though. Running around downtown, it sometimes feels like I'm driving a boat.
It is in the bank.
Though the next time around is far enough in the future that I'll probably stick it in a GIC.I divert a regular amount every month to an ING Direct account. I consider it a car payment to myself. After I buy this car, I'll keep doing that, and that way, when I'm ready to buy the next car, I will have a money saved up for it.
Hey, that's how I just bought my last car except the borrowing was really low so I decided to finance some of it and leave the rest in ING. Maybe we're the same person.It is in the bank.
I divert a regular amount every month to an ING Direct account. I consider it a car payment to myself. After I buy this car, I'll keep doing that, and that way, when I'm ready to buy the next car, I will have a money saved up for it.
That is funny, MBD, since I was looking at financing costs and thinking "Gee, the financing is so low these days, maybe if the numbers crunch out okay I will finance part of it and keep the rest saved for the next car."
it was totally worth it for me - 3.5% for ING and 1.9% for the financing so I put a chunk down then financed over 2 years at 1.9%. You'll have to let us know what you decided to get!1 - 20 of 66 Posts
