FMSavings

[ase]

There is nothing like working a 10 - 8 day, then catching the bus home, to make you seriously consider your priorities.

Poll #917 My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

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Should I buy a car?

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No.
1 (12.5%)

Yes.
7 (87.5%)

With zero being "new", my new car should be ____ years old.

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Mean: 4.88 Median: 5 Std. Dev 2.52

0		0 (0.0%)
1		0 (0.0%)
2		2 (25.0%)
3		1 (12.5%)
4		0 (0.0%)
5		3 (37.5%)
6		0 (0.0%)
7		1 (12.5%)
8		0 (0.0%)
9		0 (0.0%)
10		1 (12.5%)
11		0 (0.0%)
12		0 (0.0%)
13		0 (0.0%)
14		0 (0.0%)
15		0 (0.0%)

I don't know how to drive stick. Yet. Should I even pretend to look at manual cars?

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Yes.
2 (22.2%)

No.
7 (77.8%)

Did I mention I'm getting my wisdom teeth out sometime before March 2010?

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Oh snap!
1 (12.5%)

This changes my thoughts on your budget.
1 (12.5%)

But you already budgeted for that! Stop thinking about it.
6 (75.0%)

Dealbreakers:

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A/C
6 (85.7%)

Automatic transmission
4 (57.1%)

4 door
1 (14.3%)

Trunk (no hatchback)
0 (0.0%)

Power steering
4 (57.1%)

Power locks
1 (14.3%)

Power mirrors
2 (28.6%)

Power doors
1 (14.3%)

CD player
1 (14.3%)

Air bag
4 (57.1%)

Cheap car, minimal dent in savings
1 (14.3%)

Brand (please elaborate in comments)
0 (0.0%)

Something I will explain in comments
0 (0.0%)

How am I going to *pay* for this money sink?

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4 year car loan.
7 (100.0%)

Second job. Part time.
1 (14.3%)

A better idea I will elaborate on in comments.
1 (14.3%)

I am totally biasing this by mentioning my Philosophy of the First Car: there is no point in buying new, because I will drive it off the lot, hit a stationary object, and cry a lot about the dent. I'd much rather my first damage was more along the lines of, "wait, was that ding in the side there two weeks ago? Oh well."

Comments

[jmtorres]

Where do you live? Re A/C. Out here in AZ it's vitally necessary; in other places, not so much.

I say you do not want anything without power steering. If you have never driven anything without power steering, it is... weird and hard and scary.

[ase]

I'm in the DC area; A/C isn't really negotiable.

Power steering is so standard I didn't even think about including it in the poll! Ouch.

[norabombay]

If you even try to buy a car with no AC I will mock you mercilessly forever.

It's not negotiable. YOU LIVE IN DC.

If you want to pretend to not have it? get a zip car. Sit it in the sun for two hours, drive it on the highway with the windows up.

AC IS NOT OPTIONAL. JUST NOT.

I'll tell you the story about some friends of one CM who purchased a kia with no AC, and were utter morons.

Also: Get an automatic transmission. Other than that? I say buy what strikes your fancy- the deals are good now.

[ase]

Dude. You tried to sell me on an '82 Volvo. With no A/C.

Notice I didn't buy it.

[norabombay]

I think that the volvo in question was something like $400.

And in my defense, the difference between an 80's Volvo with no air, and an 80's Volvo with air, is negligable. Things weren't meant for the heat. But unlike newer cars, you could at least drive them with the windows down.

[ase]

$500, but yeah. No A/C seemed possible right up until the middle of July.

The nice thing about ads for ancient beaters is that many of them say "$(price) OBO". But they also sometimes say "needs work". O HAI NO; my first car is not allowed to give me grief until I've owned it at least a month.

[norabombay]

Ok, fine.

I should revise this: For cars that cost less $ than a laptop computer? AC is optional. It's not like you can't just sit it in the parking lot until it cools down. And the Volvo was a pretty fucking awesome car- plus on the old ones you can drive them with the windows down- not something to do in a lexus.

For a car that is in the 'younger than Ase' category, or the 'more than a laptop' category, get AC.

I'm also advising: 60 month (5 year loan) on a car that is less than 5 years old. Keep forever.

[ase]

If I can get a decent auto loan, I may break down and go there. (Using the baby laptop as a baseline, apparently I will put up with old stuff I bought new. Because I hate spending money, quelle surprise, and this will continue until I make, oh, about a quarter more than I do at the moment.) Getting a loan is going to be a comedy show: my credit union's online application form demands another car for collateral, so I sense shenanigans in my future.

Also, did you see TFV's dealership adventure? I want to start self-medicating now, and I haven't even 1.) gotten the preapproved loan, 2.) picked my top five cars.

[norabombay]

In life's great irony time.

I'm an EXCELLENT person to go car shopping with. Because I'm not willing to put up with much shit from sales people and I have the GLARE OF DEATH.

That said, Cathy is probably even better, and if you can bring Cathy & Bill along? Call it a game night.

Get the pre approved loan from the credit union. Pick the car specs you want- Millenia's weren't even on my list, but you know how I am still in love, 100k later.

And go to Car Max- not to buy, just to wander about. Ask them to let you into a couple of the cars you are interested in, so you can check the seats/sizing. It's an easy and low preassure way to deal with the need to winnow the field before seriously shopping.

[ase]

Carmax is going to be awesome, since it's on the way home. If I weren't house-sitting next week, I'd spend a couple evenings test driving stuff.

Between Cathy, Bill, and dad, I think I have a pool of people to beat car salesmen with.

[quiara]

I have a 2006 Scion xA with about 60,000 miles on it and I love it. If you can find one, which possibly you can't since it seems that people who've bought them tend to keep them, and Scion (a Toyota subsidiary) made the odd decision to discontinue them in favor of the less elegant xD.

Anyhow, it's part of the niche that I like to call Geekmobiles. They're efficient, long-lived, maintain value and are in some ways quirky. Also in this class are the xB, the Honda Fit, Honda Element, Nissan Cube and Chevy HHR. I think. Essentially, they're everything meant to fill the spot for station wagon or minivan for people who don't want station wagons and minivans. ^_^

[ase]

cars.com tells me there's Scions on the market if I look. I might go hatchback so I can throw my bike in the back seat, but for most things I don't need a bunch of carrying capacity. I do need four doors so I remember how to parallel park something larger than a tiny car, I think. (I live in the DC 'burbs. Parallel parking is a non-essential but valuable skill.)

[phoenixsong]

Some advice I was given several years ago and still sounds reasonable: buy a car that's "off-lease," meaning it was leased when new, and has since been returned to the dealer at the end of the lease. The logic is, cars lose a good deal of their sticker value in the first 2-3 years, but if it's been leased, the leasee had to keep it in fairly good condition or risk all sorts of extra charges at the end of the contract. You get a car that's nearly new, in good condition, for way cheaper than it would have been fresh off the assembly line.

Definitely do a five year loan instead of four. If you can pay it off sooner, that's fine, but give yourself leeway.

If you go for a newish-but-still-used vehicle, for pity's sake get the extended warranty. Even if the up-front cost makes you cry, your wallet will thank you the first time something breaks.

Brands: I love my Saturn SL2, but 1) it's Saturn, and their status is questionable now (thank you GM s:P~), and 2) the SL series appears to have been discontinued after my model year. On the other hand, I have several family members who own other models, and they've been very happy. hkellick bought a used Hyundai Elantra 2 years ago, and he's been happy with it (as are most other Elantra owners I've heard of).

[ase]

Getting something coming off lease seems to be a common idea, but no one's actually said, "that's what I did", so it may be a custom more honored in the breach?

My venerable laptop had an extended warranty: a couple of months before the warranty finally ran out, it went into the shop and came out with a new logic board. That was after the A/C adapter broke (twice) and the CD drive turned out to be really poorly designed, but swappable. I believe in the power of the hardware warranty. (Accidental protections warranty are another matter entirely.) I'm hard enough on my possessions that the "huh this broke (after lots of heavy use)" warranty is a really, really good idea.

A lot of brands are in questionable straights right now; I hadn't remembered that Saab is still a GM subsidiary (for the moment).

[phoenixsong]

Off-lease: I can't speak for others, but both mine and H's cars were 1-2 years old and used when purchased. Not sure if they were previously leased or not, but I think the theory of "gently used == cheaper sticker price" still holds.