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The New Car Saga (and general auto chat)

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Maxvla:
Just skip to the end and join the chat  :wheel:


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I currently own a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix which I bought in late 2007 through an auction buyer that was a pretty good deal, $14,000 at the time. It's been paid off for a while now and I still really like the car, but I'm feeling it's time for a change.

One thing I don't like about my car is the fuel efficiency. Being a 6 cylinder it loves it's gas. I only get about 17mpg city and 20mpg hwy despite it being  at 19 city 23 hwy. I drive every day but everything I drive to is close by. In 5 years I've put 17,000 miles on my car making it a 7 year old car with 35,000 miles. I've started to experience some age related failures including a broken window mechanism that was not cheap to fix, interior armrests showing wear and some other things. Also I've been putting off my 30k maintenance which will cost about $1000.

When I bought it I lived in an apartment and it was hit three times in the parking lot within a month of buying it. The damage is fairly minor but repairs were quoted at $1500 at the body shop so I decided against fixing it. I've since moved into a house and its been garage kept. It's been a bit since I looked it up but I think the blue book on the car is around $9500 in great condition. Discounting for the exterior cosmetic damage I could probably get $8500 or so selling it myself or a bit less on a trade in.

I've been interested for a while in these very compact cars like the Honda CR-Z, Fiat 500, VW GTI, and the like, most of which get 35mpg or better plus are small but well made cars. If you guys have suggestions is love to hear them. I haven't even remotely narrowed the choice yet, these are just examples of what I think I want.

The main question I'd like input on is leasing vs buying new. Leasing gets hammered on most of the searches I've done and quite frankly a lot of it comes across with more religious zeal than a fire and brimstone service so I can't really tell if its as bad as they say or if I should trust the pages that say leasing can be good as long as you know you are paying a slight premium to always be driving something new.

The other hitch to leasing with my situation is the mileage. Most leases are 12-15k per year and I drive about 1/3 of that. I've seen some luxury cars advertise 5000 mile leases but is that low of a mileage negotiable on a normal car? On a 3 year lease I doubt I'd have more that 12-15k on the car so the depreciation would be significantly less than a normal person who has put 36-45k on the car.

Or should I forget leasing and go through the hassle of buying? If so I would be 50/50 on new vs 1-2 years old.

Another thing I should mention is I prefer comprehensive insurance even when I fully own so that won't make any difference between buying and leasing perpetually.

Or should I just shut up and keep what I have? LOL

BTW public transportation is nonexistent here so a car is a must unfortunately despite the small mileage.

maverickronin:
I get better mileage than that (just barely though) with my V8 90's T-bird.   ;D

If it didn't snow around here I'd ditch it and get a motorcycle.  More fun, cheaper, better mileage.  Maybe you should move to SoCal with the rest of the pirates and take an MSF class?

Buying anything remotely new is probably going to cost you more than gas savings and repairs on you current car unless you've got a pretty long commute.  The used market is seriously expensive these days too.  If you just want something newer and nicer then it could work out it isn't likely to save you any money.

If you actually want to save some money in the long term you should probably keep you eye out for something older, in pristine condition, and with a reputation for running forever like some early to mid 90's Toyotas or Hondas.  You could probably also go over it with an eye for weight reduction and see what you can get rid of.  You could do that with your current car to but that sort of thing works better on 4 bangers that don't have much torque and are already pretty light.

Anaxilus.:
In case I forget, shoot me PM.  You've got quite few issues in that post and I'm gonna take a nap.  Busy week.

Maxvla:
Mav, those are good ideas and maybe I wrote it wrong, but I'm not really looking to save money, rather how to go about buying/leasing new or nearly new without wasting money. My mileage is so low that the fuel difference isn't enough to warrant a new car by itself, but I would like to be more efficient just because I can.

Questhate:
Max -- what are you planning to accomplish by leasing vs. buying? Do you see yourself getting a new car in a few years, or are you going to be sticking with this car for a while. From what I understand, with buying you'd be financing the entire car whereas with leasing you're just financing the depreciation value of the car. As you've already alluded to, if you really don't drive that much, you'll probably be better off buying since they're calculating the depreciation value based upon the annual mileage (and it seems you go way under that). You really should talk to a leasing person and work out the numbers for yourself. If you're going to upgrade in a few years, and you'd like to just keep the payments low, then leasing may work out. I'd imagine for the majority of people, buying a car is a better option.

And what's your criteria in a car? Is a compact car with good mileage your main criteria?

Not sure if you looked into a Honda Fit, but I was always a fan of that car for that super compact segment. My buddy just got one actually. It's suprising agile and fun to drive. In comparison, hopping back in my 350Z felt sluggish and unrefined. He can fit his entire bike in the back too, so you know it'll be able to transport amps  ;) I *think* it gets around 30mpg.

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