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Proposed Budget: up to $15k, ~$2k downpayment New or Used: Used Body Style: Sedan or hatchback How will you be using the car?: I have a relatively long commute (~30 miles each way) with quite a bit of traffic, so definitely need an automatic. What aspects are most important to you? Reliability, mpg So car thread, my current POS 2001 Nissan Altima with ~150k miles is finally starting to die. It's been idling hard and the breaks are starting to go again, plus on my way to work today it started overheated and I saw steam coming off the radiator. Recommendations?
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Jul 7, 2015 16:54
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this_is_hard posted:Proposed Budget: up to $15k, ~$2k downpayment You are the textbook case for the nicest Prius you can find within your budget. Enjoy not having to think about cars for the next decade.
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Jul 7, 2015 16:56
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Twerk from Home posted:You are the textbook case for the nicest Prius you can find within your budget. Enjoy not having to think about cars for the next decade. Are there any specific years I should watch out for? I'm seeing CL ads like these: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/5104405976.html http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/5097168354.html and they look pretty solid! Also, as a first time car buyer...how should I expect the process of buying from CL to go? Does the seller pay for title/etc? I've already applied for financing from two credit unions, awaiting their response.
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Jul 7, 2015 17:27
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Gen 2 are pretty good - that's 2003-2009. The Gen 3 is also good, but there isn't quite as much out there on the used market inventory-wise. You can tell by the dash most easily - you posted one Gen 3 and one Gen 2. I don't find the 3rd Gen interior to be as well laid out, but that's an opinion not a fact. Don't buy a Gen 1, and don't buy a Prius C. Edit: Also somewhat confusingly, the trim levels are I, II, III and IV - so usually when the car is posted as a "Prius II" that means the "II" trim level, not a Gen2. edit2: man, people really buy a prius to drive 6k mi/yr? that seems crazy KYOON GRIFFEY JR fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 7, 2015 18:13
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:edit2: man, people really buy a prius to drive 6k mi/yr? that seems crazy There's plenty of people who buy them to be smug about the environment.
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Jul 7, 2015 18:23
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:edit2: man, people really buy a prius to drive 6k mi/yr? that seems crazy That's like "how to lose money buying a Prius", but we saw a ton of it when my wife and I were searching for a car for her. I'd bet most Priuses average less than 8k miles / year based on what's on the used market.
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Jul 7, 2015 18:27
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this_is_hard posted:Also, as a first time car buyer...how should I expect the process of buying from CL to go? Does the seller pay for title/etc? I've already applied for financing from two credit unions, awaiting their response. 1. You will want to do the final handover of checks / cash / whatever at a place that can actually transfer the title into your name. The buyer pays for any/all fees required to re-title / register the car in their name. Whether or not the plates stay with the vehicle or stay with the seller will depend on the state. 2. If you are not very confident in your own ability to inspect / assess the condition of a car, once you find a car you like the look of, find a competent local mechanic and have them perform a pre-purchase inspection. You'll need to pay for this as well. A seller that won't let you do this probably knows they have something to hide. 3. Consider a Carfax/Autocheck but do not treat those as the final word on the car. Accidents happen all the time that do not get reported to those services for any of a million reasons. A thorough inspection should find any crash damage unless it has been repaired so well as to be indistinguishable from the factory work - and at that point who cares? 4. This goes with 1, but check with your state DMV to see if they have any direct title/lien searches that they can run as well. There are liens in some states that are on the seller, which will never show on the vehicle title, but will make it impossible to actually transfer ownership of the vehicle. As both a buyer and a seller on the same loving cheap Ranger, I've been mildly burnt on all of the above  1/4 were when I bought it, the seller had a lien against him that I didn't discover until I went to put it in my name. Luckily the seller kept working with me and I was able to get it sorted within a week. 3 I didn't get so much burnt on, because I did inspect it and found minor crash damage that didn't show on Autocheck. 2 I got burnt on when selling it because some fuckstick asked a shop "what would it take to make this $2500 Ranger like new" and of course ran away screaming from an estimate at 2x the truck's value.On a $10-$15k Prius, however, I'd expect most issues (if any) on a PPI to be cosmetic or otherwise inconsequential. They are very reliable, mechanically simple, and very easy on the wear items like tires and brakes. The only possible big-ticket repair is the HV battery and the cost of repairing / replacing that has been dropping a lot in recent years. It may also be covered under a longer than usual warranty depending on what state the car was sold in originally.
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Jul 7, 2015 19:29
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I just had a meeting at work, a driving school, where they run Priuses. They usually buy them around 150k with salvage titles. They've got one going strong at 310,000 miles. The owner says other schools he talks with who run them generally get 400,000 miles out of them. That is with the cars getting maintenance at a slightly longer mileage interval, but extremely short time interval; these cars do 150 miles a day MINIMUM.
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Jul 7, 2015 22:46
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VideoTapir posted:I just had a meeting at work, a driving school, where they run Priuses. They usually buy them around 150k with salvage titles. They've got one going strong at 310,000 miles. The owner says other schools he talks with who run them generally get 400,000 miles out of them. That is with the cars getting maintenance at a slightly longer mileage interval, but extremely short time interval; these cars do 150 miles a day MINIMUM. My coworker's prius stopped counting miles at 299k. Maybe those are newer ones with an extra bit to display those extra miles?
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Jul 7, 2015 23:10
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All the heavy torque loads are dealt with by the electric motor, right? The gas engine effectively has 100% highway miles I would imagine. Plus electric AC, water pump, etc means the engine just spins without a bunch of accessory crap stopping and starting using clutches and putting hard loads on the crank/moving parts.
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Jul 7, 2015 23:29
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Got a job and now looking to buy my first car here in Canada. Proposed Budget: 30k New or Used: I feel I can get a nicer car if it is used, but if the deal is good enough for new then I'll take that. For instance, I've been looking at the Hyundai deal recently and it seems pretty good: http://www.hyundaicanada.com/Pages/SpecialOffer/SalesPromotions.aspx Specifically, the 7k off the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Limited. I got a quote of 27k all in from a dealer after negotiating. Is this the best I can do with my budget? However, I feel that the Hybrid isn't that good for me since I don't think I'll be doing enough driving to make it worth the premium. Body Style: (e.g. 2 door? 4 door? Compact/Midsize/Fullsize Sedan? Truck? SUV?). I don't want a truck. Either SUV or Sedan that is good for tall people. That is very important as I'm 6 foot 4 and struggle to fit in many models. How will you be using the car?: I live in a small city so my commute will not be long. Probably a 10 minute drive. My biggest use for it would be shopping and going to places in the city and around my city, such as skiing, etc. The commute isn't the biggest issue. Going on road trips once in a while isn't out of the question either. What aspects are most important to you? I want it to be easy to handle for a novice driver. I heard some cars can be pretty nasty for beginners. Also it needs to fit me, so it must be spacious. I live in Canada, so if anyone has some hot deals on used or new cars at about (ideally under) 30k CAD, let me know! Applesmack fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 02:36
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New job? Never had a car before? Yeah, lets buy an expensive car! I'd normally say buy a prius but those have some weird ergonomics going on, but give it a shot Also, why do you want a new midsized sedan? You don't need a big car to fit a big person. I'm a bit of a broken record on this, but I'm 6'4 and drive a mazda 2. Small cars have thought paid to ergonomics, larger cars often don't. If I was recommending a new car, it woulf be a mazda3, but you'd be better off with somethingbused, esp. for a 1st car.
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Jul 8, 2015 02:44
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nm posted:New job? Never had a car before? Yeah, lets buy an expensive car! Well I've got a pretty good situation so I can afford 30k for a car. I'm 23 and make quite a good pay check for my age. I also have absolutely no debt and 18k in the bank right now. I feel that I may as well invest some money into a nice car. I didn't realize I could consider small cars though, I'll look at the Mazda 3. I guess you never know until you sit in it.
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Jul 8, 2015 03:08
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Applesmack posted:Well I've got a pretty good situation so I can afford 30k for a car. I'm 23 and make quite a good pay check for my age. I also have absolutely no debt and 18k in the bank right now. I feel that I may as well invest some money into a nice car. Investing money in a car is about the worst idea you can have. What is a good pay check for you?
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Jul 8, 2015 03:09
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Bovril Delight posted:Investing money in a car is about the worst idea you can have. Well I make 65k in a low cost of living city (Ottawa). I pay about $929 a month in rent all inclusive so I have lots of cash left over every paycheck. Is 30k really that much?
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Jul 8, 2015 03:11
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Applesmack posted:Well I make 65k in a low cost of living city (Ottawa). I pay about $929 a month in rent all inclusive so I have lots of cash left over every paycheck. Is 30k really that much? You can afford it, but it sounds like you will be getting absolutely nothing that you actually want or need out of the deal that you couldn't get spending 1/3 to 1/2 as much.
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Jul 8, 2015 03:14
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I don't know how much 30k CAD is or how that compares to other cars, but I will say you should save up as much money as you can now so you can be more flexible in your late 20s.
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Jul 8, 2015 03:18
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Applesmack posted:Well I make 65k in a low cost of living city (Ottawa). I pay about $929 a month in rent all inclusive so I have lots of cash left over every paycheck. Is 30k really that much? What happens if your new job isn't happy with you or the business hits rough times? Buy something cheaper. Also, I know the cad v. Usd conversion is a bit weird, but I make more than you and wouldn't buy a 30k car.
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Jul 8, 2015 03:29
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Now that I've had my Prius for awhile I have some admittedly anecdotal info you guys can pass on for anyone you know with back problems who are put off by almost every review saying they had very uncomfortable seats. I have herniated disks in my back and the lack of lumbar support in the seat makes it more comfortable for me to drive long distances because they don't press on and cause the disks to compress even more. I was a bit worried about this when I started looking at them but money is tight ATM and my comfort was less important than how economical the car is. I can't take my pain meds while driving and made a 96 mile nonstop trip in it last week and still felt decent afterwards so lucky me  I love this car and I'm glad there were a bunch of people in here talking it up. Thanks guys!
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Jul 8, 2015 05:44
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Dave Ramsey posted:
I had my '99 accord for quite some time (until it was totaled by an SUV driving in the breakdown lane during gridlocked traffic). Now I figure it'd be nice to see what it's like to have a "nice" car. I test drove a bunch of cars and am seriously considering leasing a 2 series. While I've been biased against bimmers, the car and drive review made me give it a chance and I really liked the car. The idea is to lease the car while it's fully under warranty and get another car in maybe 3 years or so. If I change my mind, it'd be nice to have the option to buy it. On the face value, it looks like if I lease the car it'll be paying $15564* on $14467 over 3 years. Essentially I'd be paying 432/month for $14467, which is ~4.8% interest on the $14467. Another way to look at it is that I'd be paying $2k** extra to rent a car I have the option of buying should I feel like keeping but won't have to worry about the hassle of trade in later if I don't. Am I missing something obvious here? (Aside from the whole "buying a new car is expensive and you should just get a used Infinity M35/M37 if you want a sporty luxury car" thing, which is valid). *36 x 349 + 3000 **$500 bonus cash at the beginning, but $350 fee at the end, so I'd say that's a wash, with $1k of interest and $1k of crappy fees edit: I can't get a used 228i because they are too new, and probably would be pensive of getting it used if I could for fear of the previous driver racing it. diadem fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 13:59
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In my opinion, you should get a non-xDrive 2 series and not an auto because what the gently caress is the point of an AWD small sports coupe? But a few things. You're missing your obvious financing cost of the vehicle if you were to buy it outright, so your premium over the cost of ownership is not as high as you are stating (edit: unless you are planning to pay cash outright). Putting money down on a lease is a bad idea, since that money goes away in the event that you total the vehicle and time value of money and that. It is preferable in all cases to attempt to structure the lease as a zero-money-down lease at $432/mo rather than a $3k down lease at $349/mo. Since you are getting bonus cash, use that as your money down. At least when I had a lease from BMW, they included the explicit money factor they were using on the lease. Also, my dealer absorbed the $350 fee because they claimed that I had a car that they specifically wanted as a CPO - 128i 6MT sport pack, roof, heated seats as only options in a nice color.
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Jul 8, 2015 14:13
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:In my opinion, you should get a non-xDrive 2 series and not an auto because what the gently caress is the point of an AWD small sports coupe? The xDrive bit was so I don't have to get a used Subaru for the winter. I live in the Boston area. The $432/month advice in lieu of a down payment is great. Thanks! diadem fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 14:29
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I live in Boston, too. I drove a RWD 1 series for years. Snow tires. With xDrive, you're paying $1,800 more to have a shittier car, and it will be on performance run-flats, so your snow performance will suck anyway.
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Jul 8, 2015 14:36
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Applesmack posted:Well I make 65k in a low cost of living city (Ottawa). I pay about $929 a month in rent all inclusive so I have lots of cash left over every paycheck. Is 30k really that much? FYI, a generally sane rough rule of thumb is that you shouldn't buy any new car that costs more than 1/3 of your annual income. Frugal people will yell at you for buying anything but a 10 year old Prius, but you could comfortably afford about a $20k car and there's lots of nice options there.
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Jul 8, 2015 15:45
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diadem posted:
No one is racing new base model, base engine, BMWs.
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Jul 8, 2015 15:57
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diadem posted:edit: I can't get a used 228i because they are too new, and probably would be pensive of getting it used if I could for fear of the previous driver racing it. You should be more worried that it's never been above 3000 RPM and has been farted in excessively.
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Jul 8, 2015 15:58
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diadem posted:I had my '99 accord for quite some time (until it was totaled by an SUV driving in the breakdown lane during gridlocked traffic). Now I figure it'd be nice to see what it's like to have a "nice" car. I test drove a bunch of cars and am seriously considering leasing a 2 series. While I've been biased against bimmers, the car and drive review made me give it a chance and I really liked the car. The idea is to lease the car while it's fully under warranty and get another car in maybe 3 years or so. If I change my mind, it'd be nice to have the option to buy it. This isn't quite right, because you are not paying interest on $14457, you are paying interest on approx $28081, which is the average of the sale price minus the $3k down. I say approx because I guess you should also subtract the 349 first payment and then make it a 35 month term or something but I'm not sure because I am bad at math but it's close enough.
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Jul 8, 2015 16:29
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A couple questions while I am preparing to make one of the worst decisions of my life (buying a car): 1) I know that the mantra for buying a used car is to get it checked by a mechanic - how does this work if you are buying used from a dealership? I'm assuming that you can't take it for a test drive and then just pull into an autoshop and ask them to look at it (although if you can that would be hilarious). I also assume any dealer's mechanic is suspect? Do you ask for details about what was checked/done? Buy something with a clean history and then get it checked during any return period? 2) We are mostly interested in getting a used Fit, but after spending some time searching the local market my wife is also curious about the Insight. I know everyone loves the Prius, but we aren't finding them within our price, but there are a few Insights at comparable pricing to the Fit. Any thoughts on these? After some basic research they seem fairly well reviewed as a kind of step down from the Prius. I am mostly concerned about losing the battery shortly after purchase and facing a big repair bill to replace it.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:12
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What is your price range where you are not finding Priuses but you are somehow finding Honda Fits? The Insight sucks.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:32
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:The Insight sucks. Yeah, Honda whiffed it pretty bad with their hybrids after the original Insight. The Civic hybrid has trouble hitting its EPA-rated MPG, the CR-Z is a sport hybrid hatchback that is neither sporty nor fuel-efficient, and the current Insight is trying to ape the Prius but not doing it as well.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:50
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Ashcans posted:A couple questions while I am preparing to make one of the worst decisions of my life (buying a car): Say to the dealer, "I'm interested in this car, but before I buy, I'd like to have it checked out by my mechanic. When can we set up a time?" They'll push back a bit, because they don't want to give you any time to reconsider. Just like a private sale, if they don't agree, walk. Dealers can hide poo poo too. Insights are OK cars, but their hybrid drivetrain is fundamentally different from the Prius's. Honda uses a standard drivetrain (engine->conventional transmission->differential->wheels) but sandwiches an electric motor between the engine and transmission. Toyota replaces the transmission entirely, with a pair of motor/generators and a planetary gearset. By doing some mathematical magic with relative engine and motor speeds, Toyota's system can vary gear ratios without involving any of the traditional wear components of a transmission - clutches, brake bands, CVT belts, or what have you. Modern automatic transmissions and CVTs are incredibly complex, and tend to break in expensive ways. The Prius's reputation for drivetrain reliability largely comes from the fact that it doesn't have to worry about transmission failures. The Insight does. tl;dr: the Insight isn't bad, but it's more complex than the Prius and likely won't be as reliable
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Jul 9, 2015 17:04
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Ok, thanks a lot guys. I think I am going to vote to pass on the Insight then. We don't currently have a car so we don't have a mechanic we already know/trust, so I assume it makes sense to find a mechanic and talk about this with them ahead of time, even make an appointment or similar? We can probably get a mechanic recommended from friends that do drive/own cars. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:What is your price range where you are not finding Priuses but you are somehow finding Honda Fits? Our budget is about $13k - we could go higher than that either by financing more or digging deeper into savings, but that's about where we feel comfortable. We have found a number of Fits in that budget from 2011-2012. The Priuses I am seeing are either considerably older (which causes problems with our financing, my credit union doesn't finance cars older than 5 years) or have a lot more miles than the Fits (or both). I don't know, maybe buying a Prius with 75-90k on it isn't a bad idea? My understanding is that the battery is warrantied to 100k, so I am nervous about getting something with high mileage, driving it for a year, and then having an expensive battery replacement. Edit: We did gravitate to the Fit because we have driven one pretty often using Zipcar, so we're comfortable with the model in general. It's also possible that we could find a good Prius deal if we waited for one, but we are on a timetable because my wife got a new job and needs a car for the commute. Ashcans fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 17:20
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Financing a $13k car is a bit of a red flag. How much actual money do you have? Aren't you also shopping for a house? A prius with 90k miles on it is a nearly-new prius. It'll do 300k to 400k miles with proper maintenance. The battery packs are not that expensive to replace; as they get older they can lose a little efficiency but they usually don't just die; and any old car of similar mileage to a battery-replacement Prius (think: 200k miles) is likely needing a transmission replacement or something so it's comparable. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 17:34
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Ashcans posted:The Priuses I am seeing are either considerably older (which causes problems with our financing, my credit union doesn't finance cars older than 5 years) or have a lot more miles than the Fits (or both). I don't know, maybe buying a Prius with 75-90k on it isn't a bad idea? That's a shame. The 2004-2009 Priuses are pretty much the best, and I'd have zero reservations about buying a Prius under about 175k miles.
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Jul 9, 2015 17:38
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Leperflesh posted:as they get older they can lose a little efficiency but they usually don't just die Our 07 Prius still averages 53mpg in town, 46-48mpg hwy.
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Jul 9, 2015 17:40
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Leperflesh posted:Financing a $13k car is a bit of a red flag. How much actual money do you have? quote:Aren't you also shopping for a house? No, you might be confusing me for another white noise tradgames poster. Although I have posted in house-related threads to live vicariously. The financing on the car would be our only debt for the foreseeable future. quote:A prius with 90k miles on it is a nearly-new prius. It'll do 300k to 400k miles with proper maintenance. The battery packs are not that expensive to replace; as they get older they can lose a little efficiency but they usually don't just die; and any old car of similar mileage to a battery-replacement Prius (think: 200k miles) is likely needing a transmission replacement or something so it's comparable. I guess I need to educate myself a little more, if no one is concerned about a 100k Prius from a maintenance perspective. Thanks for the input everyone, looks like I get to spend the weekend trying to learn more about hybrids before we do any shopping.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:01
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100k miles is, for just about any modern car, nothing. Most cars will need nothing more than fluid changes and wear item replacement until then; and for a lot of cars, the "100k maintenance" is a set of spark plugs and a coolant flush on top of the regular stuff.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:09
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A guy in DC looking at Priuses posted a couple newer ones including a Gen3 in your price range with 40k miles. It's definitely doable. Priuses run to hilariously high mileage without issue. If you are really in to the Fit, I would recommend going new since you can pick up an LX Fit for like sixteen grand, your financing costs will be lower and you will get a new car with a new car warranty and all that good poo poo.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:09
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So my wife totaled the Volvo S60 this morning, which means we are absolutely buying a Prius next week. We have zero debt, plan to put 2-3k down, and finance the rest. Do all of these look pretty OK? Any obvious red flags? https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20U367530982/2006-toyota-prius/ https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20U053013239/2005-toyota-prius/ https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20U883301367/2008-toyota-prius/ https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20U087794292/2008-toyota-prius/ https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20U877645756/2007-toyota-prius/ If we decide to follow up on one, do we contact the dealer through truecar or just email them directly? Also how far below those listed prices would you guys recommend I offer? And are there other places to search for used car inventory other than truecar? So much stress... didn't think we were going to have to do this until next year. 
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Jul 9, 2015 21:25
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Autotrader, Cars.com, Craigslist. Lower miles better, basically. All of those are Gen2s. The black 06 would get my vote - interior looks well kept and low mileage, and it's a IV so it has the most options.
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Jul 9, 2015 23:01
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