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I'm currently driving a 2004 Chevy Cavalier. Just hit 100k miles, I put about 1/2 of them on it. It has been a very reliable car, great on gas, but I want something that isn't quite so low to the ground. I hate not being able to see around signs/tall weeds/huge redneck truck that pulled up next to me/etc. and I'd also like some more room for hauling my dogs around (100lbs total of dog) and to have something with 4WD/AWD because I live on a really lovely road by a creek that occassionally floods and washes it out. So I'm looking at crossover SUVs, the smaller the better, because I don't want to drive a behemoth of a vehicle and don't need THAT much more room than a car. So far I have only looked online, but once I get ready for test driving I'm probably going to rent my favorite models and drive them for a weekend. I recently did that with a new Ford Focus, because I was traveling for work and it was cheaper on my company to rent than to pay my mileage, and by the end of the weekend I knew that I completely hated it. My local mechanic has also agreed to inspect anything I'm interested in buying, once I get to that point. The main things I'm wondering right now are: 1. Recommended model of compact/crossover SUV? I've looked at reviews and talked to people who own various ones but I'm always looking for more input. 2. I know my car isn't worth much (hell I only paid $5k for it so it wasn't worth much when I bought it) but should I trade it in or try to sell it privately? I think it would be pretty awesome to get $1500 - $2000 for it, but it has no airbags and a wrecked title, then I added a minor dent and busted grill when I hit a dog. The interior is pretty disgusting due to hauling said dogs around but I can clean that up. 3. I'm expecting to pay somewhere around $20k, based on prices in this area. I expect to have somewhere between $10k - $12k saved up by the end of the year. Should I take that and finance the rest and go ahead and buy a car at the end of the year/first of next year, or should I just suck it up and keep driving my car for 1.5-2 more years and just pay cash? The only debt I have currently is about $1k on a credit card for some recent furniture purchases that will be paid off next month, and my mortgage. I don't really want a car payment, but wouldn't be opposed to financing and quickly paying it off. There's really nothing wrong with my car and no reason why I can't drive it for 2 more years at least; I'm just a little tired of being so low to the ground, not having cruise control, wondering if I'll be trapped at my house when the creek gets high, that sort of thing. Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 23:26 on May 6, 2012 |
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May 6, 2012 23:01
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shredswithpiks posted:12k could get you a really decent used Subaru Forester. I ran a quick search within 75 miles of my zip code and 2009 models started at $18,900 and went up from there, and I'd really like to stick to the newer end of used. I'm using http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com should I be looking somewhere else? Craigslist isn't terribly useful because I'm not close to a major city, but I sometimes browse around on Local Sales Network and prices are pretty comparable to what the US News site is telling me. edit: When I say I'm expecting to spend $20k, really I'd like to spend less than that and hopefully my car will contribute a little toward that amount. I guess what I'm looking for is also what everyone else is looking for though, so they're kinda ridiculous right now. 
Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 04:46 on May 7, 2012 |
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May 7, 2012 04:08
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Haha yeah I didn't mean actively driving through running water. It doesn't stay up above the road long, but the problem is when it washes out it takes the surface of the road with it. I had to drive across some really bad no-road areas last spring and just barely made it over with rocks scraping the underside of my car.
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May 7, 2012 22:37
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Thanks for the suggestions  I'm not real interested in financing unless something comes up and I need to replace my car earlier than anticipated, but I also don't want to end up with a car that's about the same age as what I already have so I guess the solution to that is suck it up and keep saving. I'm looking at smartypig.com because I saw it mentioned in a previous post somewhere, looks like a neat system and I was already thinking about opening a new account somewhere so I could separate "car money" from everything else and not be dipping into it.
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May 8, 2012 20:05
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