New Car Advice

[Selesai]

Pretty soon I am going to buy a new car. We can't avoid having two cars, and this will be my commuting vehicle. Our other car is a Mazda 5, which is great when we have SS with us as well as our two kids.

I am looking for something relatively small, four door, fun to drive, but able to comfortably transport two adults and two or 3 kids in carseats. Gas mileage should be around 30mpg highway. I want something reliable that I can drive for a long time. I was hoping to spend $20k or less, but will stretch that a little if necessary.

So far I've considered the Mazda 3, Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, Toyota Corolla, and Honda Civic. Does anyone have any suggestions/comments about these choices, or anything I have missed?

I will not buy Ford or Chevy. I have considered the Prius but don't know how fun it is to drive, or if the extra price is worth it (or if I can even get one).

I also have thought about a Saab, but am unsure about repair costs, etc.

Thanks!

[Logan's Mom]

Many people in the Northeast love their Suburus. The Saab would have a higher cost for repairs. I don't know if you have thought about the Yaris, which is in a lower cost segment then Camary. I really don't know if you could fit 3 carseats.

According to JD Powers, Honda has the best quality right now and Ford and Toyota are the same. I'm not sure of Suburu or Saab. http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/200...quality_s.html

I don't know how fun to drive the Prius is, however, hybrid technology really pays off on city or stop and go driving.

OT: Many Mazdas are built at Ford plants in the United States. If you go to ford.com you will see the mazda logo, along with ford, lincoln, mercury and volvo. Ford holds a controlling interest in Mazda. Interesting you like the Mazda but won't purchase a Ford.

The Mazda3 is built on the same Ford C1 platform as the Mazda5, Ford Focus, and a few of Volvo's samller models.

Compare the Mazda3 and the Focus, you will find many similarities.

[Jilian]

I'd go with the Honda Civic. We just downgraded from our Odyssey to a Civic. There is no need to buy new, buy a car that is a few years old with low mileage. New cars lose thousands in valuse when you drive them off the lot, let someone else take that depriciation it for you and buy used. Have you seen Dave ramsey's video on cars and how to be able to buy a new car in cash and never have a car payment again? It is great, I just watched it linked in another thread.

Anyway, we went with an '05 Civic with 34,000 miles and after taxes, fees, etc we paid $11,000. We put a few thousand down and our loan is for 3 yrs with. If you have to take a loan out for more than 3 yrs it is a sign that you cannot afford the car you are buying (according to suze orman). It is also honda certified so that means it is covered umper to bumper for 48,000 miles and has a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. We average 35 MPG with mostly city and some hwy miles. I think it gets over 40 mpg hwy. The resale on civics is great now because of gas prices.

Good luck with your decision. I'll try to dig up Dave's video to link it for you to watch.

[CameronsMama]

Have you considered the Honda Fit? It's a little roomier than a Civic, and (in my opinion) more fun to drive. It gets roughly 28 mpg city/34 mpg hwy. The starting base price is around $14,000.

[lmonter]

Our Subaru Impreza 2.5i wagon (I think? it was the sport wagon with a 2.5 liter engine, but not the TDI or WRX) only averaged 25mpg on regular gas - no premium except every once in a while with fuel injector cleaner. It varied from 22mpg-28mpg or so. Never topped 30mpg because of the all-time AWD (which is totally awesome, might I add, and something I really, really miss having when we had to sell that for our Honda CRV to fit 3 carseats in a vehicle).

It's hard getting two carseats, let alone 3 in the backseat of the Impreza. They curve up the edges of the seats so they're not so flat, which is a bummer with carseats and such. We had two Britaxes in the back of ours, and had 6 inches between the seats which were in outboard positions.

A Corolla may be your best bet, but I say go on a test-drive spree. Take all the kids, carseats and whatever else you may need to haul off to the car lot with you, and test drive your heart out. My mom says her '93 Camry got about 30mpg when it was a spring chicken, now it gets around 25-28mpg, and it's got a semi-wide back seat that you could potentially stick 3 kids in. Leg room is a whole 'nother story (I can't tell you how many times my sister and I complained about the leg room on 6-20 hour road trips), but still. Every time we test drove cars, we hauled all the carseats (even before we got pregnant the third time!), coolers, strollers, etc. with us to see what would fit. Salesmen looked at us like we were nuts, but hey, we need something that fits our lifestyle and the things we do, not what they need to get off the lot.

[Kyamo]

I don't know about carseats, but as far as older children or adults sitting in the backseat, the yaris has a roomier backseat than the corolla.

[CameronsMama]

You might consider asking about room for the carseats in the Family Safety Forum, if you haven't already. There are lot of mamas over there that know a TON about how many and which kind of carseats fit in which vehicles, so they might be able to help you figure out which cars would be a good fit for you.

[Belleweather]

I just test drove three out of four of your possibilities looking for my own 'new' car. I don't like the Subarus because they're expensive to repair here. I also test drove a Prius, which was SO much fun to drive (even apart from the whole Hybrid thing... the continuous variable transmission is awesome!), a Nissan Sentra and a couple of Hyundais. Suprizingly, I went with a Hyundai. The reviews in consumer reports were great, there was far more room in the interior than the Civic, so I could get my tall DH and all the car seats in the car more comfortably, and I felt like I was getting more car. I didn't buy new, but I do get another 2 years of the manufacturer's 5 year/100,000 mile warranty, which helps. Plus, my 3 year old car with 25K miles on it was slightly more than $10,000

[mommy2naomi]

Originally Posted by Jilian

There is no need to buy new, buy a car that is a few years old with low mileage. New cars lose thousands in valuse when you drive them off the lot, let someone else take that depriciation it for you and buy used.

:

We won't ever buy a new car again. Our last purchase was a 2003 Subaru Outback. It had 8K miles on it and it was stick shift. It was a 27K car, we bought it 2 years later for $17K. Awesome deal!

[Selesai]

Originally Posted by Logan's Mom

OT: Many Mazdas are built at Ford plants in the United States. If you go to ford.com you will see the mazda logo, along with ford, lincoln, mercury and volvo. Ford holds a controlling interest in Mazda. Interesting you like the Mazda but won't purchase a Ford.

The Mazda3 is built on the same Ford C1 platform as the Mazda5, Ford Focus, and a few of Volvo's samller models.

Compare the Mazda3 and the Focus, you will find many similarities.

I know about the controlling interest thing. I have driven Fords, I have driven Mazdas, and I still sense a difference. Whether that makes much sense or not.
Interesting about build quality, though.

Originally Posted by Jilian

There is no need to buy new, buy a car that is a few years old with low mileage. New cars lose thousands in valuse when you drive them off the lot, let someone else take that depriciation it for you and buy used. Have you seen Dave ramsey's video on cars and how to be able to buy a new car in cash and never have a car payment again? It is great, I just watched it linked in another thread.

I don't agree, though, that it's never better to buy new. Our Mazda 5 new was the same price as they were going for used, but we got 0% interest.

Originally Posted by Belleweather

I just test drove three out of four of your possibilities looking for my own 'new' car. I don't like the Subarus because they're expensive to repair here. I also test drove a Prius, which was SO much fun to drive (even apart from the whole Hybrid thing... the continuous variable transmission is awesome!), a Nissan Sentra and a couple of Hyundais. Suprizingly, I went with a Hyundai. The reviews in consumer reports were great, there was far more room in the interior than the Civic, so I could get my tall DH and all the car seats in the car more comfortably, and I felt like I was getting more car. I didn't buy new, but I do get another 2 years of the manufacturer's 5 year/100,000 mile warranty, which helps. Plus, my 3 year old car with 25K miles on it was slightly more than $10,000

Interesting about the Prius being fun. My sister actually has a Hyundai Elantra (maybe a 2002?) and has been happy with it. I thought I saw that gas mileage is only about 25mpg? Hmm, anyway food for thought.

Also, I will give the Honda Fit another look. I didn't realize they were so roomy inside (comparatively).

Thanks!

[alegna]

We LOVE our Civic. It's a standard transmission and I get around 33mpg with my combination of city/freeway driving.

-Angela

[PassionateWriter]

I just sold a Saab. Repairs were horrible. I did not like that car at all.

I don't know about the other cars you have listed but just wanted to chime in about Saab. We only have German cars now.

[lifeguard]

We're very happy with our Echo (aka Yaris). But I would never buy new again - we just have not found it is worth the expense. But every purchase is different.

[mimie]

I love my Subaru (Forester), but as a PP mentioned, they get terrible gas mileage for the size.

I second the suggestion of the Honda Fit. Maybe check out the Nissan Versa while you're at it.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by Selesai

I don't agree, though, that it's never better to buy new. Our Mazda 5 new was the same price as they were going for used, but we got 0% interest.

I would come close to saying it is *never* better to buy new. The minute you drive it off the lot you are upside down on your loan and unless you pay it off early, you will *always* be upside down on your loan... even at 0% interest.

I love "running the numbers"... let's do it for a Honda Accord.

Brand new Honda Accord, no frills but automatic: $21,160
2 year old Honda Accord, no frills but automatic: $15,500

The minute you drive your brand new Honda off the lot it is worth @ $16,300.
The minute you drive your 2 year old Honda off the lot it is worth @ $15,500.

Monthly payments for brand new Honda with 0% interest: $352
Monthly payment for 2 year old Honda with 5% interest: $292
(total interest paid over 5 year is $2050 bringing price to $17550 for used)

So if you buy a "new" used car, you are never upside down on the payments, the monthly payments are actually LOWER even with interest, and in the end you have paid quite a bit less for a nearly new vehicle.

I will *never* buy a brand new car.

If the used price for the Mazda was the same as new, you needed to look elsewhere. Just because that dealer was selling them for the same price doesn't mean that was the blue book value of the used car. You could have found it much cheaper from an individual.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by velochic

I would come close to saying it is *never* better to buy new. The minute you drive it off the lot you are upside down on your loan and unless you pay it off early, you will *always* be upside down on your loan... even at 0% interest.

I love "running the numbers"... let's do it for a Honda Accord.

Brand new Honda Accord, no frills but automatic: $21,160
2 year old Honda Accord, no frills but automatic: $15,500

The minute you drive your brand new Honda off the lot it is worth @ $16,300.
The minute you drive your 2 year old Honda off the lot it is worth @ $15,500.

Monthly payments for brand new Honda with 0% interest: $352
Monthly payment for 2 year old Honda with 5% interest: $292
(total interest paid over 5 year is $2050 bringing price to $17550 for used)

So if you buy a "new" used car, you are never upside down on the payments, the monthly payments are actually LOWER even with interest, and in the end you have paid quite a bit less for a nearly new vehicle.

I will *never* buy a brand new car.

If the used price for the Mazda was the same as new, you needed to look elsewhere. Just because that dealer was selling them for the same price doesn't mean that was the blue book value of the used car. You could have found it much cheaper from an individual.

Really it depends on the market. When we bought our Civic we got an excellent deal on it. We were only upside down for about 8 months. (great price + 1.9%) We could not have found a comparable newish used one for anywhere near the deal we got (the newer used ones were loaded- we just wanted the basics)

Now we're looking at buying a Toyota Sienna. We can't get a used one (again, fairly new) with what we want for less than we will pay for new.

I think part of it is the market here- the toyotas and hondas hold value SO well, that we can't buy a newish used one for that great of a price.

-Angela

[msjd123]

What about a Nissan Versa?

We were looking at Honda Civics, Honda Fits, Priuses, and Corollas, but the Versa hatchback won us over. We already have a Nissan Maxima we inherited, and I kid you not when I say that the rear leg room for backseat passengers in the Versa is just as great as in the Maxima. It's a shockingly roomy car! I also love that I sit a little higher than I do when I drive the Maxima (or any sedan for that matter); I'm short, so I like having a little boost, and the driver's seat position is about halfway between the height of a sedan and an SUV. Consumer Reports rated it very highly for safety and reliability, and it gets an average of 27 mpg. (I once got 32 mpg when I did nothing but freeway driving on a whole tank of gas, but usually, I do mostly city driving.) Oh, and of course the price -- that's what sold us! We bought a slightly used 2008 model that had 15,000 miles on it for $12,900. Fabulous!

[Inquiringmind]

Originally Posted by Jilian

There is no need to buy new, buy a car that is a few years old with low mileage. New cars lose thousands in valuse when you drive them off the lot, let someone else take that depriciation it for you and buy used.

I normally agree with you. I've always said that I'd never buy a new car. However, my DP and I are currently looking to upgrade. We're looking at things like Honda Fits/Civics, Toyota Corollas/Matrix, etc. Almost all of the used fuel efficient vehicles in our area are selling for the price of new ones. It's crazy! My DP's making the argument that it doesn't make much sense to pay the same price for a used car as a new one, so I'm actually considering buying new at this point.