Vehicle purchase question - which would you choose?

[leavemealone]

Between the two, which of the following cars would you purchase?

2003 Honda Odyssey with 72,000 miles for $10,200 (needs about $1,000 of work: routine stuff like new tires, breaks, etc but the engine/transmission is good)

2005 Honda Odyssey with 75,000 miles for about $15,000 (doesn't need any big work at the moment)

I am about 37 weeks pregnant and we are in need of a new minivan. Well, we could live without it, but we have the money to purchase a new one outright and we want to do so. DH and I disagree on which to purchase. One of us wants to buy the 2003 and put the rest of the money towards retirement or savings. The other one of us wants to buy the newer vehicle. We've narrowed it down to these two choice - of the two, which would you choose?

[Chloe'sMama]

I would get the less expensive one. That way you know it has new breaks and tires, ect.

[RoundAbout]

I would buy the cheaper one. It has fewer overall miles and you can get *a lot* of maintenance done on a car for an extra $5000.

[SuzyLee]

I would also get the 2003.

[akwifeandmomma]

Originally Posted by RoundAbout

I would buy the cheaper one. It has fewer overall miles and you can get *a lot* of maintenance done on a car for an extra $5000.

Exactly.

[bodhicitta3]

the 2003 model.

[oneKnight]

I would probably go for the 2003 as well.

Unless the 2005 already has new tires, it has more miles than the cheaper car so it will also need tires soon, etc. you will probably have to spend money on it anyway.

[xmysticprincessx]

Have your mechanic check both over and find out which one is in better shape, what work each one would need, etc. Look at the vehicle histories too, like if its been in an accident, how often maintenance was performed, etc.

Were there any big differences between the 2003 and 2005 models? Like new "can't live without" safety features? Or is one model year "better" than the other? (Check edmunds.com- there's normally customer reviews, so you'll know if say the 2003 is more prone to xyz problem b/c its the 1st year after a redesign but that they changed that flaw for 2005.)

ETA- Get the estimate from your mechanic on what the 2003 needs. Price out the tires and brakes. FIL just had to spend something like $800 on tires on his Sienna minivan. (I forgot the exact reason, something about some upgraded package/feature on the van, I think.) Then go from there.

[leavemealone]

I think we are going with the 2003 (which is the one I wanted). We used to have a 2004 and it's pretty much identical to that one. There was a new redeisgn in 2005 with new features and I think that's what's sucking my DH into wanting that one. I don't see anything significant enough to justify the newer model. We're going to have it checked out by a mechanic tomorrow morning and hopefully get it if it checks out OK.

BTW: I do know that the car has "brakes", not "breaks". Not sure what happened there with the spelling of that. LOL