Help deciding on new vehicle - should I?

[M1911]

This is what I did. Searched for several months, and finally found a mechanic owned 02 Subaru with all new rebuilt motor/2 sets of tires/and new suspension. I can flog on this 5 speed all day and I still get 20 mpg, if I drive it like I try to do with my Runner I get 27mpg. Thats a little over 10 more mpg than I would ever get in my runner.

How much did it cost you?
How my extra are you spending to insure it?
How much are you saving on gas?

With those numbers you can easily calculate the payback period. For me, the numbers just never worked. Because of the extra insurance cost, I would be spending $15k to save $2k per year.

 

[M1911]

I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than having a good, reliable, car or 2 that are paid off.

Amen to that. As much as I pour over auto web sites and youtube reviews, I still have my '03 4Runner that I bought new with cash. Do I want something new? I sure do. I just don't want to pay for it.

 

[wadle5]

How much did it cost you?
How my extra are you spending to insure it?
How much are you saving on gas?

With those numbers you can easily calculate the payback period. For me, the numbers just never worked. Because of the extra insurance cost, I would be spending $15k to save $2k per year.

Ha this is easy.
Car was less than 3k. Insurance is less than the runner(significantly), parts are less than the runner, mileage is better than the runner? The runner I was doing a full tank of gas in 5 days. With the Subaru I am doing less than half a tank a week, and the tank is smaller in the Subaru. Ran the numbers several times and this thing will pay for itself in about a year and a half or so. Worth it to me to ensure the longevity of the 4Runner because as we all know city miles are some of the harshest.

 

[M1911]

Ha this is easy.
Car was less than 3k. Insurance is less than the runner(significantly), parts are less than the runner, mileage is better than the runner? The runner I was doing a full tank of gas in 5 days. With the Subaru I am doing less than half a tank a week, and the tank is smaller in the Subaru. Ran the numbers several times and this thing will pay for itself in about a year and a half or so. Worth it to me to ensure the longevity of the 4Runner because as we all know city miles are some of the harshest.

Buying a cheap used car helps, of course. I was looking at buying new.

For me, though it is the insurance that kills it. I wouldn't get a break on insurance for a second car. And since I have an umbrella policy, I must keep high limits on my car insurance. So adding another car, even a cheap car, means about another $1000 per year in insurance. So unless I'm getting a huge improvement in fuel economy, it is hard to make the economics work for me.

 

[daka320]

Unless you have some reason to believe that your truck will be hit with one of those very rare problems imminently, than there is no objective reason to replace a 2005 4Runner with only 78k miles on it. My truck is also a 2005, but with 154k miles on it and I wouldn't hesitate to drive it across the country right now. These are, by and large, long lived, reliable, sturdy vehicles. They are not even close to used up or dangerous at 78k miles unless something truly terrible has happened rust-wise, or you get hit with one of the rare but pricey issues like the HG or the MC.

Now we get to subjective reasoning, and that I can totally understand. We traded my first 4th gen for a Prius 4+ years ago and it was the BEST decision we made. It saved us SO MUCH MONEY in gas that the extra couple of years of car payments were largely offset. All that savings allowed me to get back into a 4Runner almost a year ago.

Take the money you would have been putting into a new car payment into your savings account for the next year. That will cover you if something does break. Problem sorted.

If what you really need is lower expenditure on gas week in and week out (that's where we were 4 years ago), then dump the 4R now (sell it privately, you'll get WAY more that way than on trade in) then buy a fuel efficient car or maybe a CUV that gets better MPG. Same with if what you really want is a vehicle under warranty. Personally I wouldn't bother with a 2 year old car—just buy new. New car rates are crazy low (seems like Toyota is always offering 0%-0.9% on half their lineup) and resale values of anything worth buying used are through the roof.

As someone who bought and sold a lot of cars for dubious reasons over the years, I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than having a good, reliable, car or 2 that are paid off. It took me a long time and a lot of wasted money to figure this out. If you do some soul searching and find you just want something newer and different, then that's ok of course, but be careful of losing thousands chasing a few dollars a week saved at the gas pumps.

Wow! Are you related to Dave Ramsey? If not, you need to start your own show!