Car Advice

[Blue Leader]

Hello all, looking for some advice about buying a car. The wife and I have started to look for a replacement for my 16 year old Maxima that runs fine, but needs repairs that would cost about 4x what I could sell it for. I have had this for 5-6 years and it has been great, but it is time to say goodbye.

My initial thought about getting a vehicle was to get something relatively cheap but reliable. (under 10k) But I am now thinking of getting something I really want for a little more. I have found quite a few '06 Xterras for under 15k.

My wife is in grad school and getting reimbursed for her tuition by her employer. So for the next 2.5 years, we will be getting repayed 10k a year and don't have to repay the student loan till 6 months after she graduates. Here's the big question I guess. Would it make sense to use about 10k of this money as a down payment for the car? It would be interest free for 2.5 years, and in that time, we could repay much of this. What we don't repay will go into a low rate student loan payment.

Oh, btw, we will have about $250/month for paying this down. This number will go up every 6 months, so by the time we have to start paying back, we will be able to pay $500 for a car/month.

I'm way tired and this probably doesn't make sense. If it does, I look forward to your .02!

[maat55]

I personally would pay cash. You can have what you want, in time, saving and paying cash. Your doing the typical thing that gets you into debt, buying out of want.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How long are you financing the car for and planning on paying it off? Maybe it depends on the first question.

[bigsaver]

I think Xterras use lots of gasoline. If you have 15k to burn, go for a yaris.

[Blue Leader]

OK sorry for not replying, been away and busy! It is definitely more of a want buy than need. However, I do NEED to buy something. So the two choices I am contemplating are getting either A) Something fairly reliable as a 3-4 year temp solution (under $6000), or B) Getting what both the wife and I want and driving it till it dies at over 200,000 miles.

We would probably finance between $5-7000. We would do a 48 or 60 month loan.....this long because the payment will be low incase of hard times, but in good times (now) we will pay much more than the minimum required. So hopefully, we could turn it into a 24-36 month loan. We are approved for a 5.9% loan, and possibly lower with the wifes CU account.

Xterras do use much more gasoline than a Yaris, this is true. However, the wife has a Civic (35 mpg) that we would continue to use for all long trips. I would drive the X daily, and my commute is 8 miles roundtrip. The main reason for wanting the X, aside from extra room, is we hike 14ers here in colorado a lot. (I did 14 14,000+ peaks this summer alone, talk about a frugal hobby, all ya gotta do is walk!) Many trail heads are reachable only by 4x4. So it would be our fun vehicle that gets limited long haul trips.

This would be a first for us, having a large payment every month. (other than mortgage) We are very frugal with all we do (use bunny ears instead of cable, VERY rarely buy any wants, reuse toilet paper...oh wait that ones not true So this buy kind of is like a nice reward for us. Am I crazy or does this purchase make sense at all?