Car question

[nick__45]

So we had the baby and she is a wonderful, healthy and happy baby.

We have a car issue in that my 2-door Accord is a pain to get the baby seat in and out of.

I want to tough it out because the inconvenience is free as opposed to a car payment. We don't have the cash to pay for a new-to-us car right now. Although we could make payments because we have a high savings rate and could really take 25% of what we save each month and that would be enough for a car payment.

When I bought the Accord when I was 22, I never foresaw having it in my 30s with a kid. But I prob should've since they last forever.

Our other car is a Jeep Liberty. It has 4-doors but guzzles gas which isn't ideal for my wife's job which is driving intensive. The extra gas she consumes driving the Jeep amounts to $80 extra/month. The car payment we would even consider would be $160.

If it were purely up to me, I would tough it out. But it's really inconvenient for my wife because it takes considerable upper body strength to maneuver the seat into the back, not to mention in a few months when we'll have to put her into a rear-facing transitional seat.

Financially, it makes no sense. It would be a big help for my wife's life though.

Looking forward to advice and insight. Thanks.

With the exception of the Jeep, you sound like me as I also bought a 2D Accord when I was 22. I went all out and got the top of the line EX with everything included. That was a mistake so when I got married I bought a 92 Corolla to drive to work while my wife got my Accord. We just tough it out because, even though the 2D Accord is a pain to get into with child seat, it is much safer being a 2D.

Is it possible that your wife could just use the Accord and you just the Jeep. If your Accord is anything newer than 97 model, the rearward facing seat would fit perfect, you have to check and adjust the seat so everyone seats comfortably. On the same hand, there is plenty of room once the baby seat is situated normally.

I would invest in a good baby seat instead of a car. The Jeep would be a perfect family car while the Accord should be used for whoever doing the most commuting. So I don't know what's you're complaining about. I want a 4x4 or something decent the last 4 years and haven't got it. My Corolla required a lot of work recently to be reliable commute and my commute is quite far. My wife works only 2 miles from home so she gets the nice car.

[nick__45]

Congrats on your new daughter!
You could try and do a trade in for a used car at the dealership?

That is one way to be a wallet flushing and ended up with either an expensive loan or a junker.

[nick__45]

Not all spending decisions are financial decisions. Other factors come into play. This is a perfect example of that. My wife would never have been able to get a car seat in and out of a 2-door car. She is petite and those things are heavy even when empty and more so when occupied by a sleeping infant. That's part of the reason we got our first minivan.

I say figure out what you can afford and buy a decent used vehicle that fits your needs and your budget.

The seat weight the same whether they're in minivan or car. Trust me I know because we have 2 door sporty and use a van sometime when we need to haul my mom and sister with us on shopping trips. It may be harder to adjust the belts in a 2D but there is a lot less lifting with a 2D verse a high seating of a minivan. People who buy van or SUV ended up just keeping the seat in the car and just take the baby in and out. They could do that with a 2D but it's not considered cool and trendy to some folks. For me, money in the my account is more trendy than extra cars with no real benefit in the driveway and I am a car guy, who choose family future over unnecessary spending.

[disneysteve]

The seat weight the same whether they're in minivan or car.

Obviously, but it is much easier to lift out the seat when standing right next to it as compared to bending over on an awkward angle into the back seat of a 2D car, or even from the back seat of my 4D Camry. Much easier on your back, too.

[jpg7n16]

Here's a link for comparison to get you started: 160 results

Find Your Car: Honda Listings Near Dallas, TX 75211 - AutoTrader.com

Limited to cars under 100k miles, same price range: 79 results
Find Your Car: Honda Listings Near Dallas, TX 75211 - AutoTrader.com

Listings under 75k miles, same price range: 21 results
Find Your Car: Honda Listings Near Dallas, TX 75211 - AutoTrader.com

Under 40k miles: 2 results
Find Your Car: Honda Listings Near Dallas, TX 75211 - AutoTrader.com

Several Honda's in the Dallas area, for less than $10k. (I searched from $5k-10k within 100 miles of Dallas)

And if you were to sell your 2 door, that would help knock the price down. No need to keep 3 cars.

If your car's as good as you say it is, you might be able to sell it to someone looking for a cheaper reliable car for a good price (kinda like you, but he might not have kids). Or keep the 2 door and sell the Liberty. She probably wouldn't drive her kid to work with her, so wouldn't need the convenient larger backseat.

The deals are out there, and there are ways to make it happen. If you bought a larger car, you could even turn around and sell it in 1-2 years when your kid is big enough to get in/out on her own.

[cschin4]

I have some advice for you from experience!! After we had our first child, I felt like I "had" to rush in and trade in my perfectly good paid off car to buy a 7 passenger minivan to haul around one child. Why? I don't know, I thought it was what you were "supposed" to do.
So, you have 2 issues. One is the 2 door car. If it runs fine and is in good condition, then why not just buy another car seat? Instead of lifting the car seat in and out, you can lift your child in and out of the car seat instead. Much lighter. Those car seats are heavy and awkward to carry. And, it isn't long before the baby grows and moves up to the larger car seat that you dont' carry around. I did not take out the forward facing seats because they are supposed to be secured with a T-clamp in addition to the seat belt for added safety. So, I didn't take those out once I made sure they were properly installed.
The other issue is your Jeep. Buying a new car and spending $20K to "save on gas" is silly. Really. How many miles per year are you driving? 20,000? Gas is about $3 now. Calculate your annual fuel costs currently at however many mpg you are getting. Then, calculate it at what you think gas will rise to like $5. Then, calculate the same mileage using REALISTIC mpg from whatever gas friendly car you are thinking using the same numbers. Then, look at the overall costs of each. And, you will find that you are thinking of spending $20K to save $1K on gas per year and that it simply does not make financial sense.
And, think twice before you would buy a car that is lighter and smaller to transport your child in. There are some cars such as the Smart car and some others I would not even consider buying. Lighter cars are more dangerous to be in if a crash occurred. Safety is a bigger concern than fuel costs.

[disneysteve]

I have some advice for you from experience!! After we had our first child, I felt like I "had" to rush in and trade in my perfectly good paid off car to buy a 7 passenger minivan to haul around one child. Why? I don't know, I thought it was what you were "supposed" to do.

I think this is a personal preference and lifestyle issue as much as it is a financial issue.

We like to travel and having a child didn't change that one bit. Part of the reason we bought a minivan was because we needed the space for when we traveled. My wife had a 1989 Hyundai Excel at the time. That was a fairly small 4D hatchback. There was just no way we were going anywhere in that with a car seat occupying the back seat, a stroller occupying the trunk area and needing room for 2 suitcases, a diaper bag, toys, food, cameras, etc. And forget even considering it if it was more than just the 3 of us as we sometimes travel with other family members. We needed seating for 5 at a minimum with cargo space to go with it. Her Hyundai didn't have that. Neither did my Camry. Hence the minivan.

[nick__45]

Most people buy minivans, which is anything but mini, and SUV because their TVs tell them that's the right thing to do. What they need is some college saving plan, which doesn't not have to be 529 but can be Roth IRA. I tell people that they should always consider buying a car that is reliable and durable enough that by the time their kid(s) are of driving age, such car can be a perfect first car. In 16 years, a 2006 Mazda will be 20 years old. It would be perfect first car for his kid to learn to drive in, help run errands, and possibly take to college.

If you want to save some gas in the Liberty, consider dialing down the idle speed controller. You can gain 5 mpg easily. On my Corolla, I had it set wrong because it idle rough while in D and stuck in traffic. It returned 18 mpg instead of 35 mpg. By tuning it the other way, I manage to smooth out the idle while returning 38 mpg. You just need to find which rpm range your car is happy with. My car is not happy at 700-850 rpm

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We just had our first baby and we got a subaru outback. I love it. I don't drive it except on the weekends but as a family car it's great. I still have my 99 corolla but we replaced my DH's 2000 Ford Focus. It was 2 dr hatchback but it sucked. It was a pain to have the carseat in the back but the car itself had a lot of problems. We were due to replace it soon anyway.

[elessar78]

Sigh... related to the OP... so my Check Engine Light came on last night and the readout says I might need a new Catalytic Converter. My initial research shows that the OEM part is the best option because the other after market CATs always seem to fail a few months later. Cost to install the OEM CAT is about $900-$1200.

At what point do you say is enough is enough on repairs? I always justify to my wife that a couple hundred here and there for repairs is a lot less than a steady car payment. Especially since most of the repairs are just replacing worn out parts on a car with 150K miles on it. Aside from a MAJOR repair bill in Nov of 2009, but that was an outlier kinda repair, most of the work on my car comes in around every 6 months and the bill is usually around $100-$300 a pop.

Thoughts?

[ukgaz]

So depends on the value of the car. Say you have $1200 in repairs but the car is worth $2000 (not read the whole thread so not sure if you listed the value) in my view that is just not worth it to get it fixed. This would just be burning money

[elessar78]

I did a trade in value assessment via autotrader and they valued my car at 2K. Realistically it's prob worth less than that because there's a couple of minor things that I couldn't claim on the assesment. Private party I could get double that amount.

[disneysteve]

So depends on the value of the car. Say you have $1200 in repairs but the car is worth $2000 (not read the whole thread so not sure if you listed the value) in my view that is just not worth it to get it fixed. This would just be burning money

I have mixed feelings on this, being the owners of two older cars.

I understand your point that spending $1,200 to fix a car worth $2,000 doesn't seem to make sense on the surface but consider the alternative. If you decide to get rid of the car, you would be selling a car with a $2,000 book value and in need of a $1,200 repair, so hopefully you can find a buyer at $800 or so. You then have to go buy a newer car. Personally, I'm not a fan of buying a beater, so for me that means spending $18,000-$20,000. Even if I have the money saved up for that purchase, would I rather take the plunge for the "new" car or spend the $1,200 to fix up the current car? If fixing it buys me another year of relatively trouble-free driving, I'm good with that. What I'd do is ask the mechanic to take a good look at the car and tell me if he thinks it is worth fixing. If you have a trusted mechanic, he should give you a dependable answer. If he says the rest of the car is in good shape, consider fixing it. If he says you are pouring money into a black hole, cut your losses and get rid of it.