New Car today

[tripods68]

Just to be clear, I'm not a huge DR fan. I think a lot of his teachings are spot on and help thousands of people but I also think he goes overboard and off the rails in a few spots.

I also think there is a huge difference between buying an 18K new car and buying a much more expensive car. We live near a Land Rover dealer. Just last night, we passed the lot on the way to dinner and I noticed the big red "sale" tags on the cars. The one that caught my eye was "only" $47,300. What a bargain! Now if you came here posting that you bought one of those, I'm sure you'd get a lot more flack than buying a car for 18K. Heck, I bought my car used and paid about the same as you paid for your brand new car. Mine was 16K plus taxes and stuff and it was 6 years old.

Steve,

We've debated DR here for years, so I know where you are coming from.

Technology has changed and improved over the years. IMO you get more BANG for your $$ today Bluetooth, Back Up camera, etc on a $16K brand SPANKING new 2016 SENTRA! And because we heading to 2017, this is time of the year, 2016 dealers are unloading their inventory to make new room for 2017.

At the end of the day, you still have to do your research (took me about over 1year to really narrow the brand/ + Options we wanted). Whether to buy another beater or brand new car YET live within our means. What are the risk & return benefit analysis. We took all those into considerations. We bought nothing extravagant, but reliable, proven brand--that gives me 32+ combined MPG on daily commute + 100,000 manufacturer warranty are all pluses

[tripods68]

Is that an electric car? Congratulations.

Thank you LAL!

Its not electric. I don't care for electric that much anyway.

[scfr]

Congratulations on the car purchase.

The only thing I might have done differently is put as much as the car dealer would allow on a credit card for the cashback bonus, and then pay the cc balance off before the due date. But that's just me.

It sounds like you made a good decision that fits in with your overall financial picture and financial style.

[DaveInPgh]

I think NEW CAR threads should have their own forum. One I can avoid so I don't get the itch to look at new cars.

[tripods68]

The only thing I might have done differently is put as much as the car dealer would allow on a credit card for the cashback bonus, and then pay the cc balance off before the due date. But that's just me.

It sounds like you made a good decision that fits in with your overall financial picture and financial style.

The cashback is part of the discount we received. Originally the car was little over $19500. After all dealer discounts/cashback/rebates our net cost was $16495.

As far purchasing using CC. They only allow $5K max for each CC because of the merchant fees which we don't use anyway.

[disneysteve]

Technology has changed and improved over the years. IMO you get more BANG for your $$ today Bluetooth, Back Up camera, etc on a $16K brand SPANKING new 2016 SENTRA!

We bought nothing extravagant, but reliable, proven brand--that gives me 32+ combined MPG on daily commute + 100,000 manufacturer warranty are all pluses

I totally agree. That's why I disagree with the "no new car unless you're a millionaire" thing. New cars start around 13K. That's hardly extravagant. If you're debt-free and paying cash (or even taking a reasonable loan for those who aren't DR followers), it's tough to say you're doing anything wrong by buying new. Sure you could save some money buying used but the differential is much smaller when the price is that low.

[FLA]

congrats and enjoy