Toss good money after bad?

[tripods68]

I'm sorry, FORD FOCUS is a PIECE OF CRAP. That's how I feel about it since I owed one before. Now I drive only japanese cars (owed Honda and Altima). I agree with your husband don't fix it. Put it on Craigslist or sell the parts junkyard.

ANy japanese car is an upgrade from Ford Focus. You should look at the new Camry, Accord, or Altima around $14K to 16K used.

Personally, I like the newer car like the new Altima, Camry LE, Accord, Mazda6 which are great for family car sedan starting low $18 to 21K range.

[MonkeyMama]

Congrats on the girl!

Another car to look at is the Pontiac Vibe. The inside is all "Toyota."

I didn't realize before that it was the "same" as the Matrix. I thought the Matrix was much smaller. I just had to add that the Matrix/Vibe is a decent sized car. Maybe good for some middle ground. I think it would be good to make you both happy. My in-laws always buy the Toyotas' "American twins" and they have a Vibe.

You won't know until you car shop anyway. My dh's Ford is teeny tiny on the outside, but far more storage space and room than you would ever imagine. The small cars are hard to pin down until you ride in them and fill them with crap.

I still think what you want/need will change when the baby arrives. I still wouldn't rush it just for that reason.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Mazda5, might be out of our price range unless used! If my DH would consider used we could be doing better.

Please tell me I'm not crazy for trying to stick to a cash budget. I know one other reason we're not buying a car, beside deciding, is we have a pretty rigid cash budget. $15k. If we can't buy it for less than we're not buying it.

If we wait longer, we have more time to save obviously. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm not sure I am really comfortable with car loans right now.

[tripods68]

You live in the cold weather with ice and snow, i would seriously think about driving an AWD like a Subaru Legacy family sedan.

Just my 2 cents.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nope, my DH won't do it. Refuses AWD, thinks it's stupid. You don't need it. He grew up in the great white north without it, doesn't like the gas mileage and repairs. I suggested subie legacy, no go.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I should do a quick update, that my DH is changing his mind at a rapid pace.

I may have a car I want sooner rather than later.

He didn't want anyone to help us with the baby, that changed this week after we went to childbirth class. He wanted to formula feed the baby so he could help instead of breastfeeding, that changed as well after birth class and will change probably more after we go to lactation class.

We also got our infant seat and boy is it tight in both our cars! Yikes. Plus the dogs need to be trained to not jump around.

So the car issue is now going my way. He is now agreeing it's stupid to buy another car that is the same size as our cars, when the stupid infant seat is pushing both front seats up when it's rear facing in the middle.

We have a maxi cosi infant seat and will also be using a Graco infant seat. Then changing to a Britax convertible.

Sigh, I love getting all this stuff and my DH changing his mind without me arguing.

[FrugalFish]

Glad to hear an update and that DH is becoming more reasonable. I loved watching the baby become real to my DH, it was very sweet.

Sounds like you have a good guy there.

[disneysteve]

Thanks for the update. I had a feeling that once he was confronted with reality, he would change his mind. Some people need the hands on, visual demonstration rather than just the verbal explanation.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Frugalfish and DS, exactly. It wasn't until he installed our car seat and folded the stroller that suddenly OMG, HOLY COW the SIZE! The size everyone else bitches about became real.

We test drove it and I had to push the seats foward. I'm not too tall so it was fine, but my DH is leggy, while not exceptionally tall.

Plus we know that an accord even is a tight fit. Our neighbors (knock on wood) due today installed their Britax Roundabout. It didn't fit in their Civic Hybrid, and is tight in the accord when rear facing. He helped them install it so it was just becoming more spatially real.

So I figure next fall we'll get a car when we determine when to have our second kid, the dogs, and baby situation and car seats.

Plus by not rushing out and buying a car that didn't fit, we just saved a year of college savings for our little one. Now we can buy one car instead of buying and selling and dealing with transactional costs of cars.