Used, CPO, or new? Lease, loan, or cash?

After almost four months of unemployment and over six months of searching, I finally was offered and accepted a job. Woohoo!

For better or worse, that job is in Northridge, CA, part of the LA sprawlopolis.

As I currently live in NYC, I don't own a reasonable vehicle. I own a Miata, but it's kind of a frankenstein. And it'll take some work for it to pass the CARB exam. I plan for it to follow me to California in six to twelve months.

Here's where you come in: I accepted the job offer last Thursday. My start date is in less than a month. I will need a "real" car, but having relied on public transit almost exclusively for the last five years (thanks Wally!), I'm pretty ignorant about buying, owning, or driving "real" cars.

As a penny-pinching New Englander and GRM-wannaber, I'd love to get something older and under-valued. But honestly, there's going to be so much E36 M3 flying during the first year, I don't want to be dealing with car trouble: no bumming rides to/from the mechanic, and definitely not wrenching on it in the apartment parking lot on the weekends.

Present your arguments, if you will: used, CPO, new, lease, loan, cash?

Depends. What is your budget?

I would say: Used; Private party; 30k-80k miles; 3-8 years old; Cash. Ideally, I want something past the break-in period on the car (30-40k miles) but with 12+ months and 20k+ miles left on the factory warranty. I want to meet the previous owner to get a sense of how they drove and cared for it.

Price range or monthly amount you're thinking of? Any idea of commute distance? What's tolerable/intolerable for a vehicle - 2-3 year old versa or ?? Any image issues with new employer?

If you're moving to southern California, I would definitely buy something there. Look for something dull, common, and reliable.

Buy in California. As a California resident wont your car have to pass a strict California emissions? New England will not offer you the rust free choices you will get in California.
Rent a car when you arrive. Work a deal on a 30 day rental. Sure, you might have a little more cash into the rental than a typical car payment but that extra will buy you time and peace of mind while you shop and get settled.

Duke - I definitely plan to buy there and will definitely consult the dreaded Consumer Reports for the dull/common/reliable check. Honestly, I'm not sure how dull I can go though.

oldtin - I don't foresee any image issues with the employer, I'll just be a peon. I'm thinking in terms of commute time rather than distance, call it 30-45 minutes (thankfully I can commute against traffic).

BeerBaron - You're describing my "ideal" situation. But I'm afraid that would be an exercise in frustration and a huge time sink.

John - long-term rental is the plan, but 30 days feels like an awful long rental. Especially if I have to order a car and wait even longer! (Probably best if I don't order, eh?)

What I really want is something practical, with enough amusement factor that I will enjoy driving it. I'm thinking I'd like to test drive the GTI, Fiesta/Focus ST, Civic Si. Other, less-intense (or in the VW case, diesel) variants would be tried.

I'm tempted to go manual, because I seriously hate automatics and I don't find much but the very worst stop-and-go to be taxing. VWs DSG sounds like both a nightmare and a savior for this.

Budget is a funny thing. I'm not terribly good at budgeting. I could buy these cars for cash now, but at current interest rates, I'd probably be better off doing something else with the money. I could probably pay $500 a month, but less would be better.

I think LA might be the definition for your "very worst stop-and-go" traffic. Depends a little on your exact commute but I'd seriously consider an automatic in LA.

I am one of those guys that would buy a brand new 2013, $16,000, 0.9%, 60 month loan Honda Fit rather than a 2007 $16,000 BMW 328i with 76,000 miles. I tend to make safe and easy decisions.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/3820299341.html

The job is too important to be messing around. Then again - life is too short?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/3831260976.html

I would recommend looking into "lease swapping"

As for the rental...I just ran Hertz real quick and July 1 till July 29th will cost you $544 for a Compact (this is with no attempt at getting a discount.) If you purchased a $20k car with zero down you could easily have a monthly payment of $450 a month. For $100 more, you are just buying time, freedom and choice.

Personally, I would scourer CL and find something cheap and cool that is no longer available in New England.
These examples were all on just the first page when I sorted LA's CL to less than $5k
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/3835119240.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/cto/3835118169.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/3825609198.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/3826904651.html

I haven't driven an automatic in years. My wife and I visited the LA area job hunting about 7 years ago and were absolutely appalled by the traffic. Just incredible that people will endure decades of that without a reasonable public transit option.

I would highly encourage you to buy an automatic.

I am leasing a Chevy Volt. In Louisiana. California is the holy land of plug-in vehicles, and leasing seems to be the preferred way to get one. When new tech comes out, you can walk away. A base Volt is around $40k. I regularly see lease deals for $199-$249/mo, with $1-2k down. In CA, you want the low-emissions package for HOV access.

Full EV makes you eligible for HOV stickers. The LEAF, i-MiEV are cheaper. The Fiat 500e, RAV4 EV, Fit EV, and Spark EV are compelling cars unavailable elsewhere. The Spark has 400lb ft of torque from 0 RPM, does 0-60 in 7.6, and undercuts most of the electrics on the market in price. The sticker price lease on that is $199/mo, $999 down, 12k/yr, 36mo.

Note that you don't idle (when not moving, you burn only accessory power), you don't shift (one speed gear reduction transmission), you don't clutch (the motor sits at zero and turns backwards, so it's not needed) and braking regenerates your charge and wears your pads very little.

My Volt is at 10k mi, and the oil quality meter is at 77% life remaining. In a full electric maintenance is almost nil.

peter wrote: I'm thinking in terms of commute time rather than distance, call it 30-45 minutes (thankfully I can commute against traffic).

Hi Peter,

Welcome to sunny SoCal!!!

30-45 minutes against traffic...sounds like Moorpark...I'm in Westlake Village.

Being in Northridge, you are are in the middle of the San Fernando Valley:

Working AC IS A MUST

Finding a place is the valley is your best bet traffic wise. The 118 is a pretty good freeway commute wise. The 405 north will not be bad.

The valley is actually set up pretty good for street commuting, you can make pretty good time normally. The biggest problem you will have with surface streets are the ones near the freeways when the freeways are blocked up.

AVOID areas east of the 405 lodging wise... I mean it! Maybe try and find a room to rent near the 118? Renting is rather expensive / scarce around there these days, so be prepared.

One interesting suggestion (if you want to go cheap): There are a couple of Pick-Ur-Part places close to Northridge in Sun Valley (about 15 min away). Take a tour, find the most popular car there, go buy one of those.

aircooled wrote: AVOID areas east of the 405 lodging wise... I mean it! Maybe try and find a room to rent near the 118? Renting is rather expensive / scarce around there these days, so be prepared.

Ah, see, I was thinking of starting to look in Burbank, maybe Studio City. I thought one of the guys on my new team lived in Pasadena and considered the commute "not bad". I'll have to check on that.

Since the local contingent has checked in (hi everybody!), if I wanted an easy commute, friendly neighbors, and near a park or other outdoor space where I can go for a nice long stoplight-free run, where would I live?

The Malibu Canyon apartment complex is one place that hits all of these, but has some off-putting reviews.

RX Reven - is Westlake Village affordable for mere mortals?

couple-year-used or CPO Miata NC PRHT? :)

codrus wrote: couple-year-used or CPO Miata NC PRHT? :)

Ha! No, I've thought about going for a classic-car-as-daily and convertible-as-daily, but really, I think I need to be a bit more... adult. My franken-miata will follow, eventually, and there's plenty of fun to be had tinkering with and driving that car

Since I have a Miata, if I shop used I won't need a "which car" thread, I believe my choices are P71 or E36 M3? Or is there a Jeep in there now?

peter wrote: RX Reven - is Westlake Village affordable for mere mortals?

Not really. No real reason to go all the way out there, that's a bit of a commute. If you want cooler weather and don't mind a bit of a commute I would look more towards Moorpark, but you will get a bit of traffic if you don't leave real early.

Burbank area is not bad (I am suspicious that rent might be a bit high though), I was warning about closer to the 405 (Panorama City does not have a Panorama, except maybe gang bangers, and it's not a city).

I don't know what the west bound commute is like out of Burbank these days, but that route is pretty heavily travelled and is very busy going the other way. But, as I mentioned, the surface streets are a very viable option. (I used to commute from Van Nuys to Burbank via surface streets). One nice thing about Burbank (and even the Northridge area) is that it pretty centrally located for getting anywhere in the LA area (not so much Orange county) and very easy to head up north.

Traffic wise, probably the best thing you can do is keep a watch on www.sigalert.com during commute times, and look for the red spots.

For what it's worth, 2012 Mazda2s are still sitting on lots and selling for staggeringly cheap. (I've seen people talk about paying like $11k for the optioned-out "Touring" model.)

Mine's been great. 20,000 reliable miles, fuel economy as good as you'll get in a car that's not dead boring to drive, decent enthusiast community, and it's fun at an AutoX or a twisty road, the latter of which there are no shortage around where you'll be living. It can share wheels and tires with your Miata too. It's about as cheaply as you can get into a car with a real warranty without settling for a POS, too. The only "gotcha" is that stick is a must, the auto is horrible in the 2.

If you want easy acces to fun roads, either at the north end or Northridge itself or out west is probably the best bet. The hills around Tarzana/Malibu have spectacular roads, with the only caveat being that you have to keep it relatively tame because there's a relatively heavy, strict law enforcement presence. The nice thing about a car like the 2 is you can have fun in the canyons at speeds that won't get you arrested. Farther north there are a bunch of twisty roads that connect to the Antelope Valley, I know a bunch of guys who run out there but I haven't been. Angeles Crest highway is famous and the upper parts are both twisty and have an unusually high 55 MPH limit, which is enough to have quite a bit of fun on. Out east toward San Bernardino is the infamous/legendary "GMR", which is actually a complex of three semi-distinct mountain roads, which are excellent for driving and there's a whole "scene" that means you'll generally have company if you go up there at night. That can be a downside as it tends to attract seedy ricer types and various manchild nutjobs, though.

Mmadness wrote: I would recommend looking into "lease swapping"

This might be an interesting alternative. Check out swapalease.com. You could end up finding a lease with ~12 months left and cycle through some cool things.

Max_Archer wrote: For what it's worth, 2012 Mazda2s are still sitting on lots and selling for staggeringly cheap. (I've seen people talk about paying like $11k for the optioned-out "Touring" model.)

The 2013 Touring model with shipping stickers @ $17,005 with NO options. For $11,000 this is a great deal.

peter wrote: RX Reven - is Westlake Village affordable for mere mortals?

Hi Peter,

Personally, I’d be willing to add 10-15 minutes to my commute to avoid living in the valley. It’s not just the heat, it’s the seemingly infinite expanse of sameness that would drive me crazy. Think totally flat plain with asphalt below and haze above for as far as the eye can see.

Having said that, if being close to Northridge was a high priority, I’d look around the Chatsworth area as it’s the last stop on the West side of the valley before you hit the beautiful hills heading towards the ocean. Great rock climbing, an excellent canyon to run through and, for what it’s worth, Chatsworth just happens to be the p@rn capital of the planet. Although I think that’s about to change as OSHA in California is demanding that the “actors” wear protection so say goodbye to another industry in California.

Anyway, if I were you, I’d give Simi Valley serious consideration…it has a much stronger costal influence than the San Fernando Valley so it’s warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, and the air quality is always waaaay better. BTW, Simi means breeze in some Indian dialect but they should rename it cop valley as it’s a Mecca for retired police officers so as you can imagine, the crime rate is very low there. The definition of stupid is trying to pull some E36 M3 in Simi as you can go all day without being more than 100 feet away from a cop. Lastly, Simi is a working class area so it’s not the Ritz but the prices are relatively low.

In terms of Westlake Village, as Aircooled said, there’s no point…it’s expensive and further away than necessary but I’d be honored to have you over for a beer some time.

Please feel free to PM me with any questions you may have.