MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?
Depends where you are. I'd bet i could get a decent repo that needs a little love (that i would want to do anyways) for $50k around here.
MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?
Depends where you are. I'd bet i could get a decent repo that needs a little love (that i would want to do anyways) for $50k around here.
MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?
Atlanta's real estate market has been seriously hosed.
Last new car I bought was a '73 Cutlass S. Sweet car, but returned to the earth. Did buy a new '75 Dodge van, but that was business.
In reply to MadScientistMatt:
Today my house is worth 70% of what it appraised for in 2001. FML.
My wife has decided that she's only into German cars these days - I can't see myself ever buying one of those new. I wouldn't buy a new car for myself unless I negotiate a substantial increase in income (ha!) or if my commute gets bad enough to persuade me to lease an alternative-fuel vehicle to get access to the carpool lane.
In reply to MadScientistMatt:
And it's job market is hosed, too. Most places where $50k is house money have annual incomes of $20k or so. I keep thinking I should move to where houses are cheap, but then I'd have to put up with jobs that didn't pay, as well, and I'd be in worse shape than I am now.
I like having at least one of my cars being bought new so that I know how it was treated and I have that warranty so that, at least for that car, I don't have to work on it to get to work. And to be honest, that's why I work for more than minimum wage. So that I can afford to do that AND still save for later.
I just cannot see the point of buying new cars and getting clobbered with the depreciation. Plus, they are marketed as lifestyle accessories. So I will let someone else buy the shiny new lifestyle accessory, lose their ass on depreciation, then when they need the next new lifestyle accessory I buy their old car and do not have a car payment. 
Now, if I suddenly became stupid rich I would certainly grow a few days worth of beard, dress in old jeans, a worn Tshirt and old tennis shoes then stuff rolls of $100 bills in my pockets and make a beeline for a Lotus dealer. Just imagine their faces. 
Curmudgeon wrote: I just cannot see the point of buying new cars and getting clobbered with the depreciation. Plus, they are marketed as lifestyle accessories. So I will let someone else buy the shiny new lifestyle accessory, lose their ass on depreciation, then when they need the next new lifestyle accessory I buy their old car and do not have a car payment.
Forgot about Lotus.
If i'm stupid rich i'm going to Porsche and Lotus. Lotus for a supercharged Exige and an Evora.
In reply to MG Bryan:
Two off the top of my head going for 35 grand near here, another one further away selling for 65k. So yeah, 50 can still net you a house.
I've bought new and I've bought used, and I'll do both again. There is not ONE right answer to what makes the most sense. It depends on the cars (3 years ago I wouldn't have bought ANYTHING new; now it's getting a little better), it depends on the plans for the car, it depends on the deals.
As I said elsewhere, we tend to keep cars a loooong time, so initial depreciation doesn't scare me. I'm also not allergic to monthly payments as long as the loan is reasonable and the interest is not too high. I always consider the financing charges as part of the total price of the car, so as long as the out-the-door price + the total loan costs < what I would be willing to pay cash for the car, I don't see the harm in spreading that hit out over a few years.
Bought my last new car in 2004 and my last used car in 2006, and financed both at a total added cost to each car of about $1000, which I factored into my closing price on the cars. Both have been paid off for several years and it will be several more years before we even consider car shopping for ourselves. Probably 4-6 more years.
OTOH, cars bought for the daughters are well-used and bought with cash - actual folding green stuff.
While money is a stumbling block for me (I have the cash, just don't care to drop a wad on a new car) what really makes it difficult for me to buy a new car is the buying experience itself. Getting root canal dentistry done WITHOUT any anasthestia(sp?) is a more attractive way to spend a few hours.
Brands most likely to get my money if I HAD TO BUY A NEW CAR?
Honda...as has been said so many times, they are the "go to brand" if you want a manual transmissioned car.
Acura, if I wanted to borrow to add to my big cash down payment. I'd buy one of the last manual transmissioned TRXs now that Acura is discontinuing the model.
Infiniti...maybe. I've owned a G20 and driven a few Nissans, and they are good cars.
Subaru, if I could get one with a manual transmission. Downside? 2 of my sisters already own Outbacks.
Ford, I would look for a manual Fusion or Focus.
Gearheadotaku wrote: Rear drive, two doors, stick shift, and an OFF button for the stability management. Under 25K.
Hey, that's my truck!
What would it take for me to buy a new car? $10,000 off, on a $25,000 truck. I bought a new one last August because I didn't think I'd see a deal like that again before my current truck was in need of replacement, and the $190/month payment is painless.
I've since seen 5 year old versions of my truck advertised for what I paid new.
a significantly diminished satisfaction with my current vehicle (04 wrx).
Easy. When the cost of used car ownership is higher than the cost of new car ownership!
1988RedT2 wrote: Wow. I am truly amazed at how many of you freaks have never bought a new car!
My last new car was a Honda CRX Si. If Honda made another one I would buy it. I am almost at the point of working so many hours I don't have time to mess with cars. I looked at the Mazda 2, the Fiesta and the Fiat 500 but I am seriously thinking more along the lines of paying somebody else to go through my Miata and fix EVERYTHING. I could pay somebody else, throw in hardtop and a new paint job and still come in under the price of a new car.
The industry really needs a cheap, fun to drive hatch for about 15K. Another CRX Si. Is anybody out there listening?
Diesel Japanese cars and trucks...
MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?
$10K is house money if you know where to look.
Snowdoggie wrote:MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?$10K is house money if you know where to look. http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/02/10922983-bust-leaves-market-littered-with-homes-under-10000
8K mansion if you want to clean up the grey matter.
I also would consider it if some of the small diesels came over from Europe espicially if Peugeot, Citroen or Renault returned to the States.
I ha e an 86 and I feel relieved when I get somewhere. Love it but what I should have got was a sub $20k sedan and then spend my time only playing with the Miata.....well this is the story I going to use when the new Forte or diesel Cruze comes out.
Goes without saying I'd have to have enough liquidity to pay cash and enough invested that I wouldn't feel like I was spending my retirement. That, to my financial mind, would be a good bit of dough. But it may happen later in life. We'll see.
MadScientistMatt wrote:1988RedT2 wrote: Wow. I am truly amazed at how many of you freaks have never bought a new car!For that matter, I've been known to shop for used clothes. Kind of crazy what some people will donate to Goodwill.
same here.
I'd consider a new minivan, and have...only because it's one of the only vehicles I know I'll "need" with the family for at least 15 years. Everytime I get the itch to buy new and "painlessly maintenance free" (for a year or two), I look at the drive-a-way price of a bottom end car, and find that you can get a really NICE newish car for similar money.
1988RedT2 wrote: Wow. I am truly amazed at how many of you freaks have never bought a new car!
Hell, the most expensive car I've ever bought was $1200. And that was the car I bought when I was 17.
Mind you, this is quite a bit less than my mountain bike I bought when I was around 20... Priorities, man.
(and don't get me started on how newer bikes suck. Disk brakes suck, V-brakes suck harder. I can tweak cantis to work a hell of a lot better than V-brakes ever could, and you don't have to worry about hosing a disk after sliding off of a rock)
I bought new dirt bikes a few times when racing, mostly because it's super difficult/expensive to add newer technology to older bikes and the results are never as good. Spending $5k on a new dirt bike with a 50% immediate depreciation hit is better than dropping $25k on a new car and taking a 30% depreciation hit. Or at least that's how I rationalized it.
MG Bryan wrote: $50K is house money?
I wish our house cost $50k. But then again we built new, in a rural area and not in a crack infested, run down part of town.
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