I need a car, and...

[wixmasterd]

... Instead of shelling out between $1-2 about every other year or so, in addition to repairs, which in some cases came to many times the car's worth (Damn you, Cutlass Cierra!) a novel thought occured to me.  Why don't I just buy a new one, as opposed to getting one about 100k miles into the game?  The answer is because I'm poor, but there are

Comments

[ck_coburn]

So you're single again, huh? ...Yeah, that's all I got.

As for money, if you are looking for tiny things to do to earn/save money, you can do what I do and take surveys online. If you're interested I can send you links. I mostly used the money for gas now and again, and at one site I earn gift cards which I used for free (for me) Christmas presents. At the moment I am going to get one for Subway or Starbucks so I can still eat and/or drink without spending any money. (I get Subway a lot for lunch, or did when I was still spending money. I am in hyper Scrooge mode right now.)

Subway is a great way for poor people to get their vegetables.

[wixmasterd]

Was that the deal where if you did a certain amount of 'em they'd send you some cash? If so, then yes, I'd take a peek. And not a peak. Thanks!

[youjik33]

Brand-new cares are kind of ripoffs... you're better off getting a lightly used one for way cheaper.

[wixmasterd]

I don't know. I haven't seen many lightly used ones at a reasonable price, and those cars wouldn't have any kind of installment plan. I haven't had much luck with high mileage cars, either, no matter how decent or new they appear to be. I just feel like if I was there on the ground floor of a car's road career, I could take care of it and make sure it lasted a long whiles.

And is it bad that for a second, my brain was telling me that it should have been "your better off..." just because I'm used to reading it that way on the internet? My brain lies.

[youjik33]

That's why you get an auto loan at a low rate from your credit union!

[abunaisakana]

My dad recently bought a Toyota Yaris because his full size van is such a gas guzzler. It is a very cute little car and the hatchback especially is very reasonable. I have a feeling the shoe version of the Aveo is also a two door hatchback. My dad was interested in the hatchback until he found out it only came with two doors.

I was with him when he looked at the Aveo but both of us liked the Yaris better. Which was irritating for him, I think, as he has bought GM for the past 20 years or there abouts.

[wixmasterd]

The shoe version of the Aveo is a four door hatchback. That's the 5; I think the fifth door is the hatch. I thought it'd be more expensive, you know. Five doors seems like it would logically cost more than four. But no.

I did look at the Yaris. I'd consider it, but I'm leaning toward cheap and fuel economy. If I don't like what I see when I'm researching the Aveo, it may be my next step.

[manowar616]

Take a look at the Honda Fit. I think they're priced pretty close to Aveo, and it's certainly the same class of vehicle. The Fit got great ratings in Car & Driver's road test and even the long term test.

[abunaisakana]

Throwing in another two cents, my dad and I both disliked the Fit and it got moved to the bottom of the pile of small, lower price, fuel efficient cars we were looking at. The Kia Rio was actually in high running with the Toyota Yaris for a while.

[wixmasterd]

I will do that. Thanks!

My $0.02.

[richghettogyrl]

Dan and I both saw the Fit at the auto show, and we said if we could afford to buy two brand new cars, we'd choose to both get Fits. It seems to have the same amount of room in it as Dan's Jeep Cherokee currently has, the seats fold down compeltely, yet the gas mileage was in the upper 30's. Plus, we both really like Hondas. They seem to retain their resale value well, and they have a reputation for running hundreds of thousands of miles.

However, I don't think we will EVER buy brand new vehicles, for the simple reason that they lose so much of their value as soon as you purchase them. When Dan was working in auto sales, he saw so many people "upside down" in debt with their cars because they had bought it brand-new, and three years (or sometimes six months!) later decided they needed something else. After hearing the stories and his experiances about working for a dealership, we'd much rather take our chances with second hand vehicles off Craigslist or Ebay.

[unrealsnow]

i drive a kia optima now and when i was researching cars, kias aren't that bad. they're cheaper and they come with a 10-year warranty on the new ones. they get great gas mileage, too. you might want to think about those.

[wixmasterd]

I don't personally have any beef with Kias, but I have heard that they can be really hard to get serviced. My dad's friends with a mechanic who was repairing a Sephira he intended to later sell, and just to order a new fuel pump for it ran $500, not counting labor. My parents have a neighbor who drives one, though, and he really likes it. I just didn't feel good about that particular one.

Plus the emergency brake was broken. I'm not outstandingly knowledgable about stickshifts, but that seems like a bad thing.

[unrealsnow]

i just take my kia to our regular family mechanic and he can do the repairs. he did say that it might take time to get some parts but he's worked on our family cars for about 20 years and i trust him. i think you just need to find a mechanic that's honest and can tell you what's up. i took the car to him before i bought it and he gave it a once over.

the emergency brake shouldn't have to do with stick shifts. my car has one and it's automatic. anyway, my two (four?) cents.