by Elsewhere 134 Replies latest jw friends
I loooove the mini coopers! I would get blue with a white stripe.
I have always loved the minis and would love to get one except for one thing, SUVs. With the price of gas going up maybe some of those monsters will disapear and it will be safe to drive smaller cars again.
When it comes to mileage per gallon, don't get fooled by the size of the car. Often we think that a smaller car with a smaller motor is more gas efficient. Not true.
A Corolla or Civic is much bigger than an Aveo, and the Civic and Corolla make a much better mileage per gallon, and more powerful too...
Regarding the depreciation of the Mini Cooper... I looked at their used prices and it looks like they hold their value very well.
I have always loved the minis and would love to get one except for one thing, SUVs. With the price of gas going up maybe some of those monsters will disapear and it will be safe to drive smaller cars again.
Look around on the internet and you would be amazed at how well the Mini stands up to an colision. I saw one set of pics where they slammed a Ford F150 and a Mini Cooper into a wall at 40 MPH. The mini's front end was crushed but the passenger compartment looked very good... the F150 on the other hand was completely crushed and the crash dummy was crushed between the seat and the steering wheel.
The reason the F150 did so bad is because trucks and SUV's have stafty standards that are far less than passenger cars.
I've only done 60 month loans, but I've only owned two cars. My second loan will be paid off in June on my Eclipse. I haven't had any issues and no regrets. I get great gas mileage (4 cylinder) and Don Herring Mitsubishi was VERY good to me. They have a great service department too. Both Mozz and I have Mitsubishis. Good cars.
My calculator tells me never to buy a vehicle unless I can pay cash. If I don't have cash, I can't afford it. I haven't borrowed cash to buy a vehicle for over 30 years.
Years ago I made it my goal to be debt free and only pay cash. That was an extremely good goal.
Else, I've twice done the 60 month thingy. Had to or I couldn't afford a vehicle. Both were new, and both had lower interest rates than I could have gotten with private financing.
You may have to test drive a friend's Prius. They are hard to come by, and are in even higher demand now. Honda has a couple of lines of hybrids.
Check out the diesel VW beetle. A friend just bought one and personally gets 48-52 mpg, city! And you can look at using biodiesel, or vin diesel.....
Your experience with toyota was similar to the one I had when i ended up buyng my Nissan pickup in '91. And their attitude was why I went to Nissan. I loved my PU. I had it 13 years before I sold it.
did the 60 month thing on a car I've just finished paying for back in april....
Will NEVER do it again under any circumstances
tetrapod...I've never owned a car and I regularly get around on bike and train. But now I might have to work quite far away next year, so for the first time in my life I might have to look into getting a car. Plus I would have to learn to drive it first!
My calculator tells me never to buy a vehicle unless I can pay cash. If I don't have cash, I can't afford it. I haven't borrowed cash to buy a vehicle for over 30 years.
Years ago I made it my goal to be debt free and only pay cash. That was an extremely good goal.
I normally would agree 100% with you. I have been 100% debt free for a long time and my last car was paid for using cash just as you described. I love keeping my saved money in interest bearing accounts... for instance with some of my savings I am earning a sweet 3.5% in a money market account on PayPal.
I have to admit that I have succumbed to "I wanna slick car" fever and the only way I can get over it is my buying a chick-magnet like the Mini Cooper.
Anyway, I'm finally at a point in my life where I can actually afford such a car without putting myself in a difficult financial position. I've always purchased the inexpensive used conservative four-door car... right now I want a hot fun red sports car.
I'm in sales and don't consider this approach very ethical. It is one thing ask questions of a saleperson and then decide not to buy from them but to go in with the intention of deceiving them by pretending you are interested when you have no intention of buying from them isn't fair.
No more unethical than them pretending they are interested in getting you the best deal when, if fact, they are interested in getting the best commission. Car salesmen have only themselves to blame. At the last dealer I went to (to research my next car), the salesman assigned to us was quite knowledgeable and helpful. So I told him I was shopping hard and intended to get the very best deal and had done all the necessary research. I told him I would give him one chance to get me the deal I wanted, but that I would not sit in his showroom for an hour while a parade of "closers" came in, each with a different offer. I told him exactly what I would pay, asked him to write it down and take it to his sales manager. I said there can only be two responses: yes or no. Anything else and we would walk.
I'll give you one guess as to what happened next.
