Decisions decisions! new car or used? minivan or suv? finance or pay cash?

[gk90]

Decisions decisions! Our old car (1995 Volvo wagon with 180000+ miles) is on its last legs so it's time to buy. DH and I both need cars to get to work, public transport in our area is miserable. At least we don't have long commutes, 4 miles 1 way for me and 14 miles 1 way for him.

So I'm going crazy doing the research and trying to decide, new car or used? Our last 3 cars have been used since DH and his family are firm believers in the line that "the most expensive ride you'll ever take is the one out of the dealership with your new car" and both of us are frugal or even downright cheap, but with the 0% financing deals available now it's tempting to do new. OTOH there are so many used cars just 2-3 yrs old with low mileage...

Deciding to finance or pay cash is another big decision--we do have $$ saved for a used car that we could take out of mutual funds if we want to and if we find something used that we really like but should we just leave it there if we can find a 0% financing deal for a good new car? Or should we just spend as little as possible and have the extra $ available for vacations (Disney and others) or home renovations?

Finally what kind of car? We're a family of 4 but on a number of occasions have wished that we had space for 6 or 7, for transporting kids' friends, family from out of town etc. Our other car that we'll keep (a 2000 model with 90000 miles) seats 5 and we've been looking at cars that will seat more than that, so we test drove a Mazda 5 which seats 6 and a Kia Rondo that seats 7, both of them compact vans/wagons, but didn't really like them that much. These 2 cars run around $12000-15000 new and $10000-12000 used.

The dealer told us that we'd probably be better off with a SUV with a 3rd row seat? Trouble is I really dislike big SUVs. I looked online at compact SUVs like the Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander and the older model Hyundai Santa Fe (the ones after 2009 don't have 3rd row seats any more). It looks like these are hard to find and with all of them, especially the RAV4, the 3rd row is cramped and tiny. On the other hand we'd only be using it in a pinch? These are around $20000-22000 new and $15000+ used.

And of course there's the minivan to consider and there are loads of good minivans around but I don't like driving minivans either (have driven my mom and sister's vans and have had trouble getting used to them) and don't know whether it makes financial sense anyway to spend more--$25000-30000 new or $18000 used--on seating for 7-8 that we'll use only occasionally?

I know this is an emotional decision too and I know people will say "go with your gut." At this point I know I'm not going to buy another of what used to be my favorite car, the Volvo, the newer ones just aren't as good...it looks like my decision making is going to be based on avoiding what I don't like?

I'm tearing my hair out and trying to figure out what we should do...I was hoping that typing this out would clarify things for me but no such luck. I hate making decisions! Thanks for bearing with me and reading through this, and any ideas would be welcome!

 

[curious3069]

I voted used, compact SUV. Since you are not going to use the extra seating all the time, cramped shouldn't make that much difference, I'd save the extra $$.

No matter what you get, I'd always vote for a used model. Never have been able to justify the cost of a brand new car vs a late model, low mileage used.

Good luck!

 

[Kellydelly]

I have been arguing with my husband for the last 3 months about what kind of car we were going to buy to increase our seating capacity for our family. We have four kids so with only one vehicle that seats 6 (a 2001 Caravan), we were planning on replacing another car we have (97 Avenger) that only seats 5. Dh also has a 91 Jeep Wrangler that only seats 4. I wanted to get something new, but was willing to get a used vehicle if I liked the price and mileage were right. He kept showing me SUVs that were over $20,000 in price and 60,000 miles. I wasn't feeling it. After threatening to just go out and buy something without my input, he finally came across something I liked too. We ended up getting a 2008 Chrysler Aspen with 29,000 miles that was $23,000 (think high-end Durango). I was done fighting and the truck looks pretty and is loaded (and seats 8!). My next car will be new, though. I need that new car smell and I've been working my butt off at a new career (RN) and I deserve a new car . I don't care if it's a new minivan when our current one dies, it must be NEW (although I am sooooooooooooo eyeballing the new Camaros!).

 

[howlongtildisney]

If you can get 0% financing, why not do it? The only reason I don't like to finance cars is paying interest. If you don't have to do that, I don't see any problem with it.

 

[ssawka]

I voted for new. I understand the argument about saving $ by buying used, however I prefer to have the full warranty and unless you really know cars, you're really not sure what you're getting with used.

I recently bought a new Kia simply because of the 10 year powertrain warranty. To me a car is first and foremost transportation and I want to make sure it keeps on the road and that if it breaks, it will be fixed at no cost to me. I probably could have gotten a "nicer" car, but to me the warranty is like insurance and I'm willing to compromise some to get it.

 

[DawnM]

Not sure I am much help, but I would look at gas mileage. An SUV sucks down gas. We have one and it gets 17mpg, which is better than many, but still.....

A minivan is better on mileage usually.

Dawn

 

[luvmy3]

I answered none of the above. I drive a minivan now (and plan on driving it untill it no longer works ) but when the time comes to get another I will not be getting another minivan. I love the extra seating buut my kids are getting older and I don't want to be driving a minivan when they start driving their own cars I plan on getting a midsize SUV, most likely a Honda Pilot and probably used because I don't plan on spending over 30K for a vehicle.

 

[Bren's Mom]

When I was buying my Mazda MPV, they were just coming out with the Mazda 5. I wanted that car so badly! But it was a first model year, and we decided to go with the MPV. I love it, and don't regret the decision, but if I had to buy a new vehicle tomorrow I'd go with a Mazda 5. Good on gas, but can seat six when necessary and otherwise the third row can fold down.

And if my dh were to buy a car he'd choose a Dodge Caliber. It's sporty, good gas mileage, and my dh is tall and he fits very nicely in it.

 

[wmharley]

I voted the used minivan.

This is why....

1) Used makes more sense financially. You can still get a quality used one under warranty, and still get an extended warranty via your bank or dealer.

2) space. Who cares if you will use it occasionally. You have 4 people and a dog in yoru family.

We had a 2000 Protege and a 1999 Altima when my DD was born. in 2005, with just her, we got a minivan. We had no pets other than a cat. Best decision we made for a vehicle. We now have a DS.

Why was it the best purchase when we could have gotten something smaller to fit us? We carry strollers. We have 2 strollers in the back, a Sit and Stand and a regular. Gives my wife flexibility when she goes out (stay at home mom). When we travel, we have SO MUCH MORE space, and can use that 3rd row to put stuff on or flip the seats down to haul larger items.

If my kids are fussy, she can literally walk back to the 2nd row, to attend the kids, or sit in the 3rd row and feed our DS.

In the parking lots, or even our garage, if there is a tight fit between our van and another car, your SUV or car can only open the doors a bit in that case. The minivan? doors slide open and you get full access (ours had the largest door opening of all the minivans in 2005).

When it rains and she has bags or the kids, etc... hit the switch, doors open and they all pile in. Especially useful when combined with rain and a tight parking with adjacent car. Could you fit in when the car next to you is close in a parking and its rainign and you have bags? You will fumble longer than we will.

Another example I use was at DTD last year. I took both kids while blowing off time to wait to pickup a family member at the airport.

While in the stores, it was a downpour. I brought enough umbrellas for both kids, but not me. Time was wasting as we were stuck for 20 minutes and I needed to go since rain and the Beeline might have traffic.

So with kids holding umbrellas, I ran to the car. As I approached, I hit the rear gate button for it to swing up. We stood underneath as a shield. I got the little one out and plopped him over the 3rd row in the back. Then I did the same for the DD. I then unloaded their bag and plopped it back there. I put the stroller in teh back and climbed through the 3rd row myself. I calmly dried them off, and put them in their seats with a snack, then I walked up toe the drivers seat and drove off.

Could I have done that with an SUV or car as easily? no.

Its also great to actually go with family. We don't have to take 2 cars when our family or friends come with us somewhere. We have extra space for 3 more people, so they can fit int he 3rd row. We don't use it all the time, but the overall package will keep us in a minivan until the kids are out of school or they have their own cars.

 

[angelmav]

I would go with new if you can get that 0% as you will have a warranty, you will know the maintenance record for the life of the car and you will have it that 2-3 years longer than you would a used car. I wouldnt go broke trying to buy new, but in your situation I would prefer the peace of mind that a new car affords.

Also wouldnt go with a big suv. The cost of gas/insurance for the occasional times the extra seating would come into play isnt a big enough reason to justify it for me.

 

[bettymae1121]

I think if you're the type that keeps a car until it dies then buying new makes more sense than it would for someone that gets a new vehicle every couple of years. If you're going to keep it for 10+ years does it really matter if it depreciates 30% in the first two years? You're not planing on sellng it anyway! Of course the purchase price is higher but you do get the value of picking the exact features you want and you don't have to worry about the possible abuse the previous owner put it through, or that a big $$$ expensive repair is lurking around the corner.

If you can afford it, I'd go with the new vehicle and finance it at 0%. In this day and age it's better to have cash in the bank whenever possible. You can always pay it off early, but if you need your savings for something else down the road, the money will be there.

I would also keep an eye of fuel economy. Gas has stablized the past year or two but as we've seen in the past, it can spike quickly and there is no way to know if the next time it goes up, if it will come back down again.

Just my 2 cents, there is no real "wrong" answer here.

 

[gk90]

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm still undecided of course. But it's clarifying some of the decision-making to see the reasons and pros and cons that people are bringing up for each of the vehicles.

wmharley, we rented an 8 seater Sienna last year because we drove to WDW with my sister's family--there were 8 of us so it was a bit tight but it was such a pain to find an 8 seater at the rental places that I was tempted to just buy one. My BIL (who works in a car dealership, just too far away to help us) is really pushing the minivan option.

bettymae1121, we're definitely not planning to get rid of the car in 3 years--in fact I was thinking that whatever we get could be driven by my now 12 yr old at some point...but that's another factor that would make the decision even more complicated so I shouldn't even go there! Thanks for reminding me that there's no wrong answer.

Kellydelly, nice truck!

 

[wmharley]

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm still undecided of course. But it's clarifying some of the decision-making to see the reasons and pros and cons that people are bringing up for each of the vehicles.

wmharley, we rented an 8 seater Sienna last year because we drove to WDW with my sister's family--there were 8 of us so it was a bit tight but it was such a pain to find an 8 seater at the rental places that I was tempted to just buy one. My BIL (who works in a car dealership, just too far away to help us) is really pushing the minivan option.

bettymae1121, we're definitely not planning to get rid of the car in 3 years--in fact I was thinking that whatever we get could be driven by my now 12 yr old at some point...but that's another factor that would make the decision even more complicated so I shouldn't even go there! Thanks for reminding me that there's no wrong answer.

Kellydelly, nice truck!

I rented a Sienna once. HATED it. We have a Quest. On the quest, we fit 7. From that, I can have the two, and do, middle seats with the car seats. While the car seats are in, I can flip the seats forward so someone can access the 3rd row. My kids love when I flip them forward.

The Sienna (a 2009 or 2010 model i forgot) couldn't do that. I had the kids on the outer middle row with a small space in the middle of them. Per the manual, you CANNOT tilt the seat to access the 3rd row. I had to fold one seat in the back, and have folks get in via the rear door. Which I found idiotic.

Needless to say, I love my quest and its only now broken 50K miles. I have a 70K warranty from the dealer and hope to get another extended after... its been great.

 

[SandrA9810]

If you drive a car for 10yrs on average, what's the cost difference between buying used and buying new per year you own it??

A lot of things that have been said recently about looking at the cost of an item based on how much you use it. Like is it really worth it to buy a 5$ shirt to wear occasionally or a 50$ jacket you'll use every day in the winter??

So for a 20,000$ car you use for 10 years, that's 2,000$ per year. If you buy that same car 2 yrs old and knock 4,000$ off the price, you're getting two less years of use out of it, but not really saving any money in the long run.

And when you buy new, you can know everything about that vehicle and keep the maintance going on it. My aunt has a 2000 honda accord, but it doesn't at all drive like it's 10yrs old. And if she keeps up what she's doing, she could easily drive it for another 10 yrs.

Plus with 0% financing, it gives you all the more reason to just buy new. Now SUV or minivan... I like both. But you should probably be looking into MPG. Even if you're only driving it less than 10 miles a day, do you really want to be filling the gas tank up all the time??

 

[ssawka]

I see from your signature that there are only 3 of you and a dog. May I suggest looking at a Mazda 5. We've had ours about 2 years and love it. It's nice little van that can seat 6 if needed. It also gets about 30 MPG. I'm not sure what they are selling them for now, but when we bought ours, it was about $23K for the top model. I think the middle model was about $21K.

 

[Nafinegar]

We just went through this last night! We found out that our 1996 Honda Odyssey was not worth repairing (cracker manifold, axle about to break, major break work etc). The van had 220,000 miles on it and we spent about 5,000 in repairs over the 10 years that we owned it. We paid a whopping 12,000 for it in 2000.

Last night be bought a 2007 Honda Odyssey with 60,000 miles on it. We trust Hondas like no other vehicle. We can always put 200,000 miles on one without a major problem. We expect to drive this vehicle for another 10-11 years without much of a problem.

Although there is free financing out there, we have calculated that we save more money by buying used and driving them into the ground. We take out a loan at a modest rate through a State Credit Union and pay off the loan quickly so that we can get back to driving without any car payments. We anticipate having this baby paid off for in 2 1/2 years and moving on to 8 plus years without a payment.

If we hadn't done so much work on our house lately, we would've had the cash to pay it off up front. However, this WILL be our last car loan ever. We intend to drive used vehicles for the rest of our lives and to save up the car loan money into an account to pay cash for the next vehicle.

I know everyone has their own comfort zones, but I just wanted to share our own experience. We saw a minivan for 18,000 with 30,000 miles on it. We opted for a higher mileage van because Mama wanted the higher model with a few more whistles on it However, there are some moderately priced vehicles with very little wear and tear out there!

Good luck on your decision!

 

[My3kiddos]

The car I have now I bought new (I had always bought used before), but only because I could get a much much lower interest rate and because I got a lifetime powertrain warranty and a lifetime extended warranty. I have a Chrysler Pacifica and love love it. It seats 6 although the 3rd row seat would not fit 2 adults unless they were very petite. When the 3rd row isn't in use it folds down and I have alot of cargo room. Have you looked into any crossovers?

My opinion is if you can get new w/0% financing go that route since you will know how the vehicle was taken care of from the get go and you'll have the protection of the warranty. My mom has a VW with only 80,000 miles on it and it's in the shop getting a new transmission. Her other vehicle is a suburban purchased new, has 130,000 miles on it, and runs like a champ because she has always done the maintenance when it was due.

 

[luvmy3]

The car I have now I bought new (I had always bought used before), but only because I could get a much much lower interest rate and because I got a lifetime powertrain warranty and a lifetime extended warranty. I have a Chrysler Pacifica and love love it. It seats 6 although the 3rd row seat would not fit 2 adults unless they were very petite. When the 3rd row isn't in use it folds down and I have alot of cargo room. Have you looked into any crossovers?

My opinion is if you can get new w/0% financing go that route since you will know how the vehicle was taken care of from the get go and you'll have the protection of the warranty. My mom has a VW with only 80,000 miles on it and it's in the shop getting a new transmission. Her other vehicle is a suburban purchased new, has 130,000 miles on it, and runs like a champ because she has always done the maintenance when it was due.

Just to put things in perspective my van was purchased new and had to have the transmission replaced at 56000 miles. It was out of warranty and cost a small fortune, so you can't always rely on the fact that you purchase a car new so you know how the vehicle was taken care of. Now you can get a lifetime powertrain warranty but not every manufacturer offers that. My next car will be used but I will definitely purchase an extended warranty just because of my past experience. Sometimes its just bad luck.

OP, have you looked at the Mazda CX-9? Its a crossover and seats 6 and the 2010 is pretty sharp looking.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

I have ONE child and I drive a minivan. Now we bought the minivan while I was pregnant with him and attempted to have a sibling for a long while but lost 4 in that process so he is an only child and always will be an only child. My van is not long for this driving world I have a feeling with 173,000 miles on it. I bought it new but got a heck of a deal on it so I didn't feel so guilty. My point here is don't knock the minivan until you have one. I love mine and honestly hope that it goes for a LONG time before it dies because I won't be buying another one because of price and my commute to work (37 miles one way). It's just not feasible if I'm buying another vehicle to not focus on gas mileage this time. I will miss my beloved Vanna though. She has been a good car.

 

[StephMK]

We have an 8 passenger Sienna & I love it. The extra seating is convenient since we have 3 kids. We had planned to buy used but when I shopped, the used were only $3k less and had 20-30k miles on them. Since I knew we planned a lot of road trips & will drive it into the ground, it made sense to pay a few $ more & get the full miles and 0% financing.