New car for cheaper payment. Silly?

SheWhoMustBeObeyed picked up one of these in June. I’m pretty impressed with it.

 

Personally, I think that's a crock.

In 50 yrs of post college owning cars, all domestic except for one, only one had serious problems and I caused those problems. Current cars are a 2016 Chevy SS (no it's not a Malibu, it's a 4-door with a Corvette engine) and a 2009 Pontiac G8GT, the SSs prececessor. The G8GT has 104K on it and zero issues, runs beautifully. Other than routine maintenance, the only work on it has been new front struts at 96K, strictly a wear issue not a reliability one.

I'm a car guy and I think one of the reasons foreign cars do well is that regular maintenance is stressed more than with domestic brand which are treated like refrigerators, supposed to last a long time w/o care. Don

 

buy a Ford.

 

By all means if you want it get it. Honestly it sounds like you made up your mind and you want confirmation.

It's your money. Spend it how you want to. All I can say from the outside looking in is that it isn't going to save you money.

I hear people all the time saying g how they buy something new (car, house) so they could save money. What they did is look at monthly payments and interest rate rather than the total cost of acquisition. Eapecially lately with intererates being so low BUT used car and home prices have increased. New car prices go up every year and depreciate quickly.

If it makes you feel good and you're willing to pay then go for it and enjoy.

 

What are you getting at? Had 3 Mustang GTs all good cars, GM since 1998. Don

 

Cars aren't built like they used to be, 100k is nothing now.

 

Just do it

 

I had a 2015 4.0 Outback and upgraded to a 2017 flat 6 Outback in 2017. I would put the pedal down and there would be no power. I’m not an aggressive driver;however, I need power when I need power. I have read in multiple places that they have changed the CVT timing so that doesn’t happen anymore. My suggestion is that you test drive it aggressively to make sure you have power in the rare times when you need it.
I really liked the Forrester when we test drove it. The husband felt it rode too roughly. My next one will most likely be a Forrester

 

It has been little over a year - June 14, 2019 - my daughter needed a bigger vehicle -

I helped her do some research and go on test drives.

We tested the new Forrester - it was pretty nice - but the rear seat would no way hold 3 car seats - so we moved on -

She ended up with a Santa Fe - passed the 3 child car seat test - 10 year power train warranty (VS 5 year on the Forester) - 5 year basic warranty (vs 3 on the Forester) - also the Hyundai seemed a notch above in quality - ride and interior materials - but the Subaru handled better - maybe partly because it was smaller - Hyundai was also thousands of $ less - at the time the Subaru was a new model (so was the Santa Fe) - they still had some 2018 Foresters on the lot - so they really did not want to negotiate on the 2019 model.

I know you said AWD is a must - and we did not even look at that with the current Santa Fe - but my wife had a 2010 Santa Fe with AWD - far as I recall it did what it was designed to do - but we never took it off road.

Have you even looked at any other vehicles? I would at least check out a couple others -

I like to narrow it down - and then get serious about price negotiations -

Just a feeling, I could very well be FOS - it seems like you have sort of a deal figured out - you know the payment. Is it firm and a done deal with the finance guy at Subaru or was it just a salesman throwing you a number for the monthly payment?

I absolutely hate it when the deal shifts - oh we took a closer look at your trade and bla bla bla - the interest rate changed a little and we need an additional $2K down payment to hit that monthly payment.

 

While it's always fun trying to figure out the total system based on year, model, trim and transmission, the 2020 Forester is a 60/40 torque split. The Premium trim should be single x-mode. Base or dual x-mode on other trims. Rough breakdown is electronic clutches for controlling torque split plus tire braking.

I'm not finding enough information on the new Passport and Pilot to see how they stack up but it's probably electronic clutches with torque vectoring but unknown split though you might just select the mode for the split now.

 

I'll agree with Z71bill, I really liked my Santa Fe before the ex-wife totaled it. Bought it used, and after 8 years got half my money back. (but this was a 2001 model)

To the OP:
how much is your peace of mind worth? It sounds like you're not exactly unhappy with your current vehicle, but just starting to worry a little about whether it's going to hold up well past this point or not. These days 200k miles with little or no major repairs is pretty common, so why buy another vehicle of the same basic type as the one that's stressing you out at about half that?

You can afford it, you don't seem to mind making payments for longer, and you say you're financially stable for the foreseeable future, so it sounds like a decent point in time to purchase a new vehicle if you need one.

I'm of the camp to run a vehicle until the maintenance costs make it uneconomical to repair vs cost of replacement, but that's because I'm kind of cheap and do my own repairs. With modern vehicles it doesn't take long for an issue to end up costing more than the resale value of the vehicle, too many [email protected]#$ electronics and everything tied together.

So my personal opinion is if you don't have faith in it, replace it with something from a different company unless there is some reason why you need that specific brand/model, otherwise you'll likely end up in the exact same situation in another 5 years.

 

Can't blame you for not wanting to have a Subaru out of warranty. But you are either paying payments or the possibility of repair bills. Usually the repair bills end up be far cheaper.

 

Be like Warren Buffett. Drive your current car until it dies. Then you get a new one. Getting a new car makes you a slave to depreciation costs plus the interest they charge you on your payments. New cars are always nice. It's like our ladies with their shoes and bags.

 

Dave Ramsey method and buy with cash to stop payments with interest- it works
Done it myself

 

Ramsey’s advice is fine, if you make enough to float everything in cash.


The reality is, most aren’t making that much.

 

Not without serious $$ is repairs and maintenance.

Yes, vehicles can get to 200K miles. That doesn't mean it's the right financial action to take.

 

Don’t be talked into the monthly payment. It sounds like you can afford it, but the lions share of you getting a good deal or taken to the cleaners comes down to trade price if you’re intent on trading. Get the best trade price you can and from multiple dealers if possible, and deal with laying out your monthly payment after that. Most mfg have decent financing rates now but do your homework and find out what your bank can do as well as sometimes it’s better than the dealer can do. Check either way.

Good luck. I bought a 20 forester sport at the beginning of this year. Decent car.

 

Do it. It sounds like you want to, and it makes sense for your lifestyle.

Myself, for the first time ever, I've been car loan free for two years and don't think I could ever go back. That's just me.