Car buying experts/enthusiasts...

[Dingo Jellybean]

...I think I have my mind set on my new car:

Honda Civic Coupe LX 2006, Nighthawk black Manual.

Attached is the pic. I'm glad Honda completely redesigned the Civic, it really lost a step to the Sentra and Corolla in recent years...but this year, it looks wow. I did get a chance to at least test drive the vehicle, and wow...it's like, when you shift gears you hardly feel it...but I guess that's the norm now. Even in previous years when you shift gears, you would at least feel the car jerk just a little bit...no matter how good of a shifter you are. But I got the same feeling from the 2005 Maxima...so I guess technology is better now.

But has anyone seen the interior of the car? I just dropped my jaw. The analog speedometer is a REALLY nice change to things. I think it'll become the standard in years to come.

I'm looking at around $300/mo for financing at 5% for 60 months. I have a pretty good credit score (750), which might be able to get me a slightly lower interest rate.

But are there any car buying experts here? Or at least someone who knows what they are talking about? I made $17000 last year...and considering tuition and all, I think I have a decent payment plan laid out before I get my new job after my degree.

Initially I wanted the DX, but that version has NO A/C...which really blows. So I'm looking at around 2000 more bills for the LX model...which at least has a 160watt stereo system with 15 inch wheels...even though the car itself handles no better than the DX (without regards to the wheels). I just want the base model, which starts at around 16,300 US$.

So yeah, I'm really excited about purchasing my first car for myself. My current car is a used 1996 Nissan Altima GXE, which cost about $6000...in which I paid half and my mother paid half. But now...gosh...I'm really giddy...I'm sure many of you will feel that way when you first purchase your own car. I love the looks and feel of the car...it'll at least make me look cool.

[Miriel]

Somehow, with the average age of posters here being about 17, I doubt that there are gonna be a bunch of car buying experts on this forum.

But, yay for getting a new car. Must be exciting.

[Rye]

That's really nice. I'm not much of an expert/enthusiast, but I know what car I want for my 17th birthday, and that's a used Mistubishi Eclipse Spider (or a green buggy, if I don't have a good paying jorb.) To be honest, I'm more likely to get the Mitsubishi because my parents don't want me to drive in a fragile car like a buggy.

http://www.fantasycars.com/derek/cars/images/mitsubishi/eclipse_1.jpg

[DK]

I want to get a Transit Van. Do you really want my advice?

[escobert]

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/644a.jpg
This is my car. Not MY car but mines the exact same thing. 1995 Saab 900 SE 2.5L 6 Cylinder 170 hp 5 Speed Manual OD Transmission power everything sunroof, leather :D. I only paid $2500 and only has 96k miles :D:D I love Saabs I think they're the best cars out there.

[-N-]

What are you, Asian? :p

The best time for a student type earner to buy a new car was December 31st. Sorry man. Also, why would you want to pay interest on a car? Car payments are the dumbest thing, in my opinion, because they depreciate way too quickly in value to even be worth it. You're much better off with a leasing option on a new car, or buying an '05 model of something, as dealers will have them for dirt cheap (if they still have them - that's the whole December 31st idea - you can pick one up for cheap because the dealers are trying to get rid of them to make room for the '06 models).

Points to take home:
- If a dealer has a new '05 model, it'll be way cheaper.
- If you're giddy about the Civic's redesign and don't want to lose those changes by stepping back a year, move to another brand. A Corolla S can do all the tricks a Civic can, and hasn't changed much from '05 to '06.
- Car payments are dumb. In fact, interest payments on any depreciating property are dumb. Lease, buy used, or buy old.

[Dingo Jellybean]

What are you, Asian? :p

The best time for a student type earner to buy a new car was December 31st. Sorry man. Also, why would you want to pay interest on a car? Car payments are the dumbest thing, in my opinion, because they depreciate way too quickly in value to even be worth it. You're much better off with a leasing option on a new car, or buying an '05 model of something, as dealers will have them for dirt cheap (if they still have them - that's the whole December 31st idea - you can pick one up for cheap because the dealers are trying to get rid of them to make room for the '06 models).

Points to take home:
- If a dealer has a new '05 model, it'll be way cheaper.
- If you're giddy about the Civic's redesign and don't want to lose those changes by stepping back a year, move to another brand. A Corolla S can do all the tricks a Civic can, and hasn't changed much from '05 to '06.
- Car payments are dumb. In fact, interest payments on any depreciating property are dumb. Lease, buy used, or buy old.

I'm 3/4ths Asian...but if I was 4/4ths Asian I'd buy an Acura. :)

Besides, there are no more reliable cars on the market than Toyota or Honda. I would want a Corolla, but the looks of the car don't compare to the Civic Coupe. I just want a base car that gets me from A to B. I have no intention of souping up my car at all...I think it's stupid to do that. I just want a nice car that rides well, looks decent, and is quiet.

As for leasing, you'd pay the same amount in 4 years and you can own the car, depending on interest rate...why would I rent when I can own for the same amount? That's why most people buy their car instead of leasing it. The Civic Coupe will last for at least 7 years for me. I already own a used car...it's a Nissan Altima GXE 1996...I had to send it in for repairs 8 times in 4.5 years. That is WAY too much in 4.5 years...even for a used car. I checked the carfax report and the previous owner took decent care of the car...so it turns out that Nissan is just a Japanese Ford with a better look. Buying used is one thing I will never do again unless it's from someone I trust or I am low on cash.

As for the old 05 models, they don't have anymore on the lot...but I think they're ugly models anyways. The Corolla S is probably the best looking Corolla, with a nice spoiler, but I prefer the look of the coupe...despite the Corolla boasting slightly higher MPG.

[Raistlin]

The first rule of new car buying is: never ever ever ever ever ever buy a new car. Ever. It's just not worth it. Especially for a Honda/Toyota, which last a bajillion miles. Get a two-year-old car with 20,000 miles on it, or even a four-or-five-year-old car with 40+ and save a bunch of money.

My mom is an accountant for a used car dealership/finance company/etc. Though I've only bought one car myself (and just bought it outright, so no payments or any of that crap), I have a pretty good knowledge base from working there, talking with sales people, working on deals, etc.

A new car loses a TON of value the minute you drive it off the lot. It's just not worth the huge depreciation in value, especially when you could buy a one-or two-year-old car that's already taken that depreciation hit.

My car is a '95 Lexus ES300 with about 110,000 miles (~90,000 when I bought it) which I got for around $6000, and I couldn't be happier with it.

If you go used, you could even get a better car. $16,000 is a lot to pay for a Civic. Is it a 6-cylinder engine? When my car was in the shop, I drove around a 2000 Civic LX for a while, and I hated it (it was a 4-cylinder). Newer is not always better. Anyway, if you went older, you could upgrade: say, a 2004 Accord, which would cost less and probably be a better car. Of course, it would then get worse gas mileage, so I guess it's a trade off.


I just want a nice car that rides well, looks decent, and is quiet.
If that's true, then there's absolutely NO reason to get a new car.

[edczxcvbnm]

I looked at getting a new car over the summer. I decided that they are priced too much for me right now. I may go back and see if there are any Altima's on sale though...if there are any 05s left that is. I did what Raistlin suggested and looked at getting a used one. Problem being that Nissan cars retain their value quite well and with rebates and stuff the price difference was minimal. On American cars the price difference can reach 10,000 for a 2-3 year old model.

I currently drive a 1992 Ford Tempo. Almost to 100,000 miles. It gets by and now I take the train and don't drive much. I am glad I didn't buy the car.

I also completely disagree with Neel on the buying vs. leasing thing. It depends on who you are. I want to own the car instead of renting a car with crazy penalties.

[Raistlin]

Leasing a car makes even less sense than buying a new one. Well, I guess it depends on the car. But if you lease a car for say, two years, then near the end of those two years you're still, in essence, paying for a brand new car. Whereas if you buy a car, you'll have most of the interest paid off by that time, and be paying mostly principle (meaning, you're paying more on the actual financed loan after two years than you were when you first bought the car). However, with leasing it's possible to drive around a fancy expensive car that no car dealership would approve you for financing for.

However, with Dingo's high credit score (750's pretty damn good), financing is definitely no problem. Which means it makes even more sense to go used: for a new car, you'd have to have a sizeable down-payment (what, $6-7,000? for that Civic?), whereas you could get a used car with less down payment, lower payments, and lower interest rate. A 750 credit score for a new car dealership is "meh," whereas that's pretty damn good for a used car dealership. You could make some poor used car salesman who sees 450-550s all day very happy.

[edczxcvbnm]

6-7 thousand if you are buying an G-35 from Infiniti but not a 16,000 car. You probably have to only make a down payment of 1-2 thousand. Don't forget to add in title transfer and license fees and the TAX. Tax can kill you.

I also recommend looking in the classified ads. There can be a good car in there also...like my tempo. A little over 1000 payed for it and it is soon to have been in my possesion for 2...or is it 3 years. No major problems. Just random /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif you can't do anything about...such as the ignition module going out on me. Add in the money you would pay for repairs to things you can't do and it is still pretty cheap compared to going to a dealer.

Just something eles to think about.

[Raistlin]

6-7 thousand if you are buying an G-35 from Infiniti but not a 16,000 car. You probably have to only make a down payment of 1-2 thousand.
Oops, sorry. I'm used to used cars and a 2-3 year loan. Yeah, the standard 5-year loan for a new car would have a lower down payment than that. xD

Be careful about classifieds or auctions or crap like that. Unlike used car dealerships, there's not much guarantee about the condition of the car and no warranties or anything. Unless you're really experience and/or know a mechanic, it's probably best to stick to dealerships.

[edczxcvbnm]

I would never trust an auction. An auction place is the worst as you can't test drive or have much knowledge about what you are getting before hand. At least a classified you can call up the person and ask if they have car history, past problems, have a carfax report on their car for you and do general research online about common problems for that year model. It still isn't as safe as a dealership but a used dealership can be just as bad if you are not careful.

[escobert]

I dunno tho. My firend picked up a 1997 VW Golf GTI VR6 lowerd for $4500 with 76,000 miles :D Great fast car. Very nice.

[Dingo Jellybean]

The first rule of new car buying is: never ever ever ever ever ever buy a new car. Ever. It's just not worth it. Especially for a Honda/Toyota, which last a bajillion miles. Get a two-year-old car with 20,000 miles on it, or even a four-or-five-year-old car with 40+ and save a bunch of money.

My mom is an accountant for a used car dealership/finance company/etc. Though I've only bought one car myself (and just bought it outright, so no payments or any of that crap), I have a pretty good knowledge base from working there, talking with sales people, working on deals, etc.

My mother is an accountant/tax adviser as well...she recommends buying a new car. Even a 2 year old car with 20k or 5 year old car with 40k on it is a risk since you don't know how well the driver took care of the car. The only thing the carfax report tells me is what kind of repairs it needed and such. An alternator with half its life left is considered "good", even though a car has 20000 miles on it (an alternator should last about 80k).



A new car loses a TON of value the minute you drive it off the lot. It's just not worth the huge depreciation in value, especially when you could buy a one-or two-year-old car that's already taken that depreciation hit.

Yes, every new car will take that hit. But again, we don't plan to sell the car in a year of buying it. When most people buy cars, they plan to own the car for at least 4 years, with an average of 6 years. I plan to own the car for about 7 years or until 150000 miles. My mother owned an 98 Integra for 7 years before buying a new TSX (or NSX or RSX...whatever those Acuras call it) in early 2005. We all expect that depreciation value and are willing to accept it.



My car is a '95 Lexus ES300 with about 110,000 miles (~90,000 when I bought it) which I got for around $6000, and I couldn't be happier with it.

I bought a Nissan Altima GXE 1996 for $6000 with 55k miles. I have about 110,000 miles on it and I had to send it in for repair 8 times. That is FAR too many repairs for any 55000 miles driven, whether its 400000-455000 miles or a million miles. My experience with used cars is a bad one.



If you go used, you could even get a better car. $16,000 is a lot to pay for a Civic. Is it a 6-cylinder engine? When my car was in the shop, I drove around a 2000 Civic LX for a while, and I hated it (it was a 4-cylinder). Newer is not always better. Anyway, if you went older, you could upgrade: say, a 2004 Accord, which would cost less and probably be a better car. Of course, it would then get worse gas mileage, so I guess it's a trade off.


If that's true, then there's absolutely NO reason to get a new car.

$16,000 is just the MSRP. I got a few quotes, based on my credit score and such, that gives me around $14,700-$15,200. It is still a lot, yes...and no, the Honda Civic Coupe is a 1.8L 4 cylinder car. But when you buy a used car, you often have to buy a warranty with it, which can cost a few hundred to a few thousand (like my used Altima). At least when I buy a new car, I can at least get a 60,000 mile limited warranty with 2 years of free oil changes and maintenance. No more paying $20-$30 for an oil change or $60 for a 4 cylinder tune-up. Plus, at one of my dealers, I get a $500 gas card.

So yes...there are +/-'s with used and new...but my experienced with used has been a poor one.

[Shlup]

I would never trust an auction. An auction place is the worst as you can't test drive or have much knowledge about what you are getting before hand. At least a classified you can call up the person and ask if they have car history, past problems, have a carfax report on their car for you and do general research online about common problems for that year model. It still isn't as safe as a dealership but a used dealership can be just as bad if you are not careful.
My ex-boyfriend got a convertible Mustang at an auction. It was a fantabulous deal.

[escobert]

My ex-boyfriend got a convertible Mustang at an auction. It was a fantabulous deal.
Exactly. Auctions are the way to go if you're looking for a good car for a deal.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

hell ya

[edczxcvbnm]

Sorry but I still don't trust the auction. My brother-in-law use to repo cars and even started his own repo company for a while. Just based on what he said the auction sounds too risky most of the time. If you know what you are doing and are willing to take the risk that is fine.

[Vyk]

That's really nice. I'm not much of an expert/enthusiast, but I know what car I want for my 17th birthday, and that's a used Mistubishi Eclipse Spider (or a green buggy, if I don't have a good paying jorb.) To be honest, I'm more likely to get the Mitsubishi because my parents don't want me to drive in a fragile car like a buggy.

http://www.fantasycars.com/derek/cars/images/mitsubishi/eclipse_1.jpg


<3

That used to be my dream car too. I went out looking this past fall 'cause I was desperate, and got to test drive one. Like a dream come true. But it was just every so slightly out of my price range. Then something weird happened. I got in a Sebring. And you know what? Exact same interior. Then I learned that Chrystler owns Mitsubishi. Or are at least affiliated with their cars. So I went with the Sebring, that way until I can get an Eclipse, I'll at least still feel like I'm driving one.

[Rye]

There are some Poniac Grand Am (I think?) cars that look really similar to those Mistubishi Eclipse Spider cars, so I may get ones of those. But most definitely used.

[Raistlin]

I bought a Nissan Altima GXE 1996 for $6000 with 55k miles. I have about 110,000 miles on it and I had to send it in for repair 8 times. That is FAR too many repairs for any 55000 miles driven, whether its 400000-455000 miles or a million miles. My experience with used cars is a bad one.
One word: Nissan. Hondas and Toyotas for life!

$15,000 is a lot to pay for a 4-cylinder car. Well, I just don't like very small cars, either. I guess that's just personal preference; I prefer mid-sized, 6-cylinder sedans. More comfortable, better ride, etc. And if you're just looking for a car to go from point A to point B like you said, there's no reason to spend more money on new. But meh.

[escobert]

http://tamiya.com/english/products/list/24car_img/24090m.jpg
That right there is my dream car :D

[XxSephirothxX]

Yes, every new car will take that hit. But again, we don't plan to sell the car in a year of buying it. When most people buy cars, they plan to own the car for at least 4 years, with an average of 6 years. I plan to own the car for about 7 years or until 150000 miles. My mother owned an 98 Integra for 7 years before buying a new TSX (or NSX or RSX...whatever those Acuras call it) in early 2005. We all expect that depreciation value and are willing to accept it.
I don't know if you're expecting to get rid of it at 150,000 just to buy a new car or what, but it will probably last twice that long Hondas are great cars, and my mom has one with over 200,000 miles, and it hasn't required any major repairs. It's probably 10 years old, too, so yours will be even better.

[-N-]

Some further points:

- Yeah, I was wrong in putting forth leasing new as a better alternative to buying new. Especially with a good credit rating.
- I would still never pay interest on any depreciating property. Plunking down 100% cash is cheaper, easier, and less dumb.
- If your object is to buy a car that runs well, there is never a need to buy new, as someone... *scrolls up* Raistlin said. Stepping just one year back cuts your price by at least 33 - 50% no matter where you look.
- Nissan is not a very reliable Japanese model. My dad owns a 1996 Nissan Maxima and while it runs, it doesn't run well. It requires far more maintenance than it deserves. Honda and Toyota are much more reliable (and just plain better) car companies. I would attribute your used Nissan car experience to Nissan sucking rather than used cars sucking. The same extends to Infinitis - while they start out nice, they have an ugly later life.
- Just some numbers: Average miles per year is 15000, and if you want your Honda/Toyota to last that, expect to keep it at least 10 years. My 1993 Camry LE (~1 year used at time of purchase) has 168000 on it and still runs like a charm (with the exception of one radiator mishap). I expect it to run beyond 200000. I would not expect that out of ANY other car make (edit: oops, except Honda or old BMW).

[escobert]

I know a guy that has a Saab with 500 thousand miles :D Saabs run forever, They're exspensive to fix which sucks but, they run forever. And they have the 2nd best crash rating of any car in the world.

[-N-]

I call shenanigans.

[Raistlin]

- Just some numbers: Average miles per year is 15000, and if you want your Honda/Toyota to last that, expect to keep it at least 10 years. My 1993 Camry LE (~1 year used at time of purchase) has 168000 on it and still runs like a charm (with the exception of one radiator mishap). I expect it to run beyond 200000. I would not expect that out of ANY other car make (edit: oops, except Honda or old BMW).
Yeah. My '95 Lexus ES300 has over 110,000 miles on it, and I expect to keep it for 8-10 more years (Lexus is made by Toyota, btw). My aunt and grandmother both had Camrys which they kept for near 200,000 miles. Good cars.

[escobert]

Lexus steering wheels are made in my town. We also have a Saab testing facility :D

[Drift]

i dont like the front of the new civic