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[immigrant]

Have you actually *driven* the BMW SUV?

I had a few hours' test drive on one about 3 years ago (not that I could afford the wipers on the thing) and hated it. Felt like a slug. Anyhoo my 2 cents is that you'd be freaking nuts to buy it.

[mayjohn]

Have you actually *driven* the BMW SUV?

I had a few hours' test drive on one about 3 years ago (not that I could afford the wipers on the thing) and hated it. Felt like a slug. Anyhoo my 2 cents is that you'd be freaking nuts to buy it.

Yes I did and I thought of it as being very peppy and responsive for its size. The handling was also ...ultimate. Having said that, keep in mind that I was comparing it to my Honda (my only real point of reference besides some other generic US airport rentals).

I have decided *NOT* to but the car (or any other exotic) car for that matter. I will spend the money on small "life improvement projects" such as multiple weekends of travel throughout the year, going to the theater on a regular basis and getting a gym membership with exercise classes.

Thank you all for the support...it worked...

John

[zarathustra]

I have decided *NOT* to but the car (or any other exotic) car for that matter. I will spend the money on small "life improvement projects" such as multiple weekends of travel throughout the year, going to the theater on a regular basis and getting a gym membership with exercise classes.

Thank you all for the support...it worked...

John

Yay! Good choice!

[bms2000]

I have the opposite problem. My car is 11 years old. Still runs great, but I know my beloved Geo Tracker cannot last forever. The problem is that I have no idea what I would ever replace it with. There is no car out there right now that attracts me, except varous hybrids, which I cannot afford. If the car went belly up tomorrow, I would have no clue what to replace it with.

[undisciplined]

Replace it with a Honda Fit until Honda starts making those models that run on water vapor or some such (the concept ads they are running). Be the cute guy/woman in the Honda Fit. I will massage myself accordingly.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

Oh, phew. I'm so glad this thread ended the way it did. I simply could not believe an educated man would consider an SUV. *shakes head*

[clean]

Have you read "The Millionare Next Door"?
Do you want to be a millionare?

Can you pay for this car with cash?  (You have not even finished paying off the last one!)

Cars should only be purchased with cash.  Can not pay cash - can not afford the car.



How much will the car cost?

Multiply the 'easy payments' and the number of months that you have to make the payment.


After you have paid off the car, approximately what will it be worth?


How long do you still have to pay before current car is paid off?


Save your current car payment + 100 for 3 years.  How much is that?

In 3 years what would the bmw be worth?




Here's another way to look at this...

A. How much was your last paycheck?
B. How many hours did you work to get it?
C. What is your take-home pay per hour? A/B
How many hours of blood, sweat, pain and putting up with those BASTARDS (students or coworkers or administrators, take your pick) would it take to buy the car for cash?  Car price/C
How many more would it take for the interest payment?

IS it worth the sweat?


Then there are some of the other costs... Insurance?

What about the psychic costs...  When you find your first ding or scratch, how bad will you feel?  If your Honda got the same kind of ding, are you bothered?
Do you have to park in Hell in hopes that no one will park next to you (shoe leather cost).


Take 2 chocolate chip cookies, put down the car ads, and take a cold shower.

STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR

[nana72]

OP, I am with clean. I drive a used certified toyota, it's almost nine years old (got it nearly 4 yrs ago) and it works great. Paid cash for it. Insurance costs low.
I don't mean to hijack but I should probably start a thread "stop me from buying a second car". I live walking distance to work as does my husband. However, with two kids, activities, and living in subrbia it becomes more and more complicated to live with one car. It's tiring waiting with one kid until husband and other kid come to pick us up. It also makes it more difficult for us to run errands in the few hours we have child care. On the other hand, we really don't need it to drive to work and everything else is against it (environment, money, the one-car lifestyle being the only thing separating us from life in suburbia jungle...). Any opinions?

[ideagirl]

I know, sexy is... sexy.

So get a sexy laptop.

Or go wild for stationery, office supplies, and bags (laptop bags/briefcases/coin purses/wallets/special little purses for lipstick or pens or eyeglasses or post-it notes what have you!) at Levenger's. I'm not even kidding about post-it notes: Levenger's actualy sells a little leather wallet designed specifically for carrying post-it flags. It comes in many colors, and you can get it monogrammed.

That way, you get lots and lots of sexy things instead of just one, and they're way better for the environment than some CO2-belching SUV.

WWAGD (what would Al Gore do)?

[ideagirl]

Yup. Guys think of cars as sexy. Women, not so much.

Let me just add my voice to that choir. If there's a man here who's having trouble with that concept, here's an analogy: are handbags sexy? Do you look at a woman with a [insert name of hot trendy handbag here] and think, "Ooh, baby"? I didn't think so. Yet many women are nuts over certain handbags. Just as many men are nuts over certain cars.

[clean]

IdeaGurl,
they are so NOT sexy!

I dated only 2ce a lady who named her pets Hermes and Prada.  She was really into expensive stuf like that.  I decided that I would make a great catch for her, and she would lead me down the road away from ever being able to retire. 

[zarathustra]

OP, I am with clean. I drive a used certified toyota, it's almost nine years old (got it nearly 4 yrs ago) and it works great. Paid cash for it. Insurance costs low.
I don't mean to hijack but I should probably start a thread "stop me from buying a second car". I live walking distance to work as does my husband. However, with two kids, activities, and living in subrbia it becomes more and more complicated to live with one car. It's tiring waiting with one kid until husband and other kid come to pick us up. It also makes it more difficult for us to run errands in the few hours we have child care. On the other hand, we really don't need it to drive to work and everything else is against it (environment, money, the one-car lifestyle being the only thing separating us from life in suburbia jungle...). Any opinions?

Bike?

[bms2000]

OP, I am with clean. I drive a used certified toyota, it's almost nine years old (got it nearly 4 yrs ago) and it works great. Paid cash for it. Insurance costs low.
I don't mean to hijack but I should probably start a thread "stop me from buying a second car". I live walking distance to work as does my husband. However, with two kids, activities, and living in subrbia it becomes more and more complicated to live with one car. It's tiring waiting with one kid until husband and other kid come to pick us up. It also makes it more difficult for us to run errands in the few hours we have child care. On the other hand, we really don't need it to drive to work and everything else is against it (environment, money, the one-car lifestyle being the only thing separating us from life in suburbia jungle...). Any opinions?

We had 2 cars until last summer, when our ancient Taurus wagon went to the junk yard in the sky. We have 1 car - the aforementioned 11 year old Geo Tracker - along with the 2 kids/activities/suburbia problem. We handle it by a mixture of walking, biking, using public transit, and ZipCar. DH can bike to a ZipCar location in about 10 minutes, and it makes a great part time second car for when we are desperate.

[biologist_]

I don't mean to hijack but I should probably start a thread "stop me from buying a second car". I live walking distance to work as does my husband. However, with two kids, activities, and living in subrbia it becomes more and more complicated to live with one car. It's tiring waiting with one kid until husband and other kid come to pick us up. It also makes it more difficult for us to run errands in the few hours we have child care. On the other hand, we really don't need it to drive to work and everything else is against it (environment, money, the one-car lifestyle being the only thing separating us from life in suburbia jungle...). Any opinions?

Honestly, it sounds to me like you could justify the purchase of a second car.

If you're spending a lot of time waiting to use the car, or waiting to be picked up in the car, or driving out of the way to pick up your husband and kids in the car, you're no less dependent on automobiles than if you had two cars.  Buy an old, sensible car and try not to drive much more than you already do.  Keep walking to work.  Walk, bike, or take the bus for errands and outings whenever feasible.  Buy an extracycle for some of your errands: http://www.xtracycle.com/

If you're worried about setting a good example for the kids, neighbors, etc., at least you can give them the impression that you choose to walk or bike around town each time you leave the car at home, rather than doing it out of necessity.

My wife and I walk or bike to work, live pretty close to multiple grocery stores, and drive relatively little, but we have two cars.  We only use each car two or three times a week and they often remain parked for days at a time, so it seems a bit silly to have two cars at all.  However, we regularly drive to separate recreational activities at the same times of the week.  I would rather own two old, cheap cars than argue over who gets to go and have fun this week, or worry about how to get to a doctor's appointment when one of us takes the car out of town to visit family or go to a conference for a few days.  If the car-sharing program in our area were a bit cheaper, it might be attractive but it's too much hassle and too expensive to use on a weekly basis.