figure out what you would save per month in gas driving the new car vs. driving the old car. That's your budget for monthly payment and repairs on the new car. If you can find something used it would probably make sense to do that rather than buy a new car just for commuting.

 

i am bracing for a flaming but an escort my dad has one WELL over 200K its a 98 you can pick one up for around 3 or 4 thousand

 

I agree with most who say, "Get rid of the RX." If you are barely making ends meet, but want to enjoy the ride, get rid of the 8, and trade it for the MS3. Based on review, it is not only fun, but economical too: granted, it is FWD! Hate to see you lose the 8, but buying another car does not make sense, unless you buy a beater with cash...

 

It's not that I can't afford the 8. I'm more then well off with what I do for a living, and that why I wouldnt mind to buy another car, have it around so I can lug stuff, save some gas, use it as my daily driver so I don't rack up so manny miles on the 8. I can pay for the new car in full if I need to, because my 8 is already paid for.

 

Buy something used on the cheap, or there's no point... you'll spend more paying for the new car than you ever would on gas for the 8.

 

Man, guess all the money is out west

 

I would definitely say used. There are lost of cars that are not bad to drive but are fairly cheap. Hell you can get a 2003 Audi A4 manual with quattro for less than 15k. You can also find used Mazda 6's for 5-10k as well. Just let your keyboard walk over to ebay or autotrader and do some searching.

If you want to go new and want to save cash by a GM or Ford. Huge incentives on 06 models and the quality isn't really that bad any more.

 

With all respect. I think the idea of a whole second car to save gas money is retarted.

First you have to consider how much you will save. Going from an 8 to an econo you going to be heavey on the pedal. So even in one of these econo's you're looking at 30mpg. Ok assuming 100 miles a day, 365 days a year, at $2.15 a gal, aat 16mpg, you are going to pay out $4904 a year in gas. With the 8 it would roughly %50 more which would be +$2452.

Really low payments, right? Ok say $175 a month. That's really low. Probably can't even get that low. for 12 months that's $2100. Then figure in added maintenance, and insurance. And your'e really pushing to even break even. Actually, you most definitley will not even break even.

Buy the car outright? Well, consider how poor an investment a car is. I would take my $14k plus insurance costs, and maintenance costs, and invest it and let it grow. By the time you would have paid off a $14k car (5 years) you could probably end up with almost enough in savings to have doubled what you would have lost in gas driving the 8.

Just think it through.
________
Weed Bubblers

 

If you just want something to lug things around, and beat on I would suggest spending $2000 and buying a well used pickup truck.
________
EmmaJoy live

 

I see where he's coming from. It's more about saving your 8 rather than saving gas right? I'm with you on that. I'd like to be able to mod up the 8 and drive it for fun rather than have to keep racking up a ton of miles and wear it out in a few years. Plus you can't really lay up your car for too long installing goodies if you have to drive it everyday. I say buy a used mazda or Honda for cheap. Use it as a beater and then take the extra money you saved over buying a new car and put in a mazsport turbo!!

 

man you bought the car to enjoy and drive it, what good is it for you if you are affraid to put miles on it? if you bought it, then get your money's worth, then move on to something bigger and better in a few years.

 

I personally like the Honda Fit, less than 16k fully loaded. If you can find one that is...

 

bump because i FINALLY found the fricking spreadsheet, turns out it's on my work computer, gee i wonder what i do at work

I plugged in some numbers just for reference, for me it was obvious that getting a 2nd car loan just so i can get better overall gas mileage is not worth it.

 

So what did you buy?