Selling the VW need a replacement.

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by spavel6
How much are you selling the Rabbit for? Just curious! I'd love to pick one up!


I'm asking $3500 here's the ad.

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/d/saint-clair-2009-volkswagen-rabbit-2dr/7058834986.html

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by ram_man

This makes a lot of sense. So we were thinking of paying it down enough to just not be under water so we could trade it in even up. We would do that over the course of 7 months or so. But we could probably pay it off in 12-16 months by paying more on the loan every month and then having a car payment free situation where we could them save a little for a down payment. That may be something we try to do.
I obviously still want a 4 door car for me before that but it would certainly make getting out of the dart better. There's a lot to love about the dart. But there's also plenty to gripe about. With a little more effort they could have really made something nice. I don't know why they have arsed it like you said. Kind of ashame honestly.


Every time you buy or sell a car, it costs you money in terms of the transaction costs. According to your ad, you've only had it one year and now you want something else because it's not quite perfect. Life isn't perfect. You need to make your choices. It sounds like you haven't been making good financial choices in the past. You would probably be in better financial position if you kept the car for a while and paid it off. You have a good plan above, the only issue is to stick with it. Just getting rid of it and getting something slightly better just digs a slightly bigger financial hole. The real advice would be to get rid of the car and not get anything else til you dig yourself out of the hole and have enough saved up for a spare toy car. There's basically good debt and bad debt. Having a house is good debt, having a car that takes you to work so you can make a living is good debt. Having an extra car that doesn't make you any money and that you like for fun isn't good debt. Having fun is fine if you can afford it.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by ram_man

This makes a lot of sense. So we were thinking of paying it down enough to just not be under water so we could trade it in even up. We would do that over the course of 7 months or so. But we could probably pay it off in 12-16 months by paying more on the loan every month and then having a car payment free situation where we could them save a little for a down payment. That may be something we try to do.
I obviously still want a 4 door car for me before that but it would certainly make getting out of the dart better. There's a lot to love about the dart. But there's also plenty to gripe about. With a little more effort they could have really made something nice. I don't know why they have arsed it like you said. Kind of ashame honestly.


Every time you buy or sell a car, it costs you money in terms of the transaction costs. According to your ad, you've only had it one year and now you want something else because it's not quite perfect. Life isn't perfect. You need to make your choices. It sounds like you haven't been making good financial choices in the past. You would probably be in better financial position if you kept the car for a while and paid it off. You have a good plan above, the only issue is to stick with it. Just getting rid of it and getting something slightly better just digs a slightly bigger financial hole. The real advice would be to get rid of the car and not get anything else til you dig yourself out of the hole and have enough saved up for a spare toy car. There's basically good debt and bad debt. Having a house is good debt, having a car that takes you to work so you can make a living is good debt. Having an extra car that doesn't make you any money and that you like for fun isn't good debt. Having fun is fine if you can afford it.



We weren't planning on having a baby a year ago.....that kind of stuff can happen. We are selling it to buy a 4 door car. I was going to put it towards a 3rd row vehicle but at this time I don't want the car payment. Not sure how selling a car and getting a more practical car is bad debt or bad anything especially if it's paid off.
This post wasn't for a financial lesson it was for a car conversation. I am very understanding of how debt works. Reason I'm not signing up for a bigger longer car payment because I don't want debt.

 

[LeakySeals]

Would you consider the 02-06 Camrys? They are maybe the largest body generation. Reliable, easy to work on, resistant to rust. Would be an even swap for what you are asking for the VW. I had a 02 Camry for several years. Picked it up cheap because the engine was neglected, full of sludge. It cleaned up, ran to 344k when it got wrecked. Took a good hit. The transmission is super smooth. If you can get the v6 you get the power, and 25mpg. Out of all the cheap cars I drive, thats the only one I miss.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Trav
+1 The MK IV cars are the easiest to work on of any car I have worked on in over 40 years. The 2.0 slow is solid as a rock, super easy and cheap to work on, the timing belt is not much more than a couple of hours inc the WP under the shade tree.
Very first large repair I ever made to my own car. Bent the crank pulley hammering it off and had to leave it at home for a week while I traveled back to school. Oh, the memories!

The amount of space between the radiator and engine in a 2.0 car harkens back to a simpler time. You can almost stand in there.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by LeakySeals
Would you consider the 02-06 Camrys? They are maybe the largest body generation. Reliable, easy to work on, resistant to rust. Would be an even swap for what you are asking for the VW. I had a 02 Camry for several years. Picked it up cheap because the engine was neglected, full of sludge. It cleaned up, ran to 344k when it got wrecked. Took a good hit. The transmission is super smooth. If you can get the v6 you get the power, and 25mpg. Out of all the cheap cars I drive, thats the only one I miss.

I dunno, IIRC those are the bad 2AZ-FE headgasket years (for the I4), forget what the V6 was but I wouldn't be surprised if sludge was a concern, along with timing belt. If gotten for cheap, might be worth the risk. If nothing else, parts ought to be cheap and plentiful.

 

[Nick1994]

I'm agreeing with JHZR2.

Sell VW, use that money to use as the break even point and get rid of that Dart.

Putting miles on the car isn't going to save you from depreciation more than the maintenance, insurance, interest, registration etc. will.

So I'd either get rid of the VW and just pack the miles on the Dart, or sell both and get a bigger sedan.

Heck, my 5.0L Genesis I just got 3-1/2 weeks ago I've already put 2,450 miles on it.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by ram_man
At the price point I don't normally look at dealers but what would be some thoughts on this Civic? Spent all but the last few years in Arizona. One owner ect.


https://subaru.fusz.com/used/Honda/...erral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings


Doesn't look terrible from the web, but you are buying a very old at this point, very small car, with 163k miles. And for >$3500, which, sure, is a lot less than a new car, but is still a lot of money.

The generation after this one got much bigger in the back seat, and IMO is much more practical.

This car will surely run and run well, is an MT, sort of seems decent. But I think when filled with baby seats and people, it's going to get tight, and it's surely going to need repairs, including a timing belt in 20k mikes or so.

Seems you should be able,to get something bigger and lower mileage for less. Even if it's not MT, maybe an old lady car or something. I think any car you're going to buy is just a stopgap, just temporary. So I'd look for value vs checking the want list.

Where do you want to be in 3-5 years car-wise? If you won $40-60k in the lottery, and could buy two cars more or less outright, what car would you and her ideally drive?

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by JHZR2
Originally Posted by ram_man
At the price point I don't normally look at dealers but what would be some thoughts on this Civic? Spent all but the last few years in Arizona. One owner ect.


https://subaru.fusz.com/used/Honda/...erral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings


Doesn't look terrible from the web, but you are buying a very old at this point, very small car, with 163k miles. And for >$3500, which, sure, is a lot less than a new car, but is still a lot of money.

The generation after this one got much bigger in the back seat, and IMO is much more practical.

This car will surely run and run well, is an MT, sort of seems decent. But I think when filled with baby seats and people, it's going to get tight, and it's surely going to need repairs, including a timing belt in 20k mikes or so.

Seems you should be able,to get something bigger and lower mileage for less. Even if it's not MT, maybe an old lady car or something. I think any car you're going to buy is just a stopgap, just temporary. So I'd look for value vs checking the want list.

Where do you want to be in 3-5 years car-wise? If you won $40-60k in the lottery, and could buy two cars more or less outright, what car would you and her ideally drive?


I'd buy a gti probably ...‚ the 8th gen civics scare me because of the block cracking issues. The d17 is definitely a better engine.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by ram_man
We weren't planning on having a baby a year ago.....that kind of stuff can happen. .

In the year 2020 there's a lot of info out there on what causes this condition.

Congrats BTW.

It sounds like not long ago you had 5 vehicles, now 4 with the Saturn gone unless there are others you haven't mentioned? 2 old trucks, 1 older VW, and the newest car is under water. You've been around here long enough to know you're going to get all kinds of un asked for advice. Have you been watching Dave Ramsey since the baby appeared on the horizon?

Regarding the Dart, which number is less, the difference between what you could sell/trade it for right now and what you owe or the amount you'd have to pay into it to get to even sometime later? Remember you're putting in money to pay it down and it's depreciating to some unknown value sometime in the future. You might be throwing money away trying to get to even.

 

[Huie83]

Holy-moly, this is like the 10th post trying to figure this out and it gets even more confusing now that we know you have ANOTHER car.

It's simple, you have a baby on the way and need a family vehicle. Sell everything that doesn't make sense to support your family. Sell the old trucks, sell the VW, sell whatever else you have that we don't know about. Get the Dart out from under the water and trade it in on a minivan or sell it. Doesn't have to be a newer minivan, older Toyota's will do just as well as a newer one. Heck, even an older Toyota Previa will do, they are pretty reliable as well.

When I was in this situation years ago when our 3rd kid arrived, I traded in my few year old Ford Explorer for a ten year old Toyota Sienna with low miles for under $9K, it was ~$200 a month. My ex is still driving it, ZERO major issues all these years. Use whatever you have left over to buy a older Camry for like $3K and drive it into the ground. Problem solved. If you have nothing left over you'll have to get by on one car for now until you can save up enough to buy a second. My parents did it for years. I did it for years, it's doable.

What you need to do is get out of all these vehicles with whatever issues they have and simplify a bit so you can stop stressing about fixing this-or-that or how to shuffle vehicles etc and focus on the family, saving money etc.

 

[AZjeff]

He's never going to sell the old Dodge, it was dad's or grandpa's, so it's part of his overhead. Might not be the best timing to be spending money on it right now.

Ram-man, does your woman have any say in what she drives? My experience in 40 years of marriage is that life is smoother when the woman picks her car. Just saying.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
He's never going to sell the old Dodge, it was dad's or grandpa's, so it's part of his overhead. Might not be the best timing to be spending money on it right now.

Ram-man, does your woman have any say in what she drives? My experience in 40 years of marriage is that life is smoother when the woman picks her car. Just saying.


Oh yea! She loves the dart. Another reason I'm ok with keeping it for now. She is very happy in it.
Also your absolutely right I will never sell the Dodge ram. It was my grandfathers and it's worth it's weight in gold to me. That being said it also will be the main family hauler when we are all together.
I of course don't want to drive it all the time 12 mpg is a pain.
She will daily the dart .
I will daily the new car I buy and
I have the Dodge for the entire family to ride in
And the old Chevy for work, also for hauling wood and such.
I'm going to assume many of you must not live in the country.
Out here it's almost imperative to have a truck for wood and other heavy chores. I also use it for work . It cost $8 a month for insurance $5 a year for personal property same with the Dodge. They cost next to nothing to keep.
Keeping them going is penny's as well there uses outweigh the little bit money they require.
So many people keep saying just have one family vehicle ect. We have to have separate cars to get to work.
Sure I could drive the old trucks all the time and not have a car for me but that's not what I want, I want a car also the car will be doing the 5 hour drive the majority of the time.

All this being said the post was to discuss cars in this price range pros and cons of different models ect.
I didn't post this for financial advice or anything like that.
It's funny that people who don't know othere situation are so keen on giving financial advice. This is a general statement and not aimed at one person in particular.
The dart is financed and if I have my way it'll be the last car that gets financed.
I would rather pay cash or go with out.
So the misses likes the dart so what's the harm in keeping it as long as she's happy with it? Sure there is a part of me that would consider trading it for a bigger family vehicle at some point but at this point only if I have the cash to do so.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by Huie83
Holy-moly, this is like the 10th post trying to figure this out and it gets even more confusing now that we know you have ANOTHER car.

It's simple, you have a baby on the way and need a family vehicle. Sell everything that doesn't make sense to support your family. Sell the old trucks, sell the VW, sell whatever else you have that we don't know about. Get the Dart out from under the water and trade it in on a minivan or sell it. Doesn't have to be a newer minivan, older Toyota's will do just as well as a newer one. Heck, even an older Toyota Previa will do, they are pretty reliable as well.

When I was in this situation years ago when our 3rd kid arrived, I traded in my few year old Ford Explorer for a ten year old Toyota Sienna with low miles for under $9K, it was ~$200 a month. My ex is still driving it, ZERO major issues all these years. Use whatever you have left over to buy a older Camry for like $3K and drive it into the ground. Problem solved. If you have nothing left over you'll have to get by on one car for now until you can save up enough to buy a second. My parents did it for years. I did it for years, it's doable.

What you need to do is get out of all these vehicles with whatever issues they have and simplify a bit so you can stop stressing about fixing this-or-that or how to shuffle vehicles etc and focus on the family, saving money etc.



Most people have seen my posts about all the vehicles it really wasn't a big secret. See the previous post where I responded in detail. I have 4 I've never had more than 4 at any given time.

 

[Huie83]

Thanks for the detail in your last few posts, I must have missed one of your previous posts on how many vehicles you have. I know at one time you were trying to get rid of the Dart.

If you're keeping the Dart why can't you drive that on the trips you mentioned in the original post? That way you can keep the Rabbit. If it's the 2.5 engine I've had that with a 5 speed in a SportWagen, very reliable.

I've had a few VW's and find them the same to work on as any other vehicle. What issues scare you? It would be nice if you just hung on to what you have while paying down the Dart if possible. Not much out there that's reliable and can last long term for $3500.

 

[brages]

Get a Volvo wagon

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by Huie83
Thanks for the detail in your last few posts, I must have missed one of your previous posts on how many vehicles you have. I know at one time you were trying to get rid of the Dart.

If you're keeping the Dart why can't you drive that on the trips you mentioned in the original post? That way you can keep the Rabbit. If it's the 2.5 engine I've had that with a 5 speed in a SportWagen, very reliable.

I've had a few VW's and find them the same to work on as any other vehicle. What issues scare you? It would be nice if you just hung on to what you have while paying down the Dart if possible. Not much out there that's reliable and can last long term for $3500.


I paid 3200 for the VW and it's been terrific.
There systems aren't the easiest the timing chain looks intimidating. The water pump is in a bad spot. It's not the worst thing to work on around where I am it's a parts concern more than anything. The parts stores have next nothing for VW. Not good when you want to fix the car Inna reasonable time frame.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I paid 3200 for the VW and it's been terrific.
There systems aren't the easiest the timing chain looks intimidating. The water pump is in a bad spot. It's not the worst thing to work on around where I am it's a parts concern more than anything. The parts stores have next nothing for VW. Not good when you want to fix the car Inna reasonable time frame.


I've got a Mercedes with has the same parts issue as your car. But even though most stores don't stock the parts, most of what I need I can get in a day or two. While Autozone didn't stock my alternator, I was able to order it online and I actually got it the next day. Seems they ship out at 9pm at night and their warehouse was just a few towns over from me so I got it the next day. Most other parts are the same or because I have a 2nd car, I can always wait a couple days for the parts to come in.

If you're worried about breakdowns, there's always AAA, I have the 100 miles free towing, but you can step it up to 200 miles if you want plus they also offer some kind of trip break down insurance which I've never had to use.

 

[dishdude]

I don't get this. A 6 year old Dart has already depreciated and can be used as the primary baby on board car. While putting a baby into the backseat of a 2 door isn't the easiest thing, on a whim it'll work. The VW 2.5 was pretty common here, it's reliable and parts aren't that difficult to source. It sounds like you have 2 good cars, a work truck and a project truck. I think you have all the bases covered.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by Wolf359

I've got a Mercedes with has the same parts issue as your car. But even though most stores don't stock the parts, most of what I need I can get in a day or two. While Autozone didn't stock my alternator, I was able to order it online and I actually got it the next day. Seems they ship out at 9pm at night and their warehouse was just a few towns over from me so I got it the next day. Most other parts are the same or because I have a 2nd car, I can always wait a couple days for the parts to come in.

If you're worried about breakdowns, there's always AAA, I have the 100 miles free towing, but you can step it up to 200 miles if you want plus they also offer some kind of trip break down insurance which I've never had to use.

I can't imagine what a 200 mile tow would cost, but it's a good point. If it did break, just spend the coin and have it towed. Hitch a ride home with the tow guy. Diagnose the problem, order the parts, drive a different vehicle, fix on the weekend.

IMO, being able to only own one vehicle tends to push one into "needing" to have a more reliable vehicle. But having multiple vehicles means one has options.

Originally Posted by dishdude
I don't get this. A 6 year old Dart has already depreciated and can be used as the primary baby on board car. While putting a baby into the backseat of a 2 door isn't the easiest thing, on a whim it'll work..

Dunno about the OP but "on a whim" happens very often. If you don't live in town driving may be a daily occurrence, especially if day care is involved. Eventually pre-school becomes a thing. This 2 door issue can be dealt with, people did it for years, but I imagine it's like everything else, it sure would be nicer to have the right tool for the job.