How do you scratch the new car itch?

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To keep myself from going down the path, I usually do my best to search for problems with the vehicle, and try to run the math against my budget, but lately I've been feeling the need to change vehicles, again. I don't know why but i'm getting tired of driving a 20 year old Camry 2 hours a day--I'll drive my truck for a bit, see if that scratches the itch, but by golly it is nice to go into my garage and go, no need to scrape the windshield--and the truck doesn't fit in the garage, period. [No joke, I think I've gone all winter so far w/o cleaning my car off once--wow is that nice or what. And to get in&out while out of the weather...] I know the truck is suffering from sitting all the time. Stuff rusts even just sitting. Also... we've all griped about it--the move to SUV's and trucks means darn near every vehicle on the road is blinding me now.

Anyhow. What do you guys do to avoid trading excessively? Do you just keep modifying your car, keep changing it into something slightly enough different?
 
I have never bought a new car but when I get the itch for something different a first check car complaints.com. This usually tells me that what is out their
is probably worst than what I have. Having an itch is not a bad thing, life is one way street.
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I'm in the same boat right now. Want to get rid of my DD Subaru for a used pickup. The good thing is spending money makes me sick and I am great at talking myself out of spending money.

DDing my Subaru, I would spend $1700 a year. I'd spend $2300 or so DDing a truck. That's pretty significant in my book . That, plus having a higher payment ... losing how far "ahead" I am with the current car. It'll allow me to kick the can down the road a bit. And then I'm going to want to buy a winter beater to keep something expensive from rusting out. Which will bring me to 4 road going vehicles and 3 trailers registered.

Until I'm on the side of the road with my current truck 300 miles from home looking at a tow bill for more than I make in a month haha.
 
Originally Posted by supton
What do you guys do to avoid trading excessively?

I look at depreciation tables, assuming you meant brand new car and not just new to you.

The Charger was the first new car I bought in 12 years.
 
The thing that scratches my itch is I like to work on vehicles, and if the vehicle is too new, it usually doesn't need much. I change coolant, differential oil, transfer case oil, respond to the odd check engine light. I've replaced oil cooler lines, transmission cooler lines, have done brakes, shocks etc. I've bought new vehicles but like run to them 10 or more years, knock wood. Nothing better than hopping in the old truck and taking a spin.
 
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Originally Posted by Imp4
By thinking about all the hours I'd have to work to pay for the darn thing.

I'm salaried and because I short-changed my 401k for so long, I'm stuck working for about another 25 years. After being gone from home for 11 hours (2hr commute + 8hr day + 1hr lunch), and then I think about putting in extra time at home on projects... I really don't feel like "having" to fix my beater (again).

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
I look at depreciation tables, assuming you meant brand new car and not just new to you.

Yeah, thinking new, I've done ok on used but I'm feeling like, this time around, I'm not interested in the middle zone of high price with no financing, no warranty and who knows what reliability--if you go cheap&beat, you know what you're getting going in. And if you go new you reap all the benefits of reliability. That middle zone is kinda rough... I feel like we did ok on 3 out of the 4 cars we bought new, all 4 kept depreciation below 10 cents per mile, one just barely and might have been a mistake. My truck is vehicle #5 and it won't hit that metric, while vehicle #6 might hit the zero mark (excluding repairs!).
 
I think Nissan has a 12K mile/ year 24 month lease on a New Murano with tech package.

at $99 a month with 2999 down.

That's $225/ month for a luxury V6 Ute.

Can't beat that with a stick! **

** if you drive under 12K miles a year.

Got the Flyer from Autofair Nissan
Stratham , NH
 
Going to go against the flow here. If you have the funds and or income to support it and are comfortable with your financial situation now then why not? This is a great time to get a deal on a 2019 whatever and you spend 10 hours a week just commuting. It sounds like you keep cars a long time and put on a lot of miles. If you drive beaters by necessity that's one thing, if it's by choice then you have the option to change your mind.

Or you could upgrade to an '03 Crown Vic!
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I get the new car itch regularly. What works for me is reminding myself that I don't want a monthly payment for the next 5-6 years, and how easy it is to maintain the Accord vs. something new. Yesterday I did an oil / filter change, transmission fluid drain and fill, and a power steering fluid extract and fill in about 35 minutes. Other maintenance items such as air filter changes and coolant drain and fills are also super easy to DIY. That is not the case on many new vehicles.
 
I usually buy a "new to me" CPO car; that way depreciation is my friend. However, I'm seriously considering picking up a 2019 Stinger GTS AWD. I usually can only tolerate AWD in vehicles my wife drives, but the GTS has D-AWD, which gets you a trues LSD in the rear axle as well as the ability to send 100% of the torque to the rear axle- just like a BMW M5 or AMG E63 S. Unfortunately, the GTS can only manage to run the quarter in 13.1 seconds ; the BMW and AMG click it off in under 11 seconds.
The silver lining is that I can nab a GTS for $12k off of MSRP- or a bit over 1/3 the price of either the M5 or the E63 S.
 
I generally don't. I buy new and keep them for a very long time so as long as the vehicle runs and isn't costing me a fortune in repairs, I look but don't scratch that itch. I've missed out on several cars I would have loved to own, but couldn't justify buying because I didn't need a replacement vehicle at that time.

The only exception is the Cobalt SS in my signature. That purchase was my one and only "want" vs "need" which drove a vehicle purchase.
 
Build a spreadsheet that compares how much money you'll have at retirement if you invest the monthly payments for a car vs buying that car. Make sure you also show the depreciation you'll suffer owning the car. The younger you are the delta becomes astounding.

Smart money will keep a car until it's worn out.
 
Yeah, I made the mistake of looking and saw that a local dealer has some Ridgelines with 1.9% APR. More than I want to spend, of course, but I'm guessing I could swing it (if I cut my 401k in half I'd still get company match and could "afford" this while still sitting on a large emergency fund). It's been great not having a car payment for so long, I'd hate to lose that. If not a Ridgeline then something with modest towing, 4 doors, "big" trunk for taking trash to the dump, and the goal of having just one vehicle for myself, instead of my DD and then a truck that sits and rusts outside.

Last night I had to tell the wife that the smell of burning rubber in the garage was indeed my car, and yes, it's ok, it just does that sometimes. I turn off the heater fan when I stop at lights as often I can smell either exhaust or burning oil, not always but pretty often (and yes I've gone through both exhaust and various seals--I keep a pizza box under the car now when I park, it drips once or twice over night).

OTOH, I stopped at an estate sale today, and on the walk back to my car I was admiring the sizes of all the CUV's, thinking they were decent sizes. Then got back to my car and wonder "who brought the rollerskate". I can rotate the wheels with ease in my garage, and most of the repairs it needs over time are things I might be able to do, short of pulling the trans or engine.
 
Don't ask me. I just went all out and got my Genesis.

Taking it to the drag strip last night was fun too.
 
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by Imp4
By thinking about all the hours I'd have to work to pay for the darn thing.

I'm salaried and because I short-changed my 401k for so long, I'm stuck working for about another 25 years. After being gone from home for 11 hours (2hr commute + 8hr day + 1hr lunch), and then I think about putting in extra time at home on projects... I really don't feel like "having" to fix my beater (again).

Short changing your 401k and buying new cars is the perfect plan to ensure that you work 'til you're 70....

Change your behaviors and you change your life.

Good luck!!!
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Originally Posted by Nick1994
Don't ask me. I just went all out and got my Genesis.

Taking it to the drag strip last night was fun too.


Good man! If I get a GTS it will also see the strip- as well as a few track weekends.
 
I have bought 1 new car, 1 new pickup and 2 new motorcycles so far. At age 62, I don't think I will buy many more. The car was in service for 21 years, finally given to a friend in need with 255,000 miles on it. I still own the truck (Dakota), and have had the 2nd motorcycle for 32 years. I love not having car payments and high insurance rates, not the mention not worrying about parking lot rash or bird droppings. Driving a vehicle I like doesn't have a time limit. As an added plus, my wife knows I won't be trading her in for a newer model.
 
Good thread, I developed one very similar to it last year.

Here's the thing, you just get sick of that old car. You itch for something else...then that old car needs some work, you put it off...then it needs more. Then you staring at $4000 in repairs and you think...ok, I've got almost 200,000 miles on this thing, it needs some work, plus it's consuming oil...now is a great time to bail and get that new car! Yay! Then you end up spending 4 grand on sales and excise tax. Then you insurance goes up. Then you get another $700 dollar excise tax bill next year (after that new car smell has faded away).

Now you're two years into this thing...it's got a few scratches now, a couple unexpected repairs of its own (and you're still shelling out $500-$600 excise tax bills). The payments are getting real old. You look in the classifieds and the vehicle you paid 40k for is selling for 26k...I just lost $14,000 grand! And yeah I like the car, but I don't really love it. Heck, I'm not even sure it's all that much better than my old one that needed $4,000 in repairs! And now my "new" one needs some of those very same repairs. And I'm getting sick of counting all the new scratches and dings people put into the doors while I'm food shopping. Ugh.

And hopefully that^^^^^ will keep me from selling my "new" truck I bought a year and a half ago...to go out and buy that "new" truck...which won't be "new" five seconds after I drive off the lot.
 
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