DescentBB

Well, my Impala is 4 years old and decided it was time to trade before it costs to much in repairs. Did my homework and it was between a Sonata and a Optima. Kia won out because it had more standard options than Hyundai.

2012 Kia Optima EX in black.

Picking it up Tuesday.

I'm happy.

Not totally sure on your specific Kia, but they don't have a great reputation for being long lasting. Don't mean to burst your bubble, I hope it works good for you. I know they have a couple decent cars now.

The Kia Optima and the Hyundai Sonata actually have the same frame and engine.

Thenior, I plan on only having it about 4 yrs

I'm starting to think about changing out one of my cars.

I'm actually aiming for 2-3 years old to replace my 13yr. old car. The one that's 18yrs old & almost 220,000 mi is still going strong.

I don't understand how you guys can afford a new car every few years.

Monthly payments stay the same. New car won't have issues you have to pay for. Old car you still have payments and cost of repairs. This way I don't spend extra money on repairs.

CDN_Merlin wrote:Old car you still have payments...

Are you on some sort of long-term indefinite lease, rather than a loan (where your payments end)?

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Personally I've found that if you have a good-quality older car and treat it well, the monthly cost of repairs/maintenance doesn't even come close to the monthly payments for a new one.

I'll have my fairly new Toyota Matrix paid off in a couple of months, and from my experience (e.g. most cars I've owned rarely have major issues before they hit 200,000 miles), I won't have to do much more than normal maintenance on it for a few years. You bet I'm looking forward to that extra $300+/month in my budget!

CDN_Merlin wrote:Monthly payments stay the same. New car won't have issues you have to pay for. Old car you still have payments and cost of repairs. This way I don't spend extra money on repairs.

Maybe I'm lucky... I'd estimate that I pay in the range of $50/mo (or less) in car repair costs. For the old one, I don't think I've paid more than $100/yr for the last 3-4 years on repairs. (That doesn't include regular maintenance and inspection)

One of these days it's going to let me down, but at this point I'm riding it all the way down... and making that last as long as possible.

My 08 Impala had a full brake job at 85,000KM. Had the throttle position sensor bust at about 50,000KM. Needed new tires last year. Sorry but all of that cost me $2600 so far within the last 2 years. I'm done with the BIG 3 dealers. No more US cars for me.

Toyota FTW

by full brake job, you mean they took off the rotors and resurfaced them, or did they replace the rotors, calipers, pads, lines, fluid, etc....

because if it's just a rotor resurface done, that's not too bad really and fairly normal.


that throttle position sensor going at 50k should be a warranty replacement. Not sure why you would have to pay to get it replaced.

Brakes were pads and rotors.

Sensor was on warranty, but they had to replace the whole assembly and the part on the engine side wasn't on warranty. So f*ck them. No more GM for me.

CDN_Merlin wrote:...all of that cost me $2600 so far within the last 2 years.

That's bad, but it still comes out to about $109/month, which is considerably less than new-car payments. I'm still not sure why you think a paid-off vehicle (even one which breaks down often) will cost the same monthly as a new one.

I'm paying the same monthly cost for the finance but if anything breaks it's under warranty now. That's the difference.

Ah, I see... You're saying you're moving from B to A in this list:

A. Making finance payments, warranty in force
B. Making finance payments, warranty expired
C. No finance payments (i.e. paid off), warranty expired

Still, C is by far the cheapest monthly cost for a decent vehicle. And by moving back to A by getting a new car every few years, you'll never get to C. Doesn't make sense to me.

so are you leasing your cars or getting a loan?

Got a loan. Leasing isn't worth it to me.

so the impala was paid off?

Almost. I do plan on paying this one off more before I change it.

CDN_Merlin wrote:Brakes were pads and rotors.

you use the brakes WAY too much then.

Sensor was on warranty, but they had to replace the whole assembly and the part on the engine side wasn't on warranty. So f*ck them. No more GM for me.

weird. that engine part should have been on warranty.


so after two relatively minor jobs, you simply threw it away. heh.

It's the downtime too plus, you are at the mercy of others unless you do the work yourself. Changing heads on a 352 to get a 390= fun
Changing brakes on a chevette=work.

Foil wrote:Ah, I see... You're saying you're moving from B to A in this list:

A. Making finance payments, warranty in force
B. Making finance payments, warranty expired
C. No finance payments (i.e. paid off), warranty expired

Still, C is by far the cheapest monthly cost for a decent vehicle. And by moving back to A by getting a new car every few years, you'll never get to C. Doesn't make sense to me.

To be fair, you really ought to consider future car replacement into your monthly figure for C.

But, I think the point stands. If you can pull off paying off the car, and then continuing to put the equivalent of the car payment into a repair/next car fund for several years, chances are you will find that you will find that the fund accumulates money & you will in fact have enough money to buy another car in cash next time... so you don't have to pay the banks for their loans.... I don't know what kinda of rates you get, but my wife and I just took a shot at guessing what a car loan would cost us and we came up with $1,500 - $2,000 for a $15,000 loan. That's not as bad as a mortgage, but it's still money that could be mine if I'm willing to wait until I can save up the money. (plus, I get interest while I'm saving... so it could be more like a $2,000- $2,500 swing in my favor)

What it takes is being willing to live with the same car for a good 10 years....

There is a difference between being willing to drive one car for 10 years and being able to drive one car for 10 years. Maintenance and driving style are critical to the being able part; if you are sloppy with either one, any vehicle will break down before that long.

Yeah, I kept my Jeep for 22 years. But as time passed, more and more things just plain started breaking or leaking, and not from mileage or abuse, but from shear age. Rubber seals in the drive train especially started going, even though I kept the fluids regularly changed. Also, parts were starting to get hard to find, so I finally decided that the costs and effort to keep it going were beyond my means. Someone younger with more energy to fiddle with and modify it to keep it running deserved it. The body was cherry too, so they got a prize. Me, I got a new Toyota with a warranty and less maintenance needs. And since the dealer is a good friend, I got a hell of a deal.

Fern, the rear doors also wouldn't lock/unlock with the remote, had to do it manually. $300 to repair each. Fack that ★■◆●. I've had enough with GM and it's issue with the Impala's. The sensor was on warranty but like I said they had to replace the entire assembly which wasn't on warranty.

My brakes were the original ones from when the car was built. I don't drive like a maniac. I cost to a stop. I don't accelerate quickly etc. My winter tires have lasted me 5+ years. I take the bus to work to save money.

Overall, I do plan on keeping this car longer and hopefully pay it all off before I get a new one.

CDN_Merlin wrote:
My brakes were the original ones from when the car was built. I don't drive like a maniac. I cost to a stop. I don't accelerate quickly etc. My winter tires have lasted me 5+ years. I take the bus to work to save money.

really. then why is it that when I use the the habits you say you have, my brakes have more than three times the klicks on them?

roughly half an inch of pad material still left. gave em a look last night when I swapped out the suspension.

Fern, my car was most likely a rental when I bought it used. Hence why the brakes didn't last. I will highly doubt I'll buy another used car. To many issues with them

My next car is this:My Precious

I WILL have this car within the next 10 years, straight off the showroom floor.

Nice car. I wish I could afford a Porsche but sadly life didn't deal me the right mind to make that kind of money.

Gads flip, you want the same car my Chiropractor neighbor just recently bought, although it's 2008 model, during his male mid-life crisis. And it's a convertible, and it's silver, and he treats it like it's first love! Sounds good too when he fires it up in the morning. If he's not careful, he's gonna polish the paint off the thing.

Heh, I wanna drive it . So, he has a sure enough 2008 Nismo? I'd like to hear it. I'm lucky on 2 counts, because there is a world class Z car tune shop about 2 miles from here, and open track days on Birmingham's road course. The Altima SL with the SE tune is a blast to drive on the streets, already feel like I own the road and something else I've noticed, the police seem to look the other way. Guess they don't want no one to kill themselves . The best is in the wee early morning hours, between 3am and 5am. You can find others at those times

CDN_Merlin wrote:Nice car. I wish I could afford a Porsche but sadly life didn't deal me the right mind to make that kind of money.

That's the beauty of these Z cars though, you can get a real race car (nismo) for between 40-50 grand. Plus, with the new intelligent ABS braking and traction control, I't hard to get them loose. You transfer the weight right, the car knows exactly what you want it to do, then you just have to hold the suspension down. Awesome, fun car to drive. I drove down a curvy road the other day, 60 miles an hour flat, never had to slow down never sped up. Heh, too much fun.

flip wrote:Heh, I wanna drive it . So, he has a sure enough 2008 Nismo? I'd like to hear it. I'm lucky on 2 counts, because there is a world class Z car tune shop about 2 miles from here, and open track days on Birmingham's road course. The Altima SL with the SE tune is a blast to drive on the streets, already feel like I own the road and something else I've noticed, the police seem to look the other way. Guess they don't want no one to kill themselves . The best is in the wee early morning hours, between 3am and 5am. You can find others at those times

Oh, it sounds nice, deep and throaty. Sweet! You'd be drooling!

CDN_Merlin wrote:Fern, my car was most likely a rental when I bought it used. Hence why the brakes didn't last. I will highly doubt I'll buy another used car. To many issues with them

well, it depends. it's always a good idea to have maintenance records whenever you buy used. lets you know what might be happening in the near future.


and shouldn't they disclose whether or not it was a rental before you bought it?

As Ferno correctly points out, buying any used car is a crap shoot. Getting a copy of the service log when you buy from a rental company should be no big deal. As to warranties and such, it pays to look around. In 2008 when I bought my new Dodge Ram PU (5.7 litre hemi, 6 speed manual) it came with a lifetime warranty on the power train. First oil change I put pure synthetic oil in. That was 65k miles ago and engine is flawless. Then again my prior vehicle was also a Dodge Ram PU and even after 250k miles it ran strong, starting up with no problem even on the coldest days. As to brakes, the new Ram has no sign of needing them. Perhaps I got a better brake system than Merlin did as my PU is set up for heavy towing. All in all it pays to look around when buying a new vehicle because the extras are more than just a sound system and power windows

Our 2000 Chevy Impala that currently has 232k miles on it was a rental vehicle before we bought it...

Woodchip, my sister has a 2012 Ram 5.7HEMI and loves it but sadly for her it's a HUGE expense in gas. It's a nice truck but way to much i my book. She also has to towing package on it.