Help me decide what to do~ to buy a car or not~

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

A while back I was car shopping and I got a TON of excellent advice from you guys. I picked the Hyundai Entourage van. It's got all the safety stuff I want, I can see out of it like no other vehicle I test drove, and it's pretty much in our price range.

Ok. A little backround.
I have a 1998 Honda Civic. It's been an excellent car, it has 150,000+ miles on it. I have one son who currently rides FF in the center and I am expecting a new baby in May.

My problem with my civic is the Side Impact rating and "Safety Concern" for the rear occupant. http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/25.html
At least one of my children is going to have to be outboard and I am afraid that in the event of a crash they could be much more seriously injured than need be. How do you think the problematic pelvis decelerations of an adult dummy translate to a child in a carseat?

Money is the only thing holding me back. I don't really know how much of a monthy coushin to keep. Right now DH make $600 more than all of our monthy expenses. With what we have to put down if we get the Hyundai in May the payment will be about $400 a month; putting my coushin at $200. That scares me. If we wait until August we would have enough to get the payment down to $300, which makes our coushin less scary to me-$300. How much is a wise coushin? I really don't know. I don't want to set ourselves up for failure. I am a stay at home mom and I want to keep it that way.

I could conceivably not be doing much driving from May to August, when my school is out and the baby is young; so I'm really leaning toward waiting until then. Especially since "only" 24% of car crashes are side impact, right?
But then I start to wonder if I should wait until we can have enough down to make the monthly payment $200 a month.

Aye Aye Aye, I hate the way I obsess over decisions.
WWYD?

Any imput and advice is much appreciated.

Dillipop · Mar 1, 2007

I really think it is what YOU are comfortable with. I am not too comfortable with only a $200 cushion. That's me. I would be afraid something would come up and we would be in the position that more was going out than coming in.

Good luck with your decision. Just remember that a properly installed and used seat will provide good side impact protection and your children are the safest passengers in your car because of it.

AdventureMom · Mar 1, 2007

Have you thought of buying a used car that's much cheaper than the Entourage but maybe safer than the Civic? That would get you out of this Civic if it is worrying you and get you into something safer without putting a financial strain on your family...

You can always get the Entourage later down the road.

Jeanum · Mar 1, 2007

You might be able to get a better deal on the Entourage or other new/newish vehicle toward the end of the '07 model year, when dealers may offer extra deals to move out their remaining inventory or might have an '07 "demo" model available at a nicer discount. This wouldn't apply to a hotselling model with a waiting list but those generally tend to be sporty cars or some hybrid models, not the family friendlier cars or minivans.

A better deal at the end of the model year might be more manageable budgetwise, KWIM? It's what DH and I are leaning toward at the moment for replacing his car later this year. His Saturn L100 has been T-boned and repaired twice, and it's a model with poor IIHS side impact crash test results. We feel like we're pressing out luck to keep it much longer, but don't want the budget to take a hit just yet.

jennsmile · Mar 1, 2007

A safe cushion is 3-6 months of expenses in the bank. And then pay cash for a good used car. For great financal advice check out www.daveramsey.com

Jenn

jmsherwood · Mar 1, 2007

We just made this exact same decision last week and decided that the Entourage was just out of our price range and my hubby decided after doing some research that he would feel more comfortable with a used Honda or Toyota than a Hyundai, because the resale value is much better on those and we were reading about some problems that seem to be surfacing on the Entourages. I just fell in love with that car when we saw it, it has every feature you could possibly want and its so big inside, but we found a private seller who had a 2005 Honda Odyssey EXL, which had pretty much all the same stuff we wanted and they had purchased the extended warranty, so we're covered up to 75,000 miles. It only has 15k miles on it now and was more affordable. So I'm thrilled with it. It's a great van and I feel like we have so much more room and its safer too than our Mazda MPV.
I feel for you, those Entourages are really enticing....we just decided against it in the end. Good luck with your decision!
Jill

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

Alright, I think you guys are probably pointing me in the right direction with a different car. The only car I didn't get to test drive was a Ford Crown Vic/mercury grand marquis. That has all the safety I want, so it really just depends on my ability to drive it.
I looked on carmax and the price range is MUCH MUCH more comfortable. I'd be able to have a payment at about $200, which would leave me a $400 coushin per month--that seeeeems ok to me. What do you think?

twokidstwodogs · Mar 1, 2007

Synchro246 said:
Alright, I think you guys are probably pointing me in the right direction with a different car. The only car I didn't get to test drive was a Ford Crown Vic/mercury grand marquis. That has all the safety I want, so it really just depends on my ability to drive it.
I looked on carmax and the price range is MUCH MUCH more comfortable. I'd be able to have a payment at about $200, which would leave me a $400 coushin per month--that seeeeems ok to me. What do you think?

What year? The Grand Marquis does just okay on the 2006 Informed for Life rankings. It lacks stability control, and it also doesn't have side curtain airbags for rear passengers, which I think is generally desirable. (It matters less for kids in harnessed seats, though.) I think it's also rear-wheel drive, which I don't think is ideal for ordinary driving. You might be able to do better, both for safety and price.

I strongly second the idea of looking around for a used Odyssey, Sienna, or something similar. According to Edmunds, an 05 Odyssey is cheaper in my zip code than an 06 Grand Marquis, and it has better safety features. If you look at Odysseys, look for 2005 or newer--that's when they did their last safety overhaul. I don't know when Siennas got ESC or side curtain airbags for rear passengers, but I'm sure someone here does. You might also be able to find a used Kia Sportage somewhere for even less, though I don't know about Kia's long-term reliability.

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

I was looking at 2004 for the crown vic/marquis. Those are all up there, weird that they got higher risk scores in 2005 and 2006. The Lincoln Town car stays well ranked though, I thought they'd all be the same. I guess not. I'll look at 2004 for all three, but just the Town Car for 05, 06.

I'll check out some of those other cars, some I already know I want (Pilot) but I doubt it's affordable for the ones with ESC.

twokidstwodogs · Mar 1, 2007

Laura, I do understand completely how you feel about driving around in a car you don't think is safe enough. I got rid of my last car for just that reason, even though it was mechanically sound.

I guess the choice is whether you buy something now that is a sort of compromise, or else try to save up as much as possible to get something down the line that would be a step up in safety. If it's going to cause you a great deal of anxiety, it might be worth it an extra $200 per month. (For me, the $$ cushion thing is also a source of anxiety.) But if not, maybe it's better to wait a year or two and see if you can save enough to make the Entourage affordable (particularly since you'll probably be able to get a used one by then). Then you'll have what you really want and can drive it happily for years.

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

The plot thickens

Ok, so I went to my car and installed the baby's seat. I did the base before just to understand how it worked, and this time I actually tried to put the seat in next to my BV. It doesn't fit. No way no how. So BOTH kids would have to be outboard.
BUT that is not at all possible at the moment because as I discovered last week the passenger side seatbelt was installed backwords.
I'm off to make a thread or two about this dilemma.

I think, if Honda won't fix it (and I think they should fix it for free), I will need to get a "new" car. I will have $6000 by the time the baby is born and I will find something safer that will require me to finance less than $10K. That's ok with me, I think. I'm frustrated that I'm back to the drawing board about *WHICH* vehicle, but I will obsess thru it and the answer will present itself, I'm sure with much help here.

THAnks

Duckieheart · Mar 1, 2007

Re: The plot thickens

Not being tied to one vehicle can also save you money- especially on used cars. If you educate yourself about the general "type" of vehicle you're looking for- thats better than being tied to one. For example- we wanted a mini-van. We also planned to buy an Entourage (my FIL actually works fo rHyundai and is in charge of over-seeing them). However- we couldn't afford it. By not being tied to a specific mini-van, we were able to look around for the best deal (lets put it this way- our cost to own on our 06 Uplander is thousands less than the current retail value, we could sell it today and make thousands). So- it could be a blessing you arent sure what specific make and model you want.

lovinwaves · Mar 1, 2007

Re: The plot thickens

Duckieheart said:
By not being tied to a specific mini-van, we were able to look around for the best deal (lets put it this way- our cost to own on our 06 Uplander is thousands less than the current retail value, we could sell it today and make thousands). So- it could be a blessing you arent sure what specific make and model you want.

But, someone may be "tied", as you called it, to a vehicle or manufacturer because of Safety Rating, resale Value, how much they like the vehicle, driving, handling, etc.... Getting the best deal is not nearly as important as other things such as safety. Also, what do you mean when you say you could sell your '06 Uplander today and make thousands? All cars resale value depreciates, that's a fact

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

I spent the past couple of hours pouring over the informed for life ranking lists (as a jumping off point).
I printed out all the first pages of 2004-2006.
I looked up prices of all the cars with a 70 or lower risk score. Any under $18K on kelly blue book are on my list. I'd like to keep the actual price under $16K.

Here's my list I'm open to:
2003-
Lincoln Town Car

2004-
Ford Crown Vic
Mercury Grand Marquis
Honda Accord
Volkswagon Passat
and maybe a Nissan Quest if I can get a good deal

2005-
Mitsuhishi Galant
Chevy Malibu
Honda Accord
Volkswagon Passat

2006-
Kia Sedona
Hyundai Sonata
Mitsubishi Galant
Chevy Malibu
Subary Legacy
Honda Accord

lovinwaves · Mar 1, 2007

Synchro246 said:
I spent the past couple of hours pouring over the informed for life ranking lists (as a jumping off point).
I printed out all the first pages of 2004-2006.
I looked up prices of all the cars with a 70 or lower risk score. Any under $18K on kelly blue book are on my list. I'd like to keep the actual price under $16K.

Here's my list I'm open to:
2003-
Lincoln Town Car

2004-
Ford Crown Vic
Mercury Grand Marquis
Honda Accord
Volkswagon Passat
and maybe a Nissan Quest if I can get a good deal

2005-
Mitsuhishi Galant
Chevy Malibu
Honda Accord
Volkswagon Passat

2006-
Kia Sedona
Hyundai Sonata
Mitsubishi Galant
Chevy Malibu
Subary Legacy
Honda Accord

DEFINTELY a Honda Accord!!

They have a proven track record, of safety, reliability, and resale value!

We have a VW Passat

, very very nice driving machine, and super uber safe!

Also check out the Nissan Quest, and Kia Sedona <------------

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

lovinwaves said:
DEFINTELY a Honda Accord!! They have a proven track record, of safety, reliability, and resale value!

We have a VW Passat , very very nice driving machine, and super uber safe!

Also check out the Nissan Quest, and Kia Sedona <------------

My husband says the Passat is really small. Is it? He said "why don't we just keep the Honda if we get a car like that?" He also said "Those suck", but he wouldn't elaborate, except about it being small.

lovinwaves · Mar 1, 2007

Synchro246 said:
My husband says the Passat is really small. Is it? He said "why don't we just keep the Honda if we get a car like that?" He also said "Those suck", but he wouldn't elaborate, except about it being small.

I think your husband is thinking of the VW Jetta. Believe me, the Passat is much bigger than the Civic. I should know since I owned a Civic

I would say the Passat, Camry, Accord, are all around the same size....

Anyways, the Passat falls into the Midsize category where the Civic falls in the Compact category. I have pix of my Marathon's installed rear-facing in my husbands Passat if you would like to see them.

Also, I have sat several times in the rear of my husbands Passat with other adults and it is quite roomy actually. The engineers in Europe have this wonderful thing where the back of the front seats sort of "indent", if you will, so you have plenty of knee room.

ETA: ok I forgot to say that my siggie picture on the left is my daughter in her Marathon installed in DH's Passat.

southpawboston · Mar 1, 2007

i agree with lovinwaves; the passat, camry, and accord are all in the same size category. the camry and accord are bery similar, in that they are very reliable, but bland, cars. the passat is definitely a "driver's" car, is sporty, and handles very well. on the other hand, the passat is notorious for reliability issues, and can become very expensive to maintain. if buying another car is going to put you financially very close to the bone, you should consider repair costs down the road...

lovinwaves · Mar 1, 2007

southpawboston said:
i agree with lovinwaves; the passat, camry, and accord are all in the same size category. the camry and accord are bery similar, in that they are very reliable, but bland, cars. the passat is definitely a "driver's" car, is sporty, and handles very well. on the other hand, the passat is notorious for reliability issues, and can become very expensive to maintain. if buying another car is going to put you financially very close to the bone, you should consider repair costs down the road...

*Nodding head in Agreement*

If you aren't much of a *driving enthusiast* (like SBP, and me

) then I would recommend the Camry and Accord. However, if you are.....then put on your five point buckle, pick out a five-speed(should have been a six-speed, but that's another story), put on some 17" Goodyear Eagle F1 low profile tires and test drive a Passat. WEEEEEEEE!!!!

Hey SPB, would you mind PM'ing some info on the reliability issues you have heard on the Passat? DH and I are curious since we have never heard of this. Also, would you assume though that the repair costs would be the same on the Honda's, Toyota's, and VW's?

Synchro246 · Mar 1, 2007

Hey now post those reliability issues right here. OR Pm me too.
I like driving, but that issue isn't high on *my* list right now. My husband, on the other hand, is very much a driving enthusiast. He makes my civic do things that make me nervous. Oh, god, and the other day he took me out in the Dart and i about peed myself (not too big of a deal, I guess, cause I am in the third trimester)--anyway it was scary. Anyway I digress into OT and TMI land a bit. . .
I wonder if having a modern car built for that type of thing would make it safer and less scary.
I don't want another stick shift for now. I alternate between them. I've been driving stick long enough this time to be ready for the switch back to auto--much to my husband's dismay.

On the finance topic:
What do you think of a $400/month coushin? Does that seem way too small or does it seem reasonable?

Help me decide what to do~ to buy a car or not~

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