Forced into the car market: Lease or Buy?
I’d buy a newer used car. There are good deals right now and if you’re the kind of person that keeps a car forever you’ll come out ahead. Personally for a good combination of reasonably price, availability, long haul comfort and gas mileage I recommend you look at VWs. My Jetta got 34 mpg+ (stick) and was approximately 100x more comfortable and fun to drive than the much newer Subaru I have now. And it held more and the radio was better. Used Toyotas and Hondas are insanely overpriced around here for what you get.
Thanks for all the comments thus far, keep ’em coming. Just some more information: We haven’t had car payments for a while now, and a very low insurance premium on a pretty old (but low mileage) and fantastically running car. We’re probably not going to get much money in the way of an insurance claim because of the age of the car. We’re really not the type to drive anything flashy, nor were we really even considering a Beemer or Mercedes (maybe, until now). My wife insisted I clarify that I should not have stated that we drive a “ton.” We merely drive to the East Coast several times a year, but we’re good about consolidating long trips.It is interesting the everyone thus far has commented that leasing is a bad idea, but when I was out with a few neighbors, they all seemed to think that leasing was the way to go because one can “try and not buy,” and the car will be under warranty for basically the life of ownership. We’ve never even considered leasing before this catastrophe happened a
Actually, leasing (and returning the car at the end of the lease) only typically becomes worthwhile if you actually drive the car to the number of miles/kilometers that you’re allowed; that’s because the depreciated value on which the lease payments are based is determined by assuming that you will use up all of your mileage. That being said, leasing sucks. I did it for my first car, and never again. Since the car doesn’t really belong to you — you’re only renting it, after all — no matter what happens to the car (ie: dings, scratches, etc.), you’re always wondering if you are going to have to fix that before returning it. Also, you’re always keeping an eye on your mileage to make sure that you don’t exceed the magic number. For me, it was very constraining. Now, I’ve got a car that I actually own, and it’s liberating. If you can afford it, buy/finance your car. As for model suggestions (I’m not sure if that’s part of your question) I would recommend a Toyota Corolla. It’s great on g
I agree with the previous poster- go with something more comfortable and quieter. Sitting in a high-revving Japanese econobox for long hauls like that will drive you crazy. The new C-Class is an absolutely wonderful entry-level car. If that is not an option, then go with something Swedish – like a SAAB 9-3 or the Volvo S series. Both are comfortable, quiet, safe and good on gas.
