Hi there! So, I had been driving a 1998 Honda Civic since 2007, and it was up to 245k miles. It was getting to the point where I was sometimes a bit embarrassed to drive it to social gatherings, even though it was still quite economical to drive. Additionally my parents would regularly pressure me to “get something nicer,” which to them meant a < 4 year old car in the $15-20k range, preferably something brand new (my sister just dropped $30k+ on a new Jeep last year, and they thought that was a good decision).
Anyways, so I ended up scouting Craigslist for a couple months, and eventually bought an immaculate 2008 Honda Accord LX-P with 78k miles for $6900, with the cash I had been setting aside for a vehicle over the last couple years. Maybe it’s not quite badass, since the fuel economy isn’t the greatest, and my other car still had life in it (sold it for $1300), but I feel really good about the fact that I was able to navigate getting a new vehicle without succumbing to the idea that I needed something that would put me in debt, or compromise my other financial goals. Plus, this frees up additional money going forward to put in my 401(k).
It feels very odd for me to brag about something like this on an online forum, but I figured if anyone would understand, you guys would :-)