Another car advice thread

[madmax]

I've been struggling with what to do with my car from my pre-mustachian days for a while. The car in question is a 2008 Audi A4 with 53k miles. I got it for 25k and still have a 6k loan on it.

KBB value for the car: 17k (fair) to 20k (excellent). I'd imagine that I would be able to sell it for about 18k on a good day.

Some other facts:

Age 27
Annual income: 135k
Retirement accounts: 50k
Cash on hand: 3500k (emergency fund)
Rate of interest on the loan: 2.9 %

I live in a high income and high expense area so I'm saving approximately 50% of my income even after making a $ 425 car payment.

There is nothing wrong with the car and it gets about 20 mpg city/ 28 mpg highway.  I drive approximately 40 miles total per day to work 4 times a week and my monthly gas expense is approximately 150 - 180.

Cost of car insurance is $ 135 (I also pay my girlfriend's bill)

Now my dilemma is -

Do I pay off the loan and keep the car and pay the inevitable high maintenance bills once it comes out of warranty (six months of CPO warranty remaining). If I keep it, I will need a brake job ($ 800) and a timing belt at 75k ($ 1500). It also needs expensive synthetic oil at $110 per oil change every 5k miles. I live in an apartment complex which doesn't allow car maintenance in the premises so DIY is not an option.

OR

Sell the car and get the most I can from the sale and buy a used 2004 Prius for approximately $8000?

[Spork]

It also needs expensive synthetic oil at $110 per oil change every 5k miles. I live in an apartment complex which doesn't allow car maintenance in the premises so DIY is not an option.

great googly moogly, what brand of diamond encrusted oil is this?  I've never paid more than $35 for 6qts of synthetic.   And if I'm using synthetic, I run it longer than 5000 miles.  That's the whole reason I use synthetic!

Can you buy your oil and filter somewhere with less markup and take it to the oil change place to save a few bucks?

I know... that's not the question you were asking.  Sorry.

[capital]

You can afford an expensive car, but unless you actually enjoy it, a lot, I don't see any reason not to sell it ASAP and get that Prius. Audis don't exactly have a reputation for reliability. Even if driving's your hobby, you could probably buy a Prius and a 2000 Miata (or whatever) for under $18k, and have far lower maintenance/insurance/depreciation costs.

[madmax]

It also needs expensive synthetic oil at $110 per oil change every 5k miles. I live in an apartment complex which doesn't allow car maintenance in the premises so DIY is not an option.

great googly moogly, what brand of diamond encrusted oil is this?  I've never paid more than $35 for 6qts of synthetic.   And if I'm using synthetic, I run it longer than 5000 miles.  That's the whole reason I use synthetic!

Can you buy your oil and filter somewhere with less markup and take it to the oil change place to save a few bucks?

I know... that's not the question you were asking.  Sorry.

The mechanic that I use charges $ 58 for the oil and $ 10 for the filter. Labor is $ 33 (0.3 hours @ 110 per hour). He doesn't let me bring my own oil but I'm happy to pay for his services because he also does a thorough inspection. As for the 5k interval, Audi recommendation is 10k as you said but these cars seem to have oil burning issues and the folks at AudiForums.com recommend a 5k interval.

[madmax]

You can afford an expensive car, but unless you actually enjoy it, a lot, I don't see any reason not to sell it ASAP and get that Prius. Audis don't exactly have a reputation for reliability. Even if driving's your hobby, you could probably buy a Prius and a 2000 Miata (or whatever) for under $18k, and have far lower maintenance/insurance/depreciation costs.

Sound advice - thanks! I don't actually enjoy driving the car a whole lot either, I've come to see it as just a machine that gets me around. 

[rejones]

I have only been reading the blog for a month or two, but isnt the mustachian answer to sell the car, move closer to work, and commute by bike?

[madmax]

In this case probably not, I work in two offices and my current apartment is midway between the two. Moving to a biking distance from any of the office would make my rent go up by a lot and still leave me with the problem of commuting to the other office.