The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: LaurenR on August 22, 2017, 08:08:04 AM
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We're moving from Denver to Fort Worth and are going to need to pick up a commuter car. The commute is just under 30 mi roundtrip. Top candidates:
Used 2010 Prius w/ ~100k miles - about $10k
Used 2015 Leaf w/ ~30k miles - about $10k
New 2017 Prius Prime - about $21k factoring in sweet CO/Fed credits, hard to find, highest price
New 2017 Nissan Leaf - about $15k w/ credits and financing deal (similar to MMM), seem to depreciate quickly
Help talk me through this please! These vehicles all fit my needs, just trying to make the smartest financial decision (considerations of holding value, taking advantage of credits (I owe enough tax to get full amounts), etc.
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Either used or new Leaf looks fine to me. That is a really good price for a brand new electric car.
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Are you only using it for commuting? The Leaf is tiny, while the prius has some cargo space. So not exactly fair comparison if you have other needs. Also; one round trip to work and the battery is almost empty, while the prius would only need gas once every 3 weeks. So if you'd need to go home for something (e.g. contractors, delivery) and back to work you might not make it in the Leaf. That's what killed it for me.
FYI I got a 2013 prius, ~40k miles for $15k over 3 years ago. So those sound a bit expensive. I'd look 2012+ as that's after latest redesign.
New sounds like a terrible deal, but what else is new..
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Yes this would only be for commuting, space isn't an issue. Our other car is a 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring and would be used for the big stuff. FYI don't get one, we don't like it, but running it into the ground since we already have it.
Open to other vehicle choice suggestions too, but we are mostly interested in Toyota or Honda for gas/hybrid vehicles. Electric open to all makes.
I definitely haven't done all the price shopping I need to. I just did a quick look on Craigslist for the purposes of writing this email. Hopefully I could get something for a bargain, but the pricing was pretty consistent at first glance!