Hello everyone,
I will give more context on my financial position below, but here is the situation:
I am driving a 2014 Honda accord that I bought in a haste because my hand-me-down car died and I needed a commuter asap. Don't love it, don't hate it. I want to trade in for a Subaru Outback as it will be more accommodating to winter activities, camping gear, bikes, etc (things that the current vehicle does not do well). I live in New England and these things are what I spend a great deal of time doing.
I genuinely think that cars are overprices pieces of steel, and I want something that I can drive into the ground and that will accommodate the things mentioned above. Gas mileage is about the same on the two cars, and the outback is AWD which is something I know I don't need, but think would benefit from greatly.
Can someone please punch me in the face, or at the very least explain to me why I cannot seem to get over the "need" for this different car. I view the Outback as swiss army knife that I can keep for a very long time, but it would take some cash that might be better deployed elsewhere.
This has been an ongoing internal debate for the past 6 months, and I can't seem to get over it. Then again, a Subaru Outback being my "dream" car doesn't seem all that bad....
Financial Situation (rough)
Age- 24
Singe
HCOL area
Assets
401k-$7000 (24% of pay bi week)
Roth IRA- $12000
Cash- $6,000
Salary- $67,000 base + commission(expected $100k + for 2020- currently in software sales)
Expenses- $3500/ mo
-includes all spending (fixed and variable)
Car Breakdown
Accord
Loan- $11,700 left
Payment- $270/mo
Insurance- $67/mo
Outback
Loan- $16000 with a $7000-$10000 down payment
Payment/Insurance would rise, but not by very much based on my assessments.
Thanks for reading and any advice!