Howdy, all.
Feel free to mock me for my lack of badassery...but I've never been in a position to buy a real car with cash before, nor have I ever bought a used car for more than $700 (1982 Caddy, the "non-real" car referred to earlier in the sentence) - I've owned three "real" cars, and they were all bought new, albeit rabidly cheaply (Geo Prizm, Geo Prizm, Kia Rio). So I need some advice and/or hand-holding.
Current car: 2003 Kia Rio, 120k miles. The PA inspection is up at the end of May, but I took it in early, and lo and behold, it needs at least ~$1500 of work to make it pass, plus some weird wiring issues (involving the reverse lights) that would require various lengthy disassembling just to diagnose, apparently. My main use for it is my work commute - 9.5 miles each way, plus various "going out" driving - movies/eating/etc. I put a lot of miles on it early on, but these days it's about 10-12k/yr.
Now I know I *should* be biking to work, and I'm actually in the process of building a recumbent, but I'm not convinced it'll be practical - my route to work is not terribly bike-friendly (lots of pot-holes on the shoulders, 55mph in places). So I'm looking at replacement car options just in case. In that sense, MMM's recent top-10-cars post came at the right time!
But I find myself a bit apprehensive. I'd become used to having no car payments...now, ~$7500 is a lot of money! Yes, I'm saving interest, but what if I get it inspected like a responsible mustachian, but it still goes south, and this old, used car turns into a doorstop? Weirdly, I feel more comfortable looking at *very* old cars with extremely low mileage but very low cost (~$2500), thinking, 'well, if it completely falls apart, at least I'm only out $2500'. Or getting a Volt lease for $350/mo - woo, shiny, buy no gas, get no oil changes, warranty coverage, and the total lease payments are only a bit more than the up-front plus depreciation on one of the used gems...
Anyway, I'm looking at all these used car prices and edmund's TCO thing (for the models they actually have it for...), and I'm filled with ennui.
Snap me out of it?
-Dave