I am a newly minted Mustachian, finishing up my senior year of college. As such I'm still working to shrug off some of the burdens imposed by my previous non-Mustachian lifestyle, the biggest of which is my car. It's a 1999 Buick Park Avenue Ultra, a supercharged V6 6-seater rolling living room longer than a Chevy Tahoe, that drinks premium fuel at a rate of 16 MPG. I know the car must go, but I'm not sure if now is the time. Here's my situation:
-Parents pay for much of my lifestyle, including tuition, rent, groceries, phone bill, and insurance. I pretty much just pay for gas, school supplies, incidentals, utilities, and alcohol.
-Zero debt
-$1800 in the bank
-New job 3 days/week paying ~$1200/month after taxes
-Bought a $350 bike that I take most places. To work 26 miles RT, to school 2 miles RT, the grocery store, my mom's house, and everywhere in between. I use the car about once a week, but I don't want to go car free, because when I do use it, it's so damn useful.
Considering my low car usage, should I bother getting rid of it right now, or is it not a big deal? I paid $1600 for it, and could probably sell it for a couple hundred more than that (it's in excellent condition but with 203k), but a new car (considering an original Honda Insight or Mazda 3 hatch) would set me back $2-5k. Plus with a more efficient car, I think the temptation to use it to get to work would be high enough I'd probably break down a few times a month. (Biking 26 miles is hard.) Either way I will want to use the car to commute once winter gets here. I do not want to be biking below 50º.
What do you think? Replace the car ASAP, or keep on keepin' on, focusing more on minimizing car usage?