Author Topic: Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread  (Read 2000 times)

englishteacheralex

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Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread
« on: June 01, 2017, 06:26:03 PM »
Here's the car:

We got a badass 1998 Toyota Corolla here, people. Yep, the year I graduated from high school. It's silver, has a crack in the windshield, and a bumper that is a faintly different color from the rest of the car. Husband replaces the spark plugs (whatever that means) every couple of months because of a rattle that seems to be temporarily solved with a new spark plug. The car freakin' loves spark plugs. We should call it Sparky. AC kinda works. Something's wrong with the oil. Husband understands it better than me.

Husband took it in to get it inspected and nobody'll cut him a break an account of the crack in the windshield. We always used to skate by on that one but I guess the state of Hawaii cracked down and there's no more Aloha for cracked windshields. So we're talkin' around $350 to replace the windshield and then around $300 to get the registration renewed.

Husband says the car is about to shit the bed any day now. Sparky has some issues, I guess. But husband has less than a 1 mile commute to work (it's up a very steep hill so NO, NO Bike riding, sorry, just no, yes it's less than a mile but it's up a freakin' huge hill on a highway. I know that's a weird commute but there it is.) and calls the Corolla a glorified moped.

My feeling is we sink the $700 into it and keep it CoROLLin' along for another year or two. Husband is over it with this thing. We got a 2003 Matrix last year for $3300 and husband wants to sell the Corolla for whatever we can get for it and buy an old Mazda 5 minivan for <$3k because we live in a tiny gulag condo in Honolulu with tiny parking spaces and two babies so the sliding door would make our neighbors happy, since we're always dinging their cars with our doors to get the carseats in (sorry, neighbors!).

Whaddya think?

ohsnap

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Re: Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2017, 07:38:53 AM »
I just took a peek at your journal.  I'm drawing some assumptions, but based on what I saw there, I say look for the minivan.  Here are my reasons:

1. You can afford it (2 decent incomes).
2. You don't have an aggressive FIRE goal or anything else that this purchase would set back.
3. You've been considering a used minivan for at least a year (so it isn't just an impulse buy, it sounds like it would work well for your family).

skeeder

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Re: Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2017, 07:51:32 AM »
I wouldn't advise the Mazda 5, if you want something with sliding doors I would suggest a used Sienna or Odyssey.  Mazda for many years were glorified Ford's cars.  Plus the Mazda 5 isn't a full size minivan, yet gets the same gas mileage.  I can't recommend it. 

Since you have a matrix (great car), why not a moped?  If the corolla is a glorified moped, why not make the switch?  Depending on state law you may avoid having to register it like a car. 



englishteacheralex

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Re: Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2017, 10:31:29 AM »
Thanks ehallison! All good points and I appreciate you taking the time to look over my journal for greater background info.

Skeeder...you know, I hear you on the no love for Mazda 5 stuff. I've looked at Odysseys and Siennas plenty, and in normal circumstances I'd agree with you, but Hawaii parking is awful and I hate the thought of driving anything bigger than a Mazda 5. They make the parking spaces really small everywhere, not just our condo parking lot.

We are a family of four and probably not going to expand in the foreseeable future. Mostly the Mazda 5 would be used with the third row folded down for cargo space. It's the sliding doors I'm after--I'm so tired of having to back up the car in order to get the kids in without dinging the hell out of the cars next to me.

My main concern about a Mazda 5 is that it might have mechanical issues. I've always been a Toyota girl.

Can't go the moped route. Husband needs to be taking a kid to daycare in the morning to streamline our morning routine, which is pretty hectic what with trying to get everybody to work/daycare.

crispy

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Re: Yet another "Should I sell this car?" thread
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2017, 11:11:37 AM »
We drove a Mazda5 for years and loved it. It is a great option when you have two small kids. I didn't want a huge vehicle, but I wanted those sliding doors, too, so this was a great option. I drove Mone for 7 years before it was totalled in an accident.