Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh (PA)
I promise this will be the last time I post this advice, but.....
Get a beater for this vehicle. Something cheap to buy, cheap to insure and not nice so when your son inevitably dings it up, you won't be heartbroken. You're going to drive it maybe 20 times in the next year. 90% of those drives are going to be in bad weather, or to pick up some bulky (ie: interior tearing) item for your soon to be new house or with a couple of dirty kids and a dirty dog or teaching your son to drive. None of those activities benefit from a nice car or purtend to a fun driving experience. All of them have a high degree of risk that either the outside is going to get scratched or the inside is going to get mudded / torn up.
When you're not doing one of the above activities, you and your son will be happy in the front seat of the 2er. The 10% of the time you're doing a family road trip you'll still get more joy from practicality then you will from performance.
Spend $15k- $20k on a 2 gen old base x5, or an a4 wagon, or a w212 wagon, or a CX-7 or a mazda 6 wagon. Get a roof box, a hitch, a set of rubber mats and a set of weather aggressive all season tires and never worry about it again.
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Hell of an idea of how much one should spend on a "beater."
Quote:
Originally Posted by equ
I completely disagree.
Worry about the teen (if he even wants to drive) when that time comes. He should be all about bicycles and iphones. Right now, she needs transportation. For most people, who don't want to chase little niggles and don't have time to 'sort' a used vehicle, it means a new, peppy, just right sized car/cuv. A $15-20k w212 or x5 is rolling the dice. It means spending time finding german repair shops as dealers will be too costly for the things large and small that need doing. Other than being faded luxury, those are not better than having a new cx5 in the garage that you do not have to worry about.
A cheap new car is a much better 'beater' (as in worry free) than a used luxo one. Unless you get a hook up from a good seller, like all those nice cars wdc herself sold and even those will be time & money-costly to keep driving as a daily.
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And a hell of an idea of what "beater" means in the context of cars.
At first, I was in total agreement with Josh on the idea of a "beater," but for slightly more expansive reasons (and a lot less weight placed on some of the ones Josh lists). After skimming the thread again, I'm not sure.
I'm unclear on how critical the need for a car is. The impression I've wound up with is that she wants a car to fit a certain role much more than she actually needs an additional car.
Whether she needs on or not, she looks to have dug herself into some real clyde-level analysis paralysis on the choice at first glance, but upon review, it seems much more clear that there's even more clyde-like self-sabotage going on. WDC wants a new BMW SUV, but doesn't want to spend what it will cost today, so keeps looking at other things and kind of trying to talk herself into them even thought they're not really what she wants. The only two things that fix that are 1) spend the money or 2) let it go and move on. (and yes, that's advice for myself, too)
I could be way wrong about all of that. Most of all, if there's an actual need for an additional vehicle "now," a beater could be the best idea. But a real beater. This is why:
A real beater is an appliance that serves the practical need when you need it while not needing care about appearance, broken/torn/worn things that don't prevent safe and reliable operation (even then, allow some wiggle room), and the driving experience is a byproduct...all at a cost that if it dies and leaves you stranded somewhere in the first year, you'll literally walk away from it with no hard feelings as you start looking for the next one.
Anything resembling "new" is not a beater. Low five figures is not a beater.