WDC's Practical Car Perseveration

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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.

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.