Finance car advice - ghetto fabulous style

[mathjak107]

Hi Laurence--

Ireally wish you well with your Volvo.  Mine was an absolute
nightmare.  It was a 2000 S80 T06 with 17000 mi when I bought it in 03 from a Volvo dealer. I got it for less than KBB and was thrilled at the bargain I drove.  A month later, Volvo HQ pulled the dealership and all the parts and specialized garage equipment. Any warranty necessitated a 3 hr drive each way.   Even getting an oil change was a hassle--no 10 min "Quick Lube" would touch it.  And parts?  Let me just say Sweden must be a long way away!!!!!!!!

Bottom line: it was a lemon and a money pit!!!!!!  I hope you fare better than me.  I hate undependable (and expensive to maintain) cars.  My Volvo was the poster car for both!!!!!!!  Never again.

Professor

after 8 years of ownership the only thing i didnt replace on my volvo was the glove compartment door...what a piece of crap...........

 

[mathjak107]

the way my volvo performed in snow you would think sweeden was in the caribbean ........ now i have a bmw x3 and its an absolute dream to drive..so far reliability has been as good as my nissans

 

[mathjak107]

thats what we get for buying a car that sounds like a female body part!

 

[bpp]

thats what we get for buying a car that sounds like a female body part!

You reminded me of a conversation I overheard when I was 5 or 6, wherein a friend of my mother was complaining about the problems she was having with her Volvo. Fairly confusing and somewhat disturbing, until I figured out that it was a type of car...

 

[FinanceDude]

Stick with imports.............

You can find an older Accord or Camry for a good price. As far as miles, 70-80K is nothing on a good import engine.

4-cylinder in Honda gives 28-30 in mixed driving, and 35-36 on highway.........

I think one can be had under $10K in the 4-6 year old range...............

 

[youbet]

Gee, as long as we're blasting Volvos.......

DW used to car pool with a woman who drove a Volvo. There were so many instances where they had breakdowns and I had to go pick them up that I finally convinced DW to drive herself. That was many years ago. It's interesting to hear that things haven't changed!

 

[laurence]

Step-Dad drove a volvo for 20 years and put 300k+ miles on it, replaced it with a Volvo Cross Country (skis a lot) in '98. It's part of why I bought a Volvo myself. first 20k, so far, so good.

 

[haha]

You reminded me of a conversation I overheard when I was 5 or 6, wherein a friend of my mother was complaining about the problems she was having with her Volvo.  Fairly confusing and somewhat disturbing, until I figured out that it was a type of car...

Ha! In the early 70s I had a  Volvo 122s. I had a co-worker who always referred to how much I loved my "little red vulva". I felt that I couldn't correct her pronunciation. I really didn't know what to do.

She was right about one thing. I did love it- I eventually drove it for 335,000 miles and sold it for roughly what I had paid for it years earlier.

Ha

 

[HFWR]

That was one well-used vulva...

 

[ccaccc]

Here's a pretty cool car cost calculator that might help:

http://www.financialhacks.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23

It doesn't take into account resale value, for which Hondas and Toyotas are far ahead of the rest.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Umm, has anyone noticed that this thread about cars has been alive for almost a year now?  Are we really that interested in used cars?

 

[brewer12345]

Umm, has anyone noticed that this thread about cars has been alive for almost a year now?  Are we really that interested in used cars?

Well, cars are one of the biggest potential financial drains on net worth. Can you name another large depreciating asset that just about every Merkin household owns?

 

[Nords]

Well, cars are one of the biggest potential financial drains on net worth.  Can you name another large depreciating asset that just about every Merkin household owns?

Hey, only the land underneath the house is rising in value. And judging from HGTV, I suspect that people think their kitchens & furniture depreciate at least as fast as their vehicles.

Speaking of house depreciation, can you imagine a vehicle life of 27.5 years?

Instead of depreciating assets, how about compounding liabilities like credit-card balances... or kids?

 

[FinanceDude]

Well, cars are one of the biggest potential financial drains on net worth.  Can you name another large depreciating asset that just about every Merkin household owns?

Not really................there was an article a few years ago, that said the "average American" would spend between $250,000 and $300,000 for car payments, insurance gas, etc in their lifetime...............today it seems closer to $500,000.............a mighty big number.

Of course, paying cash for used cars is my method, pretty boring..........