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I disagree with this. Depends on the car and whether it was well maintained or not to determine longevity. A Corvette should last longer than a Focus. Some Toyota 4cyl drivetrains will last over 200,000miles easily. I give both examples because I have experienced them myself.
I understand from acquaintainces who are auto. techs. that the high end european cars tend to have poor longevity if there as been neglected proactive maintenance.
My exerience is the opposite.. my early nissans were great. later nissans problematic after 3 years.
alternator failures at 39k in my altima and 41lk in my quest....
altima we kept for 140k but everything over 100k was plagued with repairs.... it got to the point it was silly fixing it.
My exerience is the opposite.. my early nissans were great. later nissans problematic after 3 years.
alternator failures at 39k in my altima and 41lk in my quest....
altima we kept for 140k but everything over 100k was plagued with repairs.... it got to the point it was silly fixing it.
wow it must be the build quality. my 94 civic had 200k, I beat the crap out of it, and i still drove it cross country (2800 miles). still original trans and engine. I have been hearing that honda's now are not what they used to be.
Cars from the 1990's were amazing... Its back then the manufacturers realized they were putting themselves out of business with cars that just wouldnt die.
Thru the later years they began to build them according to jd powers with about 4 years of trouble free life before things started going.
nothing to worry about? i wouldnt call a failed transmission or expensive engine repair nothing.
while you may not have car payments you certainly may have expenses that can easily cost thousands. the other problem is with an old car the repairs can easily exceed the cars value. now you need money for another car.
hardly a worry free ordeal owning an old car. it may not cost as much as a new car but cost it will.
I would call it nothing to worry about, because the OP said he was disciplined enough to be setting aside the car payment every month. I was wrong above when I said 80k in 10 years, because it looks like he's figuring 5k a year, not 10k. Even at that rate, his five year old car is not going to cost him $400 a month extra in repairs, so you can safely assume that by the time his transmission goes out, he has the 2k it might cost him. I doubt its that much but i'll humor you with a high number. Eight years down the road, he as a ton of money in the bank (easily 25-30k) even if he spends 10-15k on repairs, which is completely unheard of if he gets a reliable Toyota or Honda and takes care of it, and can damn near pay cash for his next brand new dream car.
If you are that concerned about the financial minutia and your your commute is going to increase to 30,000 miles a year i'd be looking at a very frugal car when it comes to MPG something that can get in the 40mpg range, Audi at this point could be kept as a second car if you like it that much but as a daily driver for that many miles a day it makes for a crappy and unreliable older car.As for the Audi's value? i think you are being very optimistic thinking you'll get $20K for it,$15K might be a more realistic value..
I was just using round numbers. Realistically I was thinking 18k-ish. It was 36k new before taxes.
But I'm the opposite. With a long commute in heavy traffic, I need to like what I'm driving, especially being a car guy. I know some people see cars as nothing more than a way to get from a to b, but I enjoy them like a hobby. I'm always looking at cars and wondering what my next one will be.
But so far, it seems like my math was pretty correct overall since no one seems to disagree. I suppose if I waited another 8 years, I'd come out ahead. But that's not going to happen. I was thinking more like another 2-4 max.
No A3 is still worth 20k at the 5 yr mark..... You can buy one new for just over 30. I would drive the car into the ground, saving your former payment amount as a downpayment for he next car. Big miles commuting will destroy a car so why not let this 5 year old car take the beating.
Next time buy the TDI version and get better mileage.
I've had my Audi A3 for almost 5 years so it's almost paid off. Woot!
It only has around 45k miles and I love the car so I was planning to just keep driving and sock away the "payment" each month, saving for an eventual new car.
But now we are moving and my commute is about to triple. I'm expecting to put a solid 30k miles per year on it. IMO, this will cause the equity to drop like a rock. I know a vehicle is not an investment, but I've always been able to sell my cars at their sweet spot of equity, allowing for an upgrade on the next car, keeping payments about the same. This is the first time in my life I will be paying off a car and the first time I like a car enough to want to keep driving it. So i started doing some simple math. Hear me out and then let me know what you think.
Let's use round numbers and just say my car right now would be worth $20k with 45k miles. That's $20k towards the downpayment of another car.
Now let's say I continue to drive it for another two years. The car will have over 105k miles. Let's say it's now worth what???? $13k? Meanwhile, by saving my monthly payment I've saved a total of $10k, but lets remove $1k for some repairs out of warranty. So $9k. Add that to the $13k and I've got $22k for a downpayment on another car.
So if my guesstimations are any where near correct, I'm not coming out ahead by much by holding on to the car. I suppose if I really drive it into the ground I would continue to inch up that saved amount, but being a late model german car (also modified to Stage 2)... not sure how long I can realistically see it lasting before running into major problems.
So overall, would you say that in my case, putting on a lot of miles, I don't have much of an argument either way in keeping vs selling?
Or is there something I'm not thinking about or not calculating correctly?
Something a bit more fuel efficient might make the hassle of getting something new worth it.
TIA.
hi! i have been driving the a3 (older model) for 12 years now..has almost 300 k miles..if u keep the car in shape ...it will last u longer...oil change..oil filter brakes and all, cooling system ecc... if u don't abuse the car u will be rewarded !
No A3 is still worth 20k at the 5 yr mark..... You can buy one new for just over 30. I would drive the car into the ground, saving your former payment amount as a downpayment for he next car. Big miles commuting will destroy a car so why not let this 5 year old car take the beating.
Next time buy the TDI version and get better mileage.
That's pretty much the plan... the TDI next. It wasn't available when I got mine. And you can not get one loaded for 30. It will cost well over 38k now to get the equivalent of my car.
So at ~30k miles per year, my car will have around 150k miles in 3 more years. I'd probably be ready for another car by then. With the money saved (minus any repairs, plus high maintenance costs), i'm not seeing myself being ahead by much. Because if it's not worth 20k with only 45k miles, I don't see it being worth squat with 150k miles or more.
This is EASY. Sell your current car for $20K and buy a BRAND NEW Camry or Accord with an extra $2,000 to $3,000. Or, buy a brand new Civic or Corolla and pocket the extra $3K.
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IMO, this will cause the equity to drop like a rock. I know a vehicle is not an investment, but I've always been able to sell my cars at their sweet spot of equity, allowing for an upgrade on the next car, keeping payments about the same. This is the first time in my life I will be paying off a car and the first time I like a car enough to want to keep driving it. So i started doing some simple math. Hear me out and then let me know what you think.
