I'm deciding between two cars...what do you think?

I pay $350/month for my 2005 Mustang with a 1000-watt stereo system, power windows/doors/mirrors and "premium" wheels (which were really not all that great, but they were better than the base option).

$300/month to not have power windows/mirrors/locks doesn't sound like a great idea. And seriously, while it seems like a good idea to save the money now, not having power windows/doors/mirrors is a pain in the ass.

Honestly, I didn't even realize those were still considered options. I thought they were standard on damn near all cars.

 

Well congratulations to all of you who have better credit than me. I get it. I know it's not a great car. Can we please get past it now?

I can't get a car with power windows, new, ever. Not now. Not for probably three years. So can we please just look at this through the prism of MY finances, not yours? please?

 

Dear IJAG: As you describe your decision, the Impala seems like a SLIGHTLY better choice, albeit one with a higher risk-reward ratio. That is, you'll enjoy driving the car more, and it's a better deal, but it does carry the risk of more unexpected expenses in repairs.
So the choice basically boils down to your own peace of mind. How much will that possibility bother you over the course of making payments? If you can live with it, get the Impala. If not, the Nissan.

 

Thanks, Michael. That's pretty much been the breaking point (well that and three years vs. six years). I'm obviously in a bad place financially and credit-wise, if these are my only two choices. So while I can budget for a car payment, if something goes down with the Impala I have no idea how I'd pay for it.

I should be able to get 45 days on either car before making my first payment, so I'm opening an account at the credit union at work and putting a car payment from this coming paycheck in there, then hopefully $20 a paycheck after that to build up a reserve in case of repairs/whatever. So if I get the Impala, I'll have that. If I get the Versa, I'll have a head start on my downpayment for the next one.

 

Impala. And this is from a guy who seriously distrusts cars under the flag of an American car company.

I wouldn't want to spend $50 per month more on a car that has less.

 

Rolling a window down manually really isn't that big of a deal.

And power ones can and do break. And they're not cheap fixes.

I have a power passenger window that the passenger can lower, but not raise (power to raise only works on driver's side).

And on driver's side, if you lower the window too far, it doesn't want to come back up. You have to grab it from the top and pull it up a little bit until it reaches a point where the power starts working again.

 

It's funny that so many people are trying to upsell you. If it were me, I'd be looking significantly cheaper than either of them.

The fact that you are willing to do without some frills in a car is admirable. Don't listen to the haters.

 

Yeah, I had a switch of some sort go out on the driver's side window of my Sentra. It was, I'm thinking, nearly a $200 fix. The windows/locks don't bother me, nor does the lack of a radio (friend can install one on the cheap). The concern is length of payment/cost per month plus resale/trade-in value on a car with less than no frills.

 

Don't resell it or trade it in. Pay it off, drive it till it falls apart, then push it around Flintstone-style for a few months after that.

Resale value only matters to people who are in a position to buy new cars before they absolutely need to.

 

Rick: I started this looking at a $3500 Hyundai Accent. I looked at some $4000 cars. Problem is, with my credit, banks won't finance me on a car that cheap. No reward for them. So if I need financing, which I do, I have to go for a more expensive car to even have a shot. But I can't go too expensive, obviously, because with my credit I'm looking in the mid-teens for interest rates.

It's a hell of a conundrum.

 

It matters to me. I can drive that car for three years. I can't drive it for 10.

 

Another thing to keep in mind.

Her trade-in value on a stripped down model is going to be much less, despite what she's paying up front.

IJAG, have you checked Consumer Reports and other reviews for customer satisfaction as far as repairs go? All I can tell you from anecdotal reports is the friends I have who own Imaplas love them and haven't had a lot of repair problems with them. But that's not scientific by any stretch of the imagination.