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Beater for cash vs payments?

G

gregulator

Senior member
If you can get a decent car for $5 to $10k and can pay cash, would you rather do that or finance a new car for $20-$30k? My current thoughts are:

1) Used Audi Allroad, $5k for a 120k miles 2.7T nightmare engine, or $10k for a 100k miles v8 version. Understanding that it may require $10k+ in repairs in the next few years. Sales tax and excise tax are a lot lower. Save the payments each month, and cross my fingers that I don't have to hit $10k in repairs.

2) New Subaru Outback, new/used Ford Edge, or similar vehicle. Probably a decent loan rate of 3%, warranty, some peace of mind. Still have to price in wear items. Payments after 4-5 years of ownership always feels like a kick in the teeth.

I am a sucker for Audis, they are tanks in the snow, very safe, and extremely comfortable (and they seem to be dirt cheap on the used market). However, I am definitely impressed by a lot of new car interiors, all manufacturers seem to have stepped up to the plate. My biggest requirements are to be comfortable, needs to be AWD, and enough room for kids and all their crap! I like the idea of used because then I won't freak out when the interior is mutilated...
 
Depends on what the car is going to be used for. For basic transportation to/from work where it'll rack up a load of miles and just get "worn out", I usually find a cheap as can be car and pay cash, run it with minimal maintenance until it dies then replace it.
 
There is not enough information to answer your question.

For person A, the new car is an option. For person B, the only choice may be the used one.
 
If you're happy with the Audi, go with the Audi. Here's what I do when trying to decide between used/new.

Ask yourself. How many miles do you drive per year?
How many miles do you think you should sell/trade the vehicle?
What's the cost of the vehicle?

With that information, you can determine the cost per year of the vehicle and go from there. SO if you buy a $5k car at 120k miles, drive 15k miles per year, and expect to get 150k miles out of it before selling/trading, you have 2 years of use out of the vehicle...divide $5k by 2 and you get $2500 per year... Most cars can go to 150k to 200k before having major issues, but it depends more on the powertrain than anything. That, or a water pump, or a timing belt, or a power steering pump, etc....the mechanical parts tend to fail first. Just research those possible costs and figure how much risk there is in keeping the vehicle longer.

I usually drive about 15k miles per year and want to trade at 8+ years of service. It usually gets me to 120k miles+...
 
Which Infinity models would be comparable? I have never owned a BMW, and it is harder to find an independent shop around Maine for them. I am not sure I could find the same deals for them on the used market since the AWD wagons seem to be more rare.

I would likely run the used car into the ground, but not a new car. I am going to be honest with myself and understand that after 5 years of ownership, I will want a new car...
 
The $10k in repairs is a myth, as long as you can do some work yourself and some web searching.

Unless your engine or trans blows up.
 
Plugers said:
The $10k in repairs is a myth, as long as you can do some work yourself and some web searching.

Unless your engine or trans blows up.
Click to expand...

Aren't Audis pretty difficult to work on? Even though they have a longitudinal layout, they make them cab-forward and squeeze everything in there like a FWD car.
 
Throckmorton said:
Aren't Audis pretty difficult to work on? Even though they have a longitudinal layout, they make them cab-forward and squeeze everything in there like a FWD car.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's usually the labor that you have to worry about if you're not doing it yourself. Replacing a turbo on the 2.7T will rack up some labor hours.
 
Skip the Audi, there's no reason to put up with that unless you really enjoy working on them and have plenty of extra money in case something pricey takes a dump. Older models have sludging issues as well that are exacerbated by owners running cheap oil or lagging on oil changes, so I wouldn't buy one unless I knew the owner had run nothing but synthetic and changed it religiously.

I second the G35x option, and also Subarus are gold for the duties you're talking about.

It is indeed smartest financially to go with a known reliable used vehicle rather than eating the massive depreciation of a new vehicle yourself. So many cars are worth less than half the new price within a tiny amount of time.
 
Throckmorton said:
Aren't Audis pretty difficult to work on? Even though they have a longitudinal layout, they make them cab-forward and squeeze everything in there like a FWD car.
Click to expand...

I haven't found them difficult, most of the weird stuff has been gone over on forums and websites. Everything else is just like any other car.

If you have your reservations and don't do much of your own work you may be more comfortable getting something else. Usually if there is an expensive part to replace, people have figured out how to repair it instead. Perfect example is my central locking system vacuum pump, MSRP is over $800. I fixed mine for $15 and about 30min to 1 hours time total.

No excuse for a cheap oil change either, full synthetic is only $75 even having a shop do it, and with the long interval it's the same as a regular car.
 
I would buy a new car, you won't have to worry about repairs for quite a while in that case. No reason to buy a high end new car if you do not want to spend the money though.
 
Of your two options, it would all depend on how much cash one has on hand.

Obviously you need the $5-10k in cash to start off with. And then you would need to have $3-5k in repairs ALWAYS in the back pocket. If you dont have that then you cant exactly do that option.

I like doing that option myself. But i would pick a much more reliable car.
 
Both.

No matter what, it's always nice to have two cars and always have that paid for running reliable expendable beater. Especially if you learn to work on it and can repair anything on the spot with duct tape and a penny.

Get a solid <= $2000 beater in cash then buy/finance/whatever any other car you want and don't worry about it.
 
If your gonna get the all road please please please get the V8 version. They are much more reliable. And on the 2.7t if the turbos fail you have a big process to change them and they are quite expensive!! But besides that I love the all roads!
 
I put on 40K miles on my 2.7T a6 (100K-140K) with minimal maintenance. The only things I did were replace the secondary air pump, valve cover gaskets and two cv joint boots.
 
Used is always the best choice. That said you need to do your homework (Inspect + history + Good garage). Used vehicle with some powertrain and a single owner (with records) is the crown jewel. To me that gives you some piece of mind without the stupid new car fees.

Used Audis are nice cars if you know what to look for. That would be a great choice if I were looking.
 
New. Always new. I like having the warranty, and no worry of an unexpected several thousand dollar repair. When the 100k mile warranty is up, trade it in and get another.

Or if money, is really a concern, just lease something cheap with zer down every few years.
 
G35x is a sedan so that won't work for storage, and they seem to hold more value in the used market. The nice thing about the Audi Allroad is that it really got beat up in depreciation. And at this point, they probably have had their problems fixed (airbags etc)! I do think that the V8 version is a much better bet if I can find one. I think I will pay cash, roll the dice, hope for not too many repairs, and drive it into the ground!
 
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