Bought my first *real* car

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: foghorn67

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
eh if you were looking for a midsized sedan, there are MUCH MUCH better options. your 2007 fusion will be worth close to nothing in a few years...

and with 49k miles on it, it will begin to show its age. you'll need to start replacing shit to keep it running well. all the fun miles are driven out of it already.

Stop the FUD fanboi.

I love Honda but Louis is just....

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: Rick James

Agreed. Lady had a focus and it was a very reliable car.

Focus = economical win. Yes, it's about as interesting as styrofoam, but much like styrofoam it'll be around for a long, long time.

As for the Fusion - you have bought a beige box with four doors and four wheels. This is not a bad thing. It's better than some of the comparable boxes from Hyundai (though they're getting close), and not as nice but much cheaper than the equally beige boxes from Honda. It will take you from point A to point B without making you or your (up to) three passengers want to kill themselves, and it should do it for a long time. It is not a bread van. It is not an ATV. It is most definitely not a penis compensation device. But it's a very functional car.

On the subject of resale value, please consider the math. A comparable Honda is 50% more. This means that even if depreciation is half again worse, you'll be losing the same amount to depreciation either way - but you'll have a lower initial investment, which means you can pay off the loan quickly and reduce the interest paid.

Originally posted by: Bignate603

I'd take a new focus over a quick, violent death any day.

FIXED.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead

Originally posted by: Rick James

Agreed. Lady had a focus and it was a very reliable car.

Focus = economical win. Yes, it's about as interesting as styrofoam, but much like styrofoam it'll be around for a long, long time.

As for the Fusion - you have bought a beige box with four doors and four wheels. This is not a bad thing. It's better than some of the comparable boxes from Hyundai (though they're getting close), and not as nice but much cheaper than the equally beige boxes from Honda. It will take you from point A to point B without making you or your (up to) three passengers want to kill themselves, and it should do it for a long time. It is not a bread van. It is not an ATV. It is most definitely not a penis compensation device. But it's a very functional car.

On the subject of resale value, please consider the math. A comparable Honda is 50% more. This means that even if depreciation is half again worse, you'll be losing the same amount to depreciation either way - but you'll have a lower initial investment, which means you can pay off the loan quickly and reduce the interest paid.

Originally posted by: Bignate603

I'd take a new focus over a quick, violent death any day.

FIXED.

This is definitely like my train of thought. I would have been willing to spend 12-14k on a car which would likely have ended with me driving a honda, but since I had no cosigner and not much of a down payment I had to work with what loan I could get, and I think I'm better off with this decision


Also, pics tomorrow or Wed 😉

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: yh125d

This is definitely like my train of thought. I would have been willing to spend 12-14k on a car which would likely have ended with me driving a honda, but since I had no cosigner and not much of a down payment I had to work with what loan I could get, and I think I'm better off with this decision

Also, pics tomorrow or Wed 😉

As I said, you're missing some of the math.

Assuming similar monthly payments for a $14k Honda, you could easily end up with another $1,000 in interest and fees. Your short credit history isn't helping, either.

Besides, nothing says "I'm not trying to compensate" like a budget-priced American midsize sedan.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
As for the Fusion - you have bought a beige box with four doors and four wheels. This is not a bad thing. It's better than some of the comparable boxes from Hyundai (though they're getting close), and not as nice but much cheaper than the equally beige boxes from Honda.

Honestly, Honda doesn't really have a car that competes with the Fusion. The Civic is smaller and the Accord is larger. In terms of overall quality, I'd place the Fusion as even with a modern Honda and, frankly, I like the Fusion better than the Camrys and Corollas I've rented.

It's definitely an "appliance" car, but I think it may be the best appliance car available in it's size class. And the Sync option is fantastic. I like the new Accord, but it's a larger car than the Fusion. The Mazda 6 is nice, but it lacks a bit as an appliance by being slightly smaller than the Fusion and by getting poorer fuel mileage (I've been averaging about 30 mpg in the V6 Fusions I've rented, but only mid-twenties with a Mazda 6) even though the 6 is more fun to drive.

ZV

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: stateofbeasley
The "foreign vs. domestic" debate doesn't make much sense when talking about the Fusion, because the Fusion is a mix of US and Japanese design. The car is built on a modified Mazda6 platform, and has the same engines and transmissions. It's at least half Japanese.

I thought mazda/ford shared the same block, but had different heads?

either way, what kept you from the 3i?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
eh if you were looking for a midsized sedan, there are MUCH MUCH better options. your 2007 fusion will be worth close to nothing in a few years...

and with 49k miles on it, it will begin to show its age. you'll need to start replacing shit to keep it running well. all the fun miles are driven out of it already.

I could care less about resale value. not everyone changes cars every 3 years. my car has 104k on it and all I do is general maintence. I will likely keep the car until the wheels fall off. bought it new in '04

OP, glad for your purchase, and looks like a sweet deal.

lol nobody asked YOU about whether YOU cared about resale value or not.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
eh if you were looking for a midsized sedan, there are MUCH MUCH better options. your 2007 fusion will be worth close to nothing in a few years...

and with 49k miles on it, it will begin to show its age. you'll need to start replacing shit to keep it running well. all the fun miles are driven out of it already.

Are you a guru mechanic that can predict reliability?? if not your just (as usual) blowing smoke faster than a 20 year old CRX...

no i can't magically predict reliability, but i can from statistics and a little bit of common sense. Resale VALUE tells what the car is worth to the next buyer. With the dropping resale rates of domestic cars, it can only mean that
1: nobody wants to buy them used and then dealers/private sellers must lower their prices on their used domestic cars. or 2: nobody wants to buy them used because they are not worth anything more than that after factoring in the price of fixing them even at low mileage and only a few years old.

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
eh if you were looking for a midsized sedan, there are MUCH MUCH better options. your 2007 fusion will be worth close to nothing in a few years...

and with 49k miles on it, it will begin to show its age. you'll need to start replacing shit to keep it running well. all the fun miles are driven out of it already.

I could care less about resale value. not everyone changes cars every 3 years. my car has 104k on it and all I do is general maintence. I will likely keep the car until the wheels fall off. bought it new in '04

OP, glad for your purchase, and looks like a sweet deal.

lol nobody asked YOU about whether YOU cared about resale value or not.

Niether did the OP state what he thought either.

Cars aren't investments.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
eh if you were looking for a midsized sedan, there are MUCH MUCH better options. your 2007 fusion will be worth close to nothing in a few years...

and with 49k miles on it, it will begin to show its age. you'll need to start replacing shit to keep it running well. all the fun miles are driven out of it already.

I think the car will be fine then. You're right on resale, it is CRAP on these cars. That's why they are so attractive to buy late model, though, let the original sucker take the hit in price 🙂 Resale on a Honda is great but you pay for it through the nose. $10k he paid for this would probably buy a rusted '87 accord with 300k on it because people who own Hondas think that the thing was hand crafted by the son of God and can do no wrong.

BTW, these are the same as Mazda 6's, right? Do they use the same powertrain, suspension, etc. and if so are the parts interchangeable for the most part?

 

[DivideBYZero]

People that bang on about resale value make me laugh. Buy the car you want/need or don't. Thinking about making as much as you can later is pointless. If you want to make the maximum amount you should not even buy it, because as soon as you do it loses money.

- Buy the best you can for the best price you can
- Keep it for as long as it suits your purpose/doesn't fail all the time
- ????
- Profit(but not from selling it).

 

[blurredvision]

Ya, I don't understand why most of you are being stupid towards the OP. He's 18, he bought a car he can afford, and he bought a car that should last him a while. I think you did awesome on the price, OP. For every person who says the Fusion is crap, there's another who hasn't had a problem with it.

49k miles is a great starting point for what you paid. When I was 19, I bought a 1995 Grand Prix SE with 49k miles on it for right around $9,800, and it lasted me 5 years up to 130k miles with absolutely no major problems. I don't understand why some of you here think that a vehicle with over 30k miles is basically towards the end of it's life. As said before, not everybody has cash to buy a car outright, not everybody can afford a $30k car.

 

[sdifox]

Why so much hate for Focus and Fusion? It is what it is, you don't like it, don't buy it. But it is not a bad car.

And being able to go out and buy a car on his own coin at 18 is no easy task. Kudos to op.

 

[msi1337]

$10k for a fusion with 50k on it is okay, but honestly I never liked the build quality

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: msi1337
$10k for a fusion with 50k on it is okay, but honestly I never liked the build quality

I never liked the build quality on a Corolla but people still buy em.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: stateofbeasley
The "foreign vs. domestic" debate doesn't make much sense when talking about the Fusion, because the Fusion is a mix of US and Japanese design. The car is built on a modified Mazda6 platform, and has the same engines and transmissions. It's at least half Japanese.

I thought mazda/ford shared the same block, but had different heads?

either way, what kept you from the 3i?

It sold. The one I was looking at was an 06 with the same grey color, about 63k miles, at 9500. When I went out to the dealerships, I was liking the mazda more than the ford, but when the mazda was sold, and I ended up liking the fusion a lot more than I expected to initially, I didn't want to wait for another mazda to come up for sale in my price range (all the others I found in tulsa were either over 75k miles or over $12k). I also have a 50 minute commute to work and until I pick up my fusion no way to get to work except borrowing my dad's car, so I didn't exactly have the time to wait


Thanks for all the congrats, I pick it up this afternoon!


edit: And for the resale value talk, if I can get my use out of it for a few years and sell it for a couple thousand to go towards a down payment on something else, I'll be happy.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: stateofbeasley
Hell, the "foreign vs. domestic" doesn't make much sense with most cars these days. You can buy Hondas that were designed and built in the US, and GMs that were designed and built in Korea.

Thank you, finally someone else to pat on the back in agreement with. :beer:

 

[yh125d]

Finally, pics!

Bad pic cause I don't really know how to use my camera that well
# 2




Edit sans edit: I'm very pleased. I found out it has a mini jack auz input in the center console, which means I don't have to put in an aftermarket receiver (yet)

 

[blurredvision]

Very nice OP. :thumbsup: I think it's a nice looking car.