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Trading a fairly new car for a new SUV

Juddog

Juddog

Diamond Member
Ok here's the oddball situation. I bought my Mazda 3 in late fall, have had it for maybe 4-5 months now, and while it's a great car I keep getting stuck.

The deal I bought it under was 0 % financing for 3 years and got it at a really nice price (roughly $300 under invoice). Now that it's winter I have gotten stuck several times in deep snow and have seriously been eyeing the SUV's from Mazda, as a co-worker seems to love hers.

How hard would it be, and how much of a loss would I take, by trading in the fairly new Mazda 3 for a CX-7 or CX-9 or other SUV at the dealership? The car is still in excellent shape and is only a few months old, but I've heard that just driving it off the lot hits you hard in terms of worth.
 
You keep getting stuck how? In the snow?

Spend $300-400 on some snow tires before you trade the car in IMO.
 
Originally posted by: iFX
You keep getting stuck how? In the snow?

Spend $300-400 on some snow tires before you trade the car in IMO.
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Yeah, the plowing / snowblowing service at my apt complex just sucks (meaning they come once every 3-4 days when it's snowing, and general upkeep is pretty crappy). Main reason I got stuck was because the car was so low to the ground.
 
Got the parking space to support a winter beater? You could pick up Ford Explorer for a couple grand and use it the handful of days that you have to deal with snow.

Probably cheaper than the depreciation/trade in hit you'd take on the Mazda3 and you'll get much better gas milage the rest of the year instead of driving the SUV.
 
That sucks. Now, you will be reamed on it. FWIW, my local mazda has new CX-7 07s for just under 20k. The 08s are $25k. However, their quality is iffy that first year. I really considered one, but quality is hit or miss since it's a first year model from mazda. Also, gas mileage is truly awful, like in the teens and that's with premium. If you baby the hell out of it on the highway you can muster 20-22. Spirited city driving you're talking as low as 13 mpg, honest to God, I made a thread asking about it on some mazda forum recently. CX-9 I can assume is worse.
 
Hmmm I guess selling my second car and buying a beater in it's place sounds like the best option.
 
Originally posted by: Juddog
Hmmm I guess selling my second car and buying a beater in it's place sounds like the best option.
Click to expand...

By far. A cheap explorer or cherokee would do as well if not better than a Mazda SUV.
 
Where the heck do you live? I owned the predecessor of your Mazda 3 in Milwaukee for the better part of a decade and drove all over Wisconsin in the winter. I got stuck maybe twice-when the snow packed under the unibody bottom and lifted the drive wheels off the ground. And that was in extremely conditions (during blizzards and in my unplowed alley) and a minute with a shovel got me free.

Snow tires would certainly help-get a second set of cheap wheels and swap them out for the winter-but I get along without them. Successful winter driving is about 80% skills and 20% vehicle. The best part of winter driving is passing the SUVs in the ditch because they insist on driving unsafe for the conditions.
 
People are saying snow tires. Snow tires are just fine and dandy on public roads but I think in his case he lives in an apartment complex that has terrible snow clearing, so regardless of what tires are there, if the car is too low, it will get stuck. I cannot imagine it's actually worth buying a new vehicle to get around this, but if truly the only concern here is that getting stuck in the snow on the several days/year that it is a hassle at his apartment, then the best option is a low end 4X4 truck like an old toyota or something. Keep the miles on it low and just use it when the weather sucks. It will be the snot out of the snow drifting and resale is irrelevant because it was so cheap to begin with. If it's purely a functional vehicle it may as well be a truck, too, so that you have the bed and then keep your car for everything else.
 
Originally posted by: Thump553
Where the heck do you live? I owned the predecessor of your Mazda 3 in Milwaukee for the better part of a decade and drove all over Wisconsin in the winter. I got stuck maybe twice-when the snow packed under the unibody bottom and lifted the drive wheels off the ground. And that was in extremely conditions (during blizzards and in my unplowed alley) and a minute with a shovel got me free.

Snow tires would certainly help-get a second set of cheap wheels and swap them out for the winter-but I get along without them. Successful winter driving is about 80% skills and 20% vehicle. The best part of winter driving is passing the SUVs in the ditch because they insist on driving unsafe for the conditions.
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Or he could get a 4x4 and never have that problem.
 
Getting stuck twice in a decade in a blizzard was a choice.
If weather is that inclimate DON"T DRIVE unless he's a doctor or something I don't know why people don't just hunker down.
A lot of non 4x4 vehicles can still have better ground clearance.
I've owned two 4X4's though and its impressive the sh1t they can go through when you push em.
 
Originally posted by: desy
Getting stuck twice in a decade in a blizzard was a choice.
If weather is that inclimate DON"T DRIVE unless he's a doctor or something I don't know why people don't just hunker down.
Click to expand...

Because when I stop showing up for work 3 days of the week, I tend to get fired.
 
I guess you dont live where you have a right to refuse work, based on OHS
That includes getting to work weather permitting
Most employers prefer you don't die cause then its areal b1tch getting you to show up
 
Yeah my apartment complex is crappy... I plan on moving when the weather gets better. The only place I have gotten stuck so far was the complex, and that was only due to the fact that the driveway is a steep incline off of the street and they don't plow very good, and I don't like parking on the street in my neighborhood. The Mazda 3 is a great car so far in all other aspects, just low to the ground which is why it got stuck. New winter tires won't fix that. I'm pretty used to winter driving in general though, and wasn't sure on how much I would get burned on a trade-in, but from the advice on this thread it sounds pretty bad so I will avoid doing it.
 
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