Touchy Subject: Where are Saab fans going that want a new car?

[tunnanxwd]

Paranoia was well founded regarding the Saabs and they both cost a fortune to fix once they were outside warranty. The 2008 had a 100,000 drive train but sadly as I found out later the 2009 has not such drive train warranty at all. The bad news there is the valve issue that is emerging on the late model 9-3's, so it is likely that we will be looking at a $2,000 bill for that?

[tunnanxwd]

Dave, I've always bought my cars outright. Driving along with my bud who ran a BMW dealership a young kid pulls up to us and I ranted how a kid can afford a car like, where did I go wrong?

He relied .. "I sold him that Beemer, for the down payment the kid sold his guitar and music gear, motorcycle and everything he had; leases are for people who can't afford the car and I'll never lease you one; I like you too much".

[nordwulf]

Leasing could perfectly make sense for individuals when doing it for the right reasons. Like not having money tied up in something that depreciates, pay sales tax only on the monthly payments and have a new car with warranty. The problems is when people lease, they choose a more expensive car than what they would have chosen if bought used or new.

Lease a 2015 Nissan Rogue S AWD ($2,500 down - $219 per month) and you pay $0.30 per mile for the first 36K miles/3 years and $0.15 per mile when you go over that. People usually say you never should drive more than the agreed number of miles on a lease car. But they usually never calculate how much the contract miles actually cost them. $0.15 per mile when you go over is actually a pretty good deal compared to the $0.30 per mile you paid for the first 36K miles.

[Gepe]

Exactly - you must do the arithmetic! What suits you may not suit your friend as it is most unlikely that ALL of your circumstances are the same and your aversion to risk etc will also be a factor.
TTFN

[nordwulf]

To take it a step further, buying any new car with cash is not the best way to go. Especially with the very low finance rates compared to the excellent returns in the stock market in recent years. When you can borrow money for 3-4 % (sometimes 0%) with car purchase and you can make 10% or more in the stock market, buying a car outright will cost you money. Lease things that depreciate and buy things that appreciate. Or something like that.

But the same thing is true with a house. It's better to have a low-rate tax-deductable mortgage compared to a house that is paid off where you could have invested those funds and make money. And still have the house that appreciates in value. Well, at least before the housing market crashed.. Not much of a good idea either when the stock market crashes...

[Tom]

I am curious what others think about the first question because I considered it last summer. Over the years my 2 Saabs gave me many miles of relatively trouble free fun. The practicality is that it is getting more difficult to get parts and service in my part of the country. The much larger centres have a bigger market hence less trouble. Thinking longer term and wishing to treat myself, I looked at the range of "competitive" cars. It was fun to drive a host of domestic and foreign models. I finally ordered in the fall and took delivery of a 2015 Mercedes C-300 a few weeks ago. Sorry to say good bye to Saab. I probably will hang around on this site for a while yet because I still have a soft sot for the brand. I still have a couple of acquaintances who are hanging in with Saab for the moment.

Happy Saabing to all!

[packardv8]

you can make 10% or more in the stock market,

Mebbe you can guarantee 10% per annum in the stock market and if so, I wish you were my financial advisor. However over the last 125 years, the actual average adjusted for inflation has been 3%.

The one real law of economics is "Never pay interest on a depreciating asset." By definition, a new car/boat/motorcycle/4-wheeler/snowmobile/personal watercraft/trophy wife are archetypical depreciating assets.

Your opinions and results may vary.