2 years ago, in the spring of 2012, I was car shopping. At that time, I was still driving my 2000 Avalon, and it needed about $2500 of work done ASAP and another $3300 of work done soonish. Rather than sink in that kind of money, I decided to get rid of the car and buy or lease a new one. I ended up leasing a loaded 2012 Kia Sorento, which I loved. I had it for three months and then took it in to have a check engine light checked out, and was told that they needed to replace a part in the engine...and it ended up staying in the shop for over a month while they waited for the seemingly endlessly backordered part.
I got no rental assistance from the dealership and had to continue making my monthly payments, too. After being about $1200 in the hole (car payment plus rental fees for about 6 weeks) during the time the vehicle was in the shop and not being to drive my own car, I turned it back in under the Virginia lemon law. For the two years since then, I've utilized a combination of rental cars and Mabel, Meggie's 1998 Toyota Corolla, to get myself from point A to point B.
I bought Mabel from Meggie for $900 (which was probably too much, but that's neither here nor there) this spring, and am not planning to hold onto Mabel past this summer. Too much work needs to be done for too much money to make it worth holding onto. With the amount of money I've spent over the last two years on rentals and buying/leasing two cars, I should have just kept onto my Avalon, spent the money on the necessary repairs, and would have come out ahead.
Anyhoo, all that aside, I'm now on the market for a car. I pay off the first of my college era loans in August, so I'm planning to roll that $450 monthly payment straight over to a car payment without it impacting my current budget. On top of that, I'm in significantly better financial straits than I was in 2012, with a higher salary and about an extra $500-600 a month from my two coaching jobs, neither of which I had then. All that leads to my monthly price range of up to $1000 a month that I can afford without negatively impacting my savings/bills/fun money allocations.
I don't want to spend anywhere near that much a month, but it is nice to have the income to give me that flexibility. My goal payment is anything under $700 a month, which would result in a monthly payment of no more than $250 more than what I pay now.
With all that in mind, here are the cars I'm currently considering and planning to test drive over the course of the summer before making the purchase/lease in August or September. My requirements are an upscale interior (minimum of leather and a sunroof) and enough room to fit 4 people and gear for carpooling to meets and concerts; I'm fine with a smaller car, as long as folks would be able to sit in the back for at least an hour without too much discomfort. The car must also have good performance and at least decent gas mileage. Good visibility is also a must, as is a good sound system. Besides that, I'm pretty much open.
Large sedans
- Hyundai Azera
- Hyundai Genesis (redesigned 2015 model)
- Kia Cadenza
- Toyota Avalon
- Hyundai Sonata (redesigned 2015 model, should hit dealers soon)
- Kia Optima
- VW Passat TDI
- Audi A3
- Audi Q5 TDI
- Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
I'm planning to knock out at least the Azera and Genesis this weekend. Won't be able to check the Sonata till later this summer, and plan to hit up the Santa Fe on the same day I check out the Q5.
Gonna be a lot of fun!
