Car Buying Rules “Dilemma”
I subscribe to the FOO, love all the guidelines, and listen to every show, so I know and understand them in principle… BUT I’m having difficulty making a car buying decision because of the rules and would love to hear from others.
49m/48m, NW $1.5m, 25%+ savings rate, ~$80k cash including monthly spending account, emergency fund, brokerage (considering it cash for purpose of this decision).
We drive a 2016 with 140k miles and 2015 with 110k miles, they run great, serviced regularly by our son, will run forever and we really love them. In the next year our other son is moving from NY to LA where they’ll need a car, so giving them a car is an opportunity for us to get something new. Now the dilemma:
We’re looking at everything from a Mazda CX-50 Hybrid ~$40k to a Mercedes Benz GLC 350e Plug-in Hybrid ~$70k. I’m not comfortable paying cash for either one and am only considering putting $20k down payment. We’d make aggressive payments, probably $2k/month so the less expensive option would take less than 12 months, but the luxury options we’re considering would take closer to 24-30 months.
What would you do?