Should I buy another car?

[RearAdmiral]

My current situation:

2010 WRX w/115k. I commute ~80 miles every day for work. Pay around 350-400 /month in gas. This sucks and I feel bad for putting so many miles on this type of car for commuting every day. I have 2 car payments left and then I will own the car.

I have been considering purchasing a second car for more of my everyday commuting(high MPG), and I have been trying to weigh it out. There's another car payment and increased insurance, but I will pay a whole let less in gas and stop putting so many miles on my fun car.

I live in PA and commute into NJ so snow and such is an issue. The WRX + snows is just great in bad weather.

My Thoughts:

It seems like right now is an awkward time before a very large EV adoption. I would love to purchase an EV for everyday commuting but nothing really works out for the miles. The new Tesla is a ways out as well.

I initially thought about waiting 2 more years and trading in for a 2015 Legacy, with all of its MPG improvements. I also kinda like the Fiesta, possibly the ecoboost version as well. There is always buying an older car with decent MPG as well.

OR

Just do nothing and enjoy my no car payment while I save money. I do have a wedding / honeymoon next August.

 

[Zivic]

Just do nothing and enjoy my no car payment while I save money. I do have a wedding / honeymoon next August.

that's what I would do

 

[pauldun170]

Do you want your costs to go up or to go down?
If you do nothing they go down.
If you buy another car or even trade your car in your costs go up.

Personally,
You have a wedding coming up and you should concentrate on your future. Weddings, honeymoon, house shopping mortgages etc etc etc.
The wear and tear being done to the WRX can be fixed and those costs will be cheaper than buying and insuring another car.

 

[manimal]

cutting that 400 dollar gas bill in gas a month would justify a older insight or a civic hybrid. First gen priii -sic- are getting very cheap.


If you plan to keep the wrx longtime miles dont really matter. Cheap and parts aplenty. if you want to keep it tight and crisp you can do that for 400k miles if you keep up on everything.

 

[Yuriman]

My choice was to pick up a G1 Insight for ~$3500, and enjoy 70MPG. I'd be concerned about the CVT models with high miles, but the 5MTs are bulletproof, often lasting 4-600,000 before needing major drivetrain work.

Not that I'm recommending the G1 Insight in specific, but something like it would pay for itself in gas alone in less than a year, nevermind the wear on your other car.

 

[MiataNC]

You would need to double your current MPG to cut your fuel costs in half. Saving @$200 a month won't equal a payment+insurance+maintenance on a second vehicle.

If you want to save money, then sell the WRX (@$16K privately), and buyt a Ford Fiesta SE 1.0L 3cyl Ecoboost with no payments. Then enjoy @45mpg highway on your commute.

 

[unokitty]

Just do nothing and enjoy my no car payment while I save money. I do have a wedding / honeymoon next August.

Its your call, but my experience is that money in the bank facilitates many options... And, I suspect that when you get married, you won't regret having a little extra cash...

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[RearAdmiral]

Do you want your costs to go up or to go down?
If you do nothing they go down.
If you buy another car or even trade your car in your costs go up.

Personally,
You have a wedding coming up and you should concentrate on your future. Weddings, honeymoon, house shopping mortgages etc etc etc.
The wear and tear being done to the WRX can be fixed and those costs will be cheaper than buying and insuring another car.

I am thinking that I will most likely do nothing. I already bought a house last year at least.

 

[RearAdmiral]

My choice was to pick up a G1 Insight for ~$3500, and enjoy 70MPG. I'd be concerned about the CVT models with high miles, but the 5MTs are bulletproof, often lasting 4-600,000 before needing major drivetrain work.

Not that I'm recommending the G1 Insight in specific, but something like it would pay for itself in gas alone in less than a year, nevermind the wear on your other car.

Those cars look so horrible that I have started to like it in the past year or so. I will look into it.

 

[Insomniator]

I don't think you'd want to be driving a G1 Insight in any kind of snow though. I dunno, doesn't seem like the most practical solution for everyone. Whats your current MPG?

 

[Zargon]

There is always buying an older car with decent MPG as well.

OR

Just do nothing and enjoy my no car payment while I save money. I do have a wedding / honeymoon next August.

one of those, the rest seem like gargantuan wastes of $$$

 

[desy]

I knew a guy w a corolla that put 700k miles on it, even swapped the engine out at one point

Point is use the car, put miles and miles and miles on it
its why you bought it

 

[RearAdmiral]

I don't think you'd want to be driving a G1 Insight in any kind of snow though. I dunno, doesn't seem like the most practical solution for everyone. Whats your current MPG?

G1 Insight would be in addition to WRX. WRX on bad weather days of course. My current MPG is probably in the low-mid 20s w/premium fuel.

 

[RearAdmiral]

My choice was to pick up a G1 Insight for ~$3500, and enjoy 70MPG. I'd be concerned about the CVT models with high miles, but the 5MTs are bulletproof, often lasting 4-600,000 before needing major drivetrain work.

Not that I'm recommending the G1 Insight in specific, but something like it would pay for itself in gas alone in less than a year, nevermind the wear on your other car.

The prices on these seem all over the place, how many miles on yours?

 

[BurnItDwn]

I would keep the WRX.

 

[Yuriman]

The prices on these seem all over the place, how many miles on yours?

About 150,000, it's in fantastic shape, too. Doesn't burn a drop of oil, paint's great, new battery, practically new tires.

EDIT:

I'd have preferred red or blue, to be honest, but most sold were in silver.

Be aware that changing things like rims and tires can have a measurable impact on gas mileage. You'll want to find one as close to stock as possible.

They're not as slow as they're reputed to be. The engine runs out of air around about 4000RPM, and it's a 3 cylinder geared like a V8, but even so Car and Driver got about 10.5 seconds 0-60. Electric assist makes them very driveable at low RPM - you have ~100ft-lbs of torque in a car that weighs under 1900lbs.

 

[herm0016]

If you can plug in at work, you would be able to use a volt on all electric. You can get used volts for around 15k. Or wait 6 months till the 2016 comes out and the price of the first Gen is sure to drop more.

 

[RearAdmiral]

About 150,000, it's in fantastic shape, too. Doesn't burn a drop of oil, paint's great, new battery, practically new tires.

EDIT:

I'd have preferred red or blue, to be honest, but most sold were in silver.

Be aware that changing things like rims and tires can have a measurable impact on gas mileage. You'll want to find one as close to stock as possible.

They're not as slow as they're reputed to be. The engine runs out of air around about 4000RPM, and it's a 3 cylinder geared like a V8, but even so Car and Driver got about 10.5 seconds 0-60. Electric assist makes them very driveable at low RPM - you have ~100ft-lbs of torque in a car that weighs under 1900lbs.

It doesn't seem that bad at all. Seems like current prices are quite a bit above 3500 atm though.

If you can plug in at work, you would be able to use a volt on all electric. You can get used volts for around 15k. Or wait 6 months till the 2016 comes out and the price of the first Gen is sure to drop more.

No plug in is really available at work

 

[z1ggy]

I did not read any replies, but my friend is in a similar situation as you.

He ended up buying a lightly used Prius for every day commuting and left his WRX for weekend fun. Plus now that you own it... You can start doing mods and things (if you want/haven't already).

 

[RearAdmiral]

I did not read any replies, but my friend is in a similar situation as you.

He ended up buying a lightly used Prius for every day commuting and left his WRX for weekend fun. Plus now that you own it... You can start doing mods and things (if you want/haven't already).

I believe the prius' highway mileage isn't even that special?

 

[z1ggy]

I believe the prius' highway mileage isn't even that special?

48/51 ... Pretty good if you ask me.

Okay so now adding in my actual advice here- I'd do nothing. I'd keep your WRX and just accept your $400 monthly gas bill.

I can't say for sure how much a Prius would cost you, but say you got one that's lightly used, maybe 3 years old. You'd probably get OTD for around $16-17k depending where you live. With insurance plus any applicable state/local property tax, your payment is probably going to be in the $300 range. Now factor in you'll still need to get around 1/2 the gas for this car (estimate roughly $200 a month), you're now spending around $550-600 a month plus you're still going to be driving your WRX on weekends, and dealing with possible Prius repairs once it's out of warranty.

TLDR; do nothing assuming you actually wish to keep your WRX long term.

 

[Viper GTS]

I don't think there's enough savings to be had if you're keeping the WRX. Double your gas mileage and you're saving $2500 a year, not nearly enough to justify another vehicle.

On the other hand if you sold the WRX and bought some soul crushing car how much money could you redirect towards Viper gas?

That may be the real question.

Viper GTS

 

[RearAdmiral]

I don't think there's enough savings to be had if you're keeping the WRX. Double your gas mileage and you're saving $2500 a year, not nearly enough to justify another vehicle.

On the other hand if you sold the WRX and bought some soul crushing car how much money could you redirect towards Viper gas?

That may be the real question.

Viper GTS

Well if I were to go for the insight. It would be more than double, on top of not needing premium fuel.

hehe I should sell the WRX just for Viper gas, that thing is a real hog...but oh so worth it! Man I love that car. I went to a car show a couple of weeks ago and several nice vipers were in attendance. People like to comment on our copperhead Viper, it's not one they see every day.

 

[Yuriman]

It doesn't seem that bad at all. Seems like current prices are quite a bit above 3500 atm though.

I got mine from a dealer in North Carolina. He was asking almost $6000, but with $3500 in cash in front of him he took it. Said that he'd had the car for close to 6 months and everyone who came to look at it thought it was horribly ugly. Lots of truck culture around there.

I believe the prius' highway mileage isn't even that special?

This is about what you can expect in a Gen2 Prius:

And a Gen1 Insight:

Note that these charts were made in warm weather with the A/C off.

If you drive at 80, you're going to get around 44MPG in a Prius and probably closer to 40 with the A/C running. Slowing down to 65MPH improves that to about 56MPG.

In my Insight I get about 65-68MPG cruising at 68MPH, and around 63 with the A/C on, dropping into the mid 50's as I approach 75. In stretches of road where I can cruise between 35 and 45 I sometimes see numbers in the 100's. The Prius doesn't get all that much worse fuel economy (~20%), biggest reason I picked the Insight is initial cost, really, and I have no need for backseats in my daily commuter. Plus, I like manual transmissions.

Slowing down a little is pretty much the single biggest improvement you can make to your commute cost, regardless of what you drive.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I got mine from a dealer in North Carolina. He was asking almost $6000, but with $3500 in cash in front of him he took it. Said that he'd had the car for close to 6 months and everyone who came to look at it thought it was horribly ugly. Lots of truck culture around there.




This is about what you can expect in a Gen2 Prius:

And a Gen1 Insight:

Note that these charts were made in warm weather with the A/C off.

If you drive at 80, you're going to get around 44MPG in a Prius and probably closer to 40 with the A/C running. Slowing down to 65MPH improves that to about 56MPG.

In my Insight I get about 65-68MPG cruising at 68MPH, and around 63 with the A/C on, dropping into the mid 50's as I approach 75. In stretches of road where I can cruise between 35 and 45 I sometimes see numbers in the 100's. The Prius doesn't get all that much worse fuel economy (~20%), biggest reason I picked the Insight is initial cost, really, and I have no need for backseats in my daily commuter. Plus, I like manual transmissions.

Slowing down a little is pretty much the single biggest improvement you can make to your commute cost, regardless of what you drive.

Nice! Maybe I'll have to lowball some dealers. Thanks for posting the numbers. I've actually been trying to drive in the high 60s in my WRX during my commute lately. Not sure if it is really helping though.