Still been thinking about getting another car, but want some HONEST input here. Heres the deal.
I just moved out in May, have a great job with a fantastic company, and ever since I moved out Ive lost the desire to even touch the 4ktq. Why? Because its the ONLY way I can get to work in the morning, and I cannot risk not going to work. Sure, the car has been reliable and not too much of a fuss, albeit its sitting in my parents garage at the moment. Just thinking very, very heavily about getting a solid car I wont have to mess with for a while.
I'm going to run into things like "its a newer car, it still has problems". This is true, anything mechanical and electrical has issues. Id feel more safe with a much newer car at the moment with getting me to work and home, and anywhere else I decide to go.
This would be uncharted area for me, Ive never paid more than 2000 bucks for a car, never had a car payment, etc.

Really thinking of looking seriously at a Rabbit or Jetta (5spd with sunroof, my only two criteria). Boring? Perhaps, but for now, starting out with my career I need to be dead on with transportation and I cannot afford any slip ups.

I have thinking to do (how much I can afford, what to do with the 4ktq, etc). I dont know the first thing about buying a car, money wise, loan wise, yadda yadda.

With being overly concerned about the Audi and it getting me to work, can anybody blame me for wanting a new(er) car? Who knows if anything will happen, money may prohibit me and I'll still have the 4ktq as my daily.

I had asked about UrS cars and a 200 Avant, but those may still bring issues that I dont want to deal with right now (no garage, tools at my place).

So, some serious insight is sought by all who can put themselves in my shoes and relate. Ideally I would have a newer car and keep the 4ktq, but only drive it in the fall and winter months if need be. The other option would be to store it, and lastly, I could actually sell it.

I greatly appreciate everybody who has some good and honest opinions on this.

Thanks

I always like to think of things this way... any older car will need work. You know your 4k intemately. You know what has been done and what is likely to need doing. I suggest adding up the 'likely needs doing list' and see what that comes to. It is probably a heap less than a new car. And with all that work you should have a fairly new car. keeping in mind that the audi driveline is bullet-proof you are likely to make it to work with a new battery, alternator and ignition switch. New blower and heater core for heat, and windshield wiper motor for vision. Clutch? Brakes? and master cylinders?

Now.. that said... my girlfriend is leasing a new BMW 325 Xi. Long story short.. POS. The transmission blew up (thankfully under warranty) the sunroof doesn't close properly, the lower body trim is falling off, the headlights don't work right... I'd rather have a type 44 (still learnign about the 85 ;-) ). Also, can you repair newer cars? Not as easily as the old ones. That means shelling out for someone else to do a half-assed job in my experience.

Take a small loan if you need to, spruce up the 4ktq and have at 'er! That's my $0.02.

As for payments... 10k$ will put you around 200$ a month. Give or take a little on what interest rate you get. The newer the car usually means a better interest rate, but everything depends on your credit. I went with a Credit union and got a 7% rate by myself. Financed around 11,500 on my truck for a payment of 230$ a month. Thats just to give you an idea of how the financing goes, not sure what your budget is.

As for what to get.... I really like the newer styling of the rabbits, golfs, Jettas. If your gonna go that route a sunroof and AC is definately no contest and buying a used one with these options compared to one with out will still be damn near the same price. Do not jump head first into anything, plan it out. Id personally go with something with low miles and possibly some factory warrenty left on it. You can always buy an aftermarket warrenty too.

If you have buyer questions please feel free to call me as I was a used car salesman for a little over a year.

I would buy a younger car off lease. It will have been serviced properly and all the pugs should be worked out.

Your 4k is a car I can see you keeping for a very long time. You've practicaly created a legacy, and if anyone other than you own it that will die. If you can't afford to keep two cars on the road you can get a collectable policy just to cover it during a storage period. There should be a realistic solution to any problem that would prevent you from keeping it.

Although someone has bashed a BMW, I would strongly recommend a 2002 or so e46 3 series. My experience has been excellent, and if you search the web, they are very sound cars.

Clutch new as of May 2008. MC1 engine installed in May of 2005. That meant timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc were all done at the time of installation. Cylinder head had 10k on it when I acquired the motor.

What does the car need?
Honestly not much. Surface rust which has been a problem for a few years, but I always touch it up with OEM paint. Ebrake doesnt work, could use brakes all around once the ebrake job is done.
Needs a vibration taken care of (I swear its the downpipe, but I havnt got it up in the air to check yet).

I have put alot of time, effort, and cash into the car, and really would prefer to hold on to it if I get something newer. Id have to figure out what I can do about insurance for it though. Since I wouldnt drive it much at all, what can be done there.

I really appreciate you helping me if I do need money advice :).

Going to mull over this since Im not driving the Audi for 3 or so weeks. I need to figure out what I can afford as well.

Thinking realistically I really do need a newish car for my usage. Of course Id like to stay German, but its gotta be affordable, which is why a Rabbit or Jetta would be REALLY appealing to me.

Tax and Bonus time is upon me.....

left me stranded. I agree with boxerfan, these things are so simple you can keep them running on shoestring budget. Not to mention you can fix it yourself.

then get pre approved at a credit union for a good loan. Doing this saves so much pain with the car lot. I bought my 03 Monte SS brand new in 03 and I had the loan first. I was able to get it for 23K out the door because I was A, willing to walk away at any point and B, already had my own financing. I would not recommend buying a brand new car though. Think about this too. You already have a sweet summer car why not get a sweet sport utility like a Jeep Cherokee. I have one for the winter and I love it. It gets me up the Rubicon Trail and to some amazing camp spots. The 4.0 is bullet proof and since buying it in 2001 (its a 1999) I have had not 1 issue other than replacing the Oil Pressure Sender (50 bucks and 10 min.) Of course I have put a lot of $$ into the lift and stuff but... they are very capable stock. Just a thought. But if you get the Jetta then get a TDI and a blonde wig ;)

When it was insured (being rebuilt) I had it at 17$ a month as a low mile vehicle. I had the min. you could get because lets face it, fender benders total our 4k's. So I have it covered well if I hit someone but if I ever get hit I will be taking from my parts car. And when you have more than 1 car then you usualy get a multi discount.

we got our '06 4-door with heated seats, sat radio, 6 disc cd changer, ESP, 5speed, and ESP for $14k.. they are a BLAST.. rabbits are built in germany, while jettas are mexican.. i believe theres a reliability difference, the rabbit can hold much more, and is cheaper.. thats all if you're looking for a newer car and want to spend that much money.. i'm just giving input because i saw that you mentioned the rabbit

My buddy takes a lot of crap when he drives his... mostly because its his wifes hang me down and he is a roofer. I feel bad for him sometimes, so bad. But they are sweet cars and honestly you can't beat the fit and finish and if you play techno and turn up the dash lights... oh man.

My project car has become my daily last year and its caused issues with me. Now that Im finished with college and onto a career I need to make the best impression possible, that means being punctual and NEVER late.
I guess now is a bad time to have my project car be my daily. I dont have money to toss around like I did when I lived at home, so its a new ballgame for me. Add that to not having access to a few American beauties in my parents garage to drive if I screwed something up on the Audi and needed a lift.

Mexican Jettas can be disasters! I know!

my mom went from her '97 SAAB 9000 aero, which is one of the fastest and nicest cars from its day.. all leather, wood, harmon/kardon sound system, the works.. to the rabbit, and still loves it.. and my dad is annoyingly attached to his old bmws and loves it.. if you can afford it and want a new commuter car, you cant beat it.. good luck with the search

find one that is A)low mileage, B)well maintained and C)anywhere close. I've found a few that are what I'm looking for, but they would require thousands of mile of travel. I'm patiently playing the waiting game.

maybe not

That'd still keep you under $2k, reliable/dependable for a daily driver, parts cheap & easy to source if something does break (or if brought to a garage w/ busy work schedule, they'd know what/how to fix more then our cars).

Snag an early '90's Accord.

I just need to focus my vehicles collection down.

And some of these lease deals can be very tempting. For example, Subaru dealers in my area are now offering base AWD Imprezas for $199/month for three years, NO money down of any kind to good credit. That's a 170HP boxer engine, AWD and full warranty for less than $2400/year.

Of course, how often will a Type 85 need $200 a month in repairs for a year??

A very individual decision. You run the numbers and decide what makes sense for you. Me, I've got a turbo Miata parked in the garage for half the year, and that's when the Type 85 gets its major work done on it to prep it for the other 4-5 months when the white stuff comes down. :)

she's just finishing up school and her Jetta ('99 w/ 2.0 4 banger) is starting to act up. It's nearing 90k miles, which means timing belt and a bunch of other associated costs, and things are starting to break.

THing you NEED to look out for is what's feasible for your budget (and leaves you plenty of $$ still to save for future use, house, etc). Last thing you want to do is make yourself car poor. It's one thing to make yourself house poor, but that's at least an appreciating asset vs a car, which is losing value even looking at it (sorry, but true).

Be careful w/ dealers. The lil lady and I went and looked at a few Mazda 3s (really nice cars btw, and you should def look at 'em!), and I was just laughing as I watched the salesman trying to make the deal "worth her while." Simply amazing how they can twist the #s to get to the payment you want. Do NOT get a loan more than 3-4 years to afford a car that's more than you can bite, or you're asking to take a bath when the eventual time comes to unload the car (like a 5-6 year loan). That's one thing I def push on these things, as when you get a 6 year loan on a car, and try to get out of it early, the majority of the time you're upside down in the loan. I watched my buddy do that w/ his landrover, and he ended up taking a $3k bath when getting rid of it.

Like many have said, it's all in how you want to look at things. I have 2 cars, but both are paid off (A4 was a hand me down, and the 4000 was easily affordable :-P)... and I'm not sure I would want to have a car payment, and I've been in the working world for close to 5 years now. In fact, even at my current salary, I don't know if I could comfortably have a car payment w/ what I spend monthly :-P

As for insurance, a way to keep it down is to keep the older car as your DD and the newer car as your "weekend car." That makes a $300 difference in my insurance. As long as they don't ask for mileage every year, that's a very easy thing to do. Or if you won't use the 4000 much at all, get a cheap storage insurance for it.

those cars have a ton of potential and are going for short money nowadays

or they bust into it like the A4s?

Never heard of that, but thanks for the heads up!

Just search for Mazda 3 punch or something like that. IIRC there may even be a vid out there.<ul><li><a href="http://www.clubvibes.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=439123">http://www.clubvibes.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=439123</a</li></ul>

I've been doing this for years. I drove old but cool VW or Audi DDs for awhile, and I always ended up fighting to get the car fixed so I could goto work the next day.

Solution: a 2nd car, a cheap daily driver that (financially) allows you to keep the car you love. The LESS complex the better - less to go wrong! Newer is always better, but don't underestimate the power of simplicity.

But trust me, if sell your baby, you WILL regret it for a long time!!!

Just have some special insurance to where I only drive it a few times a month or something, or more in the winter.
A Rabbit would definitely be enjoyable for me, but Id want to drive one first. I could see myself easily living with one and taking it on many trips.

he "takes it off the insurance" as he puts it. i think its just relegated to non-driving status. you may want to think of someething similar. maybe keep the 4kq as your summer car and the other one as a year round driver.

think of salt. as much fun as it is to play in the snow the salt around these parts can really hurt.

just like in the movies... give it a pop on the top and it opens right up! :-P

I've had two or more cars for awhile now. I always have one car listed as my 'primary' for the insurance company, then have the other car listed as a 'hobby car'/limited mileage car. No matter what kind of coverage you want, it's much cheaper this way, and perfectly legal.

Why not take a $700,000 bus to work?
No concerns about it working as it should. No more gas gouging, no rectal treatments from the insurance companies either. And if you are inclined- your carbon conscience should rest easier too...if you subscribe to such.
Save some bucks over a year and then buy what you want.
I am selling my F250 and will rent a better one when I need it to tow the boat or camper for a weekend. Saving about $600 year in O&amp;M and it frees up a parking spot.

I would do it if it was. Id have to drive to a bus stop pretty much, or walk quite a ways. My drive to work isnt that bad though, maybe 15 minutes into downtown, depending on traffic.