soakgame

every other year? 5 years? 10 years? do you trade in? what is your general car buying strategy? what cars have you had in the past? just curious

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i'm asking because i've gotten the new car itch.. and i've been doing a lot of research on the infiniti g35 sedan (2007) and above.. i'm also looking at the 07 gs350

i've had my current gs for six years now and it's been paid off for 3 years.. but it is getting up there in mileage (165k).. i don't plan on trading it in because i know i won't get much for it

but.. gas prices and the economy are holding me back from getting a new car.. plus it's nice not having any car payments

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Well, the first question is "Do you need it?"

If you need a new car because the old one is becoming unreliable or costly with maintenance, then go for it.

The second question is "What do you need?"

If you want something for daily driving, perhaps a used luxury car or a new economy car is more appropriate.

If you want a splurge car, then you have to justify it, especially since you are concerned about the economy and cost of fuel...

RXSF

if you got the money, then switch. its pretty much as simple as that.

its my general rule to keep a car about 4-5 years. my old C280 was on a lease or 4 years, so it forced me to buy a new car. Then my RX300 was on a lease, and so forced me to buy a new car. Now this time, i bought my RX330...and im desperately waiting for the new RX to come out.

if you dont want to keep changing cars, then leasing is not for you. but it is a simple solution to forcing you to change cars. i must say, its about the 4th year where i get annoyed by the simplist things about my cars and want to so eagerly get rid of them

Gojirra99

I try to keep them for at least 4 or 5 years.
The last time I bought a new car before my LS 2 months ago was 4 1/2 years ago when I got the G35 coupe.
The car I kept for the shortest period of time ever is an Acura CL-S 6MT, which I kept for only one year before replacing it with the G35 coupe.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

that's the ballpark i try to keep as well, but i have failed miserably, considering that we have bought 5 new and 1 used cars the past 7 yrs... i say i do tend to keep good cars for long. the gs400 we kept it for 6 yrs. acura tl-s? 18 months. but then again the ls460l was only in my garage for 7 months, haha

soakgame

do i need it? no i don't.. at least not at the moment.. but i want to be prepared.. i don't want to put anymore additional miles on the GS (because i want to baby it and keep it for years to come).. i do have my commuter but that is getting up there in miles as well.. i can definitely survive 2 more years without a new car.. maybe even 4 years if i have to

what do i need? i need a car that i can see myself driving for at least a decade.. one that is within my budget and that i can pay off 3 years tops.. then drive for an additonal 3-5 years.. and i do plan on buying used (i never buy brand new)..

it's true i don't necessarily need a car right now but there are so many options out there at the moment.. temptation is killing me! =D

i've thought about leasing.. but i always thought it was better owning your car outright.. plus don't they have mileage restrictions on some leases? i drive 60 miles daily.. so i don't know how that will work out

rominl

iTrader: (4)

lease is good if you want a new car every 3 yrs. in CA, you only pay tax on the portion of the car you lease, so meaning you pay tax pretty much on only 50% of the car, that's quite some savings especially if you are getting luxury cars

mileage limitation, yes on the lease. but if you know you are driving 60 miles a day regularly, then 15k or 18k lease shouldn't be a problem?

whether you "should" get new car or not and how often, that's totally up to you, according to your finance and situations. if you don't have other bills to worry about, future all planned out, and you have the extra money, it's up to you how you want to do it. however i am very much against the idea where you spend too much money on the car without plans on say buying a house, wedding, kids, etc... that's the bottom line

whoster

I've bought a "new" car every year since I've gotten my license...but each time there was a different need for it...

Faymester

i get a 'new' car when one conveniantly becomes available ... they find me, i don't go out and look for them

but i do desperately want a ctc-v so that may be my first actual go-to-dealership-and-custom-order-a-car adventure

MD350

I will buy a new car every 2-3 years. It really depends on how many miles are on it. I dump them with about 43,000 to 45,000 miles on them, leaving about 5,000 miles of warranty left on them. This is better for the new owner, and I am able to get more for the car.

Also, at these miles, I don't usually have to buy new tires, new brakes, etc. Just change the oil, rotate tires, maybe an alignment and dump it.

I will always buy a car that holds its value well....Honda, Toyota, Lexus, Acura. I will also buy it loaded, better for resale.

gengar

I like keeping a two-car rotation. I'll buy a car every 3-5 years but always have two cars, so I keep each car for 6-10 years... sometimes more. The idea was that I could keep a daily driver (e.g., an LS, other comfortable sedan) and then have a totally unreasonable car on top of that (e.g., Ferrari, AMV8, MR2, whatever). The problem is that I keep getting sidetracked by compromise cars, like the C43 and IS-F (although I never got the latter - I came close last week though, as they had a pearl white on the lot!) in the past and then possibly the Evo X MR that I'm now considering as a year-round DD since I'm being moved out to the snowy midwest.

One of the advantages of this plan is that I always have a backup car, which is convenient. Last week, some doofus backed into the rear of my parked LS (thank goodness I just was returning to my car from shopping, because I think the other guy was about to take off when I stopped him), so it's going to have to go to the body shop for a few days ($4200.... and the other guy's insurance company is naturally taking their damn time). In these situations it's nice not to have to worry about securing a loaner or getting a rental or whatever.

As for my shopping style, I never preorder a car. I always go to the dealer and pick one off the lot. If I'm lucky, I get a car with very similar features and color/trim to what I want (I was very lucky with my LS, because I wanted precisely Custom Luxury with the upgraded interior and silver was also my top choice). But regardless of my luck, I can haggle the car down big time as long as it's sitting in the dealership lot. I'm the type that friends take to go car shopping with so I can haggle for them. Although I did pay far less than MSRP, my LS430 was the first new car I ever paid over invoice for (the C43 and other cars I've owned were used). I paid invoice for my SC and below invoice for my old LS. The best time if you want big deals is at the end of the fiscal calendar, just before the new models come out... but realistically you can get good deals anytime. I can never imagine paying MSRP or higher for a vehicle, which is probably why I'll never buy a Ferrari, because I just can't imagine paying $80k over list for a car so the smarmy salesman who sold me it can add another Rolex to the three that are already on his wrist(s).

I also trade-in with the dealer - it's just much simpler to do it that way. But make sure you get a good deal regardless. The number one rule on trade-ins is not to let the dealer do a "combined" price factoring in new car and trade-in, because that allows them to hide the pricing. Make a deal on the new car, then make a deal on the trade-in, and haggle aggressively on both. You know what invoice is on the new car, and you know what your car's value is, so take adavantage of that.

Ultimately, what every buyer needs to keep in mind is that the buyer has all the power when looking for a car. And that power is that the buyer can go somewhere else to buy the car, or even demand to deal with another salesman at the same dealership. The only time the buyer gives that up is when buying a car that no one else has (e.g., special order cars).

JHStrange

After driving our '66 Toyota Corona (bought new) for 20 years we decided that we'd change every 10 years. 10 years gets you a major jump in technology, construction, design, etc.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

So far I've changed cars every 3-5 years. I don't plan on changing cars that often and tell myself I'll keep this one for a while, but it seems like every 3-5 years something comes along that I want to I either sell my car or trade it in for the car that I want now. The longest I've had any car so far was 4 years. However, if gas prices keeps going up and cost of living keeps going up, I'll probably have to start changing my lifestyle. Then again, there might be a huge influx of very nice cars on the use car market that dealers can't sell because of that. Great deals may be had.

soakgame

well considering i've had my GS for six years.. it may be time for a change.. but i went to carmax and they only offered me 4k for it >=/

oh and i test drove an 08 infiniti g35 journey sedan w/ sport, nav, and premium packages

40k sticker price! ahhhh out of my price range

dealer tried to get me into a lease.. $575 a month / 2 years / 5k down

it's tempting.. but i don't want to lease

tuan92129

Every car my family has purchased has been brand new -> auto wrecker.