I gotcha. Me, I'm just the opposite. I like driving the latest/greatest because I know I'm ALWAYS going to have a car payment (at least for the next 20 years probably) every month anyway, so I might was well drive the nicest car that my budgeted money will get me.

And right now in my life, with two kids in the house ages 9 and 6, a nice new hybrid for my "city driving only" commute is perfect. Once my oldest turns 17, I might have to lower my own standards for the car I will be driving.

 

That is absolutely sensible. I shudder when I read about people trading in one or two year old cars to get the latest and greatest. To me that's just throwing away good money. My previous car, bought new for cash, was a 1994 Mitsubishi (haven't sold it yet). That's been replaced by the 2003 Accord, paid cash.

As for styling, my subjective take is that the Prius and 06 HCH couldn't be more different. The Prius IMO is in the running for ugliest car on the road. The 06 HCH is a thing of beauty.

 

Say it isn't so! I have an 11 and 10 year old. My plan: son turns 17 and inherits the (by that time) 10 year old 2003 HCH (bought in 2002) and dad goes and gets a new 2012 HCH. However, I'll have to pay it off in 2 years before he enters college.

 

Hopefully by 2013 when my son gets old enough to drive, I can just buy him an EV and program the max speed to 50 MPH and pay $50 a month in electricity costs to power it.......

 

I like that idea! The thought of my kids behind the wheel of any vehicle terrifies me. Funny - when I was 16 I thought driving should be a Constitutionally protected mandate. Now, a driving age of 20 doesn't sound unreasonable at all...

 

Wow this is cool. I'm really intrigued. The HCH has more of a universal appeal than I thought. We have stodgy, frugal, old fashioned folks like me who like simple things but want better economy, and we have those who like the flashiest newest things, and others in between - all together pursuing the same interest here. If course that shouldn't surprise me, but I suppose I had a tendency to assume we all have more in common than i should. Diversity makes the world interesting.

Anyway, whoever started this thread, thanks for giving us old fashioned folks something to talk about again! :-)

Cheers.

 

Ah-ha. Then it's people like you I should blame because I can't find a cell phone that's just a phone! All those latest bells and whistles just get in the way! :-)

Interesting. My goal is to never have a car payment. I can't justify paying all that money for something that loses value every day. I figure I get my money's worth out of a car, but it's hard to feel that way when I'm paying interest too, especially when you owe more than it's worth. That gives me a funny feeling inside (and it's not the one I get when I see a pretty girl).

If I were contemplating always having a car payment, then yes indeed I would want it to get me stuff I was really excited about. Can't blame you for that, I guess we just get excited about different stuff.

* Oh, and by the way, on a totally unrelated note... see that "I get 44.3" note below? Well that's because I haven't entered my last two miserable winter tanks. Anyone else dragging their feet on entering data, too sad to see their good numbers go bye bye? Denial ain't just a river in Egypt....