Seattle Nesties
jennuinne
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Clicky: Car
Re: Clicky: Car
to be honest, it's such an expensive investment so you need to be happy with it. i still kick myself for my car.. my old car got totalled while parked and was old.. stuff was going wrong with it.. so when i bought a new car i didn't want anything automatic or anything. now i don't know what i was thinking. lol.
anyway, my point is, make the decision that you'll be most happy with long term.
btw, are you ttgktfu right now? h and i sorta aren't caring, lol. we weren't going to start officially for a few months but we're just doing whatever.. lol.
sarack makes great points - my whole thing with buying a car is:
1. Safety first - you spend a decent amount of time in your car, and it's probably the place you're most likely to get seriously injured, so make sure you buy one with good crash test reports, that has air bags (honestly - why are these even optional? Don't let people try to save a few hundred bucks by not buying air bags!), and that, if used, has detailed service records.
2. Comfort - how far do you drive, and how often? How do you anticipate that changing with a family or over the course of owning the car? If you spend a lot of time in the car, certain features may be more desirable (for example, I live for my heated seats, because I used to have a long-ish commute and when I had cramps I'd turn them on no matter what and my back felt instantly better). If you're driving longer distances, then you're going to want a seat with lumbar support or better seats or a steering wheel that angles or whatever it is that you need to be comfy. If you're only going a few miles a day, those features become less important.
3. Overall costs - does the BMW require premium gasoline versus standard for the others? If so, and if you drive a lot, that can add up quickly. How do your insurance rates on all three cars compare? Sometimes the insurance rates are whack, and you'll find you get a better rate for the BMW than you will for the Honda (or whatever), so it never hurts to get a quote beforehand. Also, what are the long-term maintenance costs associated with owning the car? A few years back my mom (very randomly) found a Maserati that was a steal (she was shopping with my sister for her car and they had this for sale at the dealership) - something like $44K, with only 20K miles on it; she then learned the standard service on the car cost $3,500, and then understood why no one was buying it! Obviously we're not talking about those types of prices, but sometimes luxury cars cost so much to maintain in servicing that there's a reason people discount them severely when selling them. Check to see what the maintenance costs are down the road, especially as the car gets older, because that's when you'll have a lot more (and a lot more frequent) service.
And then just buy a car that makes you happy. And that will be good for getting children in / out of it - try putting a car seat in to see how that works (if you can borrow one from a friend or something). Ask yourself if the car will comfortably hold two kids (if you want more than one), or if it can shuttle around the whole family + animals (if applicable) + whatever else you might need (camping gear or soccer gear or whatever).
At least those are all the things I think about when buying a car. And if you buy new, it usually pays to buy the Blue Book information on the car (I think it's like $20 for the report?) because that will tell you what the dealer actually paid for the car (there are always factory rebates and stuff that the dealers are receiving but that you don't know about), so it will help you in the negotiations in terms of finding a starting point and going from there. Good luck picking out the right one!
Sarack: no, not trying yet, but I'm a planner and all these things need to be figured out sooner or later.
I have thought about all of these things. My commute is short, but my car will probably also be the car we use on weekends and trips, so it'll be driven a lot. I'd like leather b/c easier to clean, really want heated seats & blutooth. Would like Nav and backup cam, but those are not mandatory.
I feel like a CRV (I've driven one) is very easy to drive, comfortable, serves all our needs, and long-term is the most affordable b/c although the cost up front is higher, they are very reliable, take reg gas, have good gas milage and last FORVER. I
Honda. But, I'm just not excited about it.
A Hyundai Sante Fe is a good option too, but I don't like how it looks much either.
The Chevy Equinox is a good combo of value and fit & finish, but only the newer ones are nice, so I'm limited to newer models, which cost more. I'd probably have to sacrafice some bells and whistles to get what I want.
There are some I love, but are not affordable/practicle in terms of gas mileage, etc. Others are too ugly to consider. I guess I care too much about looks, but it's important.
I know BMW or luxary cars cost a lot more to maintain, so I had ruled them out until I saw one for such a good deal. DH has an old Mercedes and he hasn't had any issues with it.
I feel like I just keep researching, researching, researching b/c nothing is exactly what I want. And who wants to pay that much for something that isn't what they want? Grrr...
The next vehicle we buy will be a family car as well. I have a 99 single cab ford ranger. Dh use to drive an extended cab ford ranger, and the bucket seats would not be doable with car seats.
My ranger is almost 13 years old with 80k miles, so I have no intentions on getting rid of it.
That said, DH and I have money in the bank but wont be biting the bullet on the family vehicle until we're KTFU or he *happens* to transfer to a job with no company vehicle, which at this point in his career, we don't see happening.
♥ bfp1 06/14/2011 ♥ edd 02/22/2012 ♥
♥ baby jennlin born on 02/15/2012 ♥
who says you can only wear your wedding dress once?
honeymoon bio ♥ married bio ♥ planning bio
jumped ship to the new and improved nest. back to TB for baby boards.
This.
I know it's not either one you mentioned, but we LOVE our Subaru Forester. It's such a great family vehicle, and it's frilly enough to feel nice, but not so much that it feels extravagant.
GL!
BFP 1/22/12 | Ectopic pregnancy found 2/14/12 | Methotrexate to complete m/c 2/15/12
And this. I really like the idea of getting a brand new car because I've never had one (nor has anyone in any of my immediate family), but I don't think I would ever actually pay for one.