Your Opinion?

Finally we decided to get a car for my wife - she recently got a licence after 3 tries. With limited budget and so much choice, we finally decided on a Honda Accord LX 2003 model - it's on a very good deal- $240/month for a 36 month/12,000 miles per year lease with no down payment. Insurance works out at $90/month.

In my opinion, its an errrr.....sensible car for us middle aged folks and prolly not appealing to the younger crowd.

Before doing the deal Wednesday, just thought to get your valuable opinion on the car.

And the deal.

Thanks.

[TheBurningCat]

The accord is a nice car - well the version we have here is. But for the same price you may be able to get the Civic type r?! MMMMM rice rocket

[Epidemic]

Personally I only buy old cars. They are the best for your buck.

If you are determined to acquire a new car I am of the belief that you should really crunch the number. I personally believe that the lease is usually a loosing proposition over purchase. If not please provide evidence, as I have never understood the fact that in the end you end up with nothing.

So unless there is something really really attractive about the lease I would go with new or used options.

I once bought a new car for 6,000 dollars, well new to me. I run under the rule of 10000 miles per hundred dollars. I usually come out ahead on that deal. So your car will have to travel 200,000 miles to be worth at most 20,000 dollars. For some reason this number still works for me today yet it is a 1984 number.

[vass0922]

epidemic, if you can fix your own cars then yes older cars can be better... however, for a person that doesn't like to turn wrenches new cars are nice given they come with a nice warranty.

actually shahani, I believe accords are quite popular for ricers

[Theophylact]

I like the Civic, myself. Not a lot smaller than the Accord, just a little less fancy-schmancy.

[Knothead]

Well, I'm more on Epidemic's side, I have a hard time understanding buying a new car---where you lose about 20% of it's $$ value just by driving it off the lot---or leasing, where you don't have anything once the 36 month period is up.

Then again, cars don't do that much for me. They're handy, (and sometimes fun) but I've never understood why people get so wound up in the things.

But assuming these factors are not daunting to you, yeah, the Accord is a SWELL car (note: one of the most-stolen autos here in L.A. ) and the numbers sound reasonable, although I think they're schtarkin' you on the insurance. Just IMO.

[Gomer]

errrr.... 3 tries eh, guess the third times the charm. My wife would have been rewarded with something mid to late eighties =)

Ep, your's is a tough question but lemme give you my thoughts. A car like that has a reasonable life span of 10 years without major repairs. Say 100,000 miles.

The price is $20,000 as you correctly estimated. Now, anything new loses more value in the beginning. Meaning it depreciates in a non-linear manner. Unlike, say a building, which may lose it's value fairly evenly in its life span.

Just to illustrate my point (so don't hold me on the numbers), of the 10 year life span of the car, it loses say 40% value in 30% time---at the end of 3 years it's residual value is $12,000. The value "lost", the 40% or $8,000 is what you pay over the 36 month lease period. The interest is factored in.

So when you say " at the end there's nothing left", yes you're right. Because you've used it up. Think of it like an ice cream cone.

The advantage as I see it is that you can return the car in 36 months, when the warranty runs out, and get another car. Like renting an apartment. But there are opposing points of view I know. This is attractive to us because we don't have a large amount to pay up front. Just $240 every month, which isn't small but with 2 grown boys, a Civic/Corolla would be tight. Here it's a very urbanized environment and a truck just wouldn't do.

Knot, New Jersey has some of the highest insurance rates in the country. Just the bare minimum required by the lease on that car would cost around $1,000/year with a $500 deductible.

You wouldn't believe the rates for SUVs.

[Ruler2112]

Gomer was reading my mind... 3 times taking the driving test- get her a clunker!

You might also want to check out the Malibu. It's significantly less expensive, but I don't know what you're looking for in a car. Also, I love my oldsmobubble intrigue, but that's significantly higher. This is a fact that I hated, as it was one of the only cars I could physically drive with my 6'7" frame. I was hoping to get a car for $12-16 grand, ended up at %$(*ing 26 because just about every car on the market is designed for midgets (or those 'normal' sized people)!!!

Best of luck to ya.

My wife is one of those who is totally ignorant about anything mechanical. Needs a very reliable and easy to drive car. Hence the Honda Accord.

She says that the test inspector told her not to stop at the stop sign on the test course-he told her that there's no need. So she crept.

The same guy did it twice to her and after the first two tests told her she ran a stop sign. Mean SOB. Third time she got another guy and just sailed thru the test in 5 minutes.