Overhaulin'

With gas prices going up, should I buy a new car with better mpg, or keep the old one and have no car pymt?

My old car is a 95 Chevy Impala (16 city, 20 hwy) and is paid for. I was thinking of getting something that would bet at least 25 city and 30 hwy. Maybe not new, but newer. I would have to borrow the money. What do you think?

Public Comments

1. keep the old one with no car pymt!
2. Trade it in for a Toyota Corrolla. They get 38 mpg. And I'll bet you can find a used one for a good deal.
3. Keep the old car, tune it up and keep rolling. With the price of gas and a car payment, you'll be in the poor house before you know it. Just travel the highway as much as possible. Those city miles are what keep you at the pump
4. Probably keep the old car. If you were paying $350 a month for the car, you need to counter that by saving $350.00 a month in gas. Doubtful you can do that.
5. I think you should keep what you currently have. Why purchase a brand new or newer or car period when you have to pay money then you would have to pay money if you have payments, plus gas, plus insurance. You would actually be spending more out. just keep up maintenance and use a gas treatment and depending on what state you live in less air conditioner or heat, dress warm or dress cool and let the windows down or roll them up.
6. How much do you drive? if you drive 30,000 mi your save about $1000 in gas, but your car payments and insurace would offset this saving
7. Keep the impala if it runs ok, keep the oil changed reg. and the plugs good, and tire pressure. $300.00 car payments vs. 3.00 a gallon. I'll take the gas price.
8. I've got a sweet 94 Mustang GT. Paid for. That car is staying right where it is.
9. If you're impala is not having any problem, just keep it. Instead of investing your money in a car which the value depreciates, invest it on something where you can earn some money. YOu can try CD's or IRA's. But if you're getting a new car, get the one that will give you better mileage. Gas here in Southern cali is already at low $3, it's probably going to go up a lot more soon.
10. I almost think you are better off staying with your current car with no payment. Figure it out this way though...what will be cheaper... Car with no payment and high gas prices or car with payment and high gas prices If you are paying $100 a month on just gas, and you get a new car and add on a car payment, you may be going from $100 a month to say $300 a month (payment + gas) Our two car payments are $450 each (that's $900 a month) If one was paid off, it would be better since our gas doen't come out to $450 a month!
11. Unless you plan on getting a small crapper car which wont be fun to drive, then getting a newer car with good gas mileage will probably cost a lot. You should consider a motorcycle for when you dont need to carry anything. U can get up to 80 mpg on a bike.
12. keep this car..if u have the money to buy another car then why not use that money for the gas instead..i understand about the gas prices that are going up and up..just do what i do..fill your tank up to full..then when it goes down to 3 quarters fill..go to the station and put in 5 to 10 bucks..and just keep doing that...till the price of gas goes down...it will go down..only because alot of folks out there are not going to be able to go to work cause of the gas prices and the goverment is going to see that they got alot of shhhht on there hands so instead of forking out goverment checks to wellfare folks they are going to drop the price of gas..it's there lesson..not our probblem...just wait and see
13. Figure out the new monthly car payment, the cost of running the new car, and the change of insurance. Now add up your insurance and cost of gas for your old car. Go to www.superchips.com and see if there is a computer upgrade for your car. Tune-ups, oil changes, and proper tire inflation will help to save a few miles at the pump.
14. I work and test cars for a big three company. If you have an old car that runs good keep it. You would not believe the junk that's coming off the line now.
15. keep what you have, service it and it will serve you. lower insurance, registration, less worry. your not going to spend on fuel a month what you would with a new car, payments, insurance etc. take care.
16. There are many factors in deciding if you want a newer car with better gas mileage. 1. Cars with better gas mileage are typically smaller, while most Americans are getting larger. 2. The maintenance requirements on an older car are typically greater in cost than those of a newer car. (But not always the case unless you purchase new, you don't know how well a used car was cared for) 3. Obviously you're heavily focused on a mpg game, so the question is how much can you truly save by going to a better more fuel efficient vehicle. Let's do some mathematical compairson and determine some $$ figures for you here. Working with a range of numbers is a little difficult, so we'll work with averages. 95 Impala = 18mpg Newer Car = 27mpg. So you'll gain an increase of fuel savings of (27-18)/27 * 100 = 33% increase in fuel economy. This basically means your fuel costs will go down by about 1/3 if you switch to a newer car. So is it worth borrowing money? Or is it worth pouring money into fuel. For part 3, this is what you need to consider. If you are spending $300/month on gasoline, the newer car will mean you'll only spend $200/month on gasoline. (Net savings of $100) If you are spending $600/month on gasoline, the newer car will mean you'll only be spending $400/month on gasoline. (Net savings of $200) Get the pattern? Now figure out how much money you spend on a monthly basis, multiply by 2/3 to determine what your new spending will be if you purchase the newer car, multiply by 1/3 to determine your savings. So if the newer car has a monthly payment of $200/month. If you are spending $600 or more in gasoline on a monthly basis, then the gas savings alone will pay for the car. Do the MATH it's not that hard. It will give you a good justification to spend or not spend the money.
17. Strictly from a financial standpoint - I'd keep the Impala and just grin and bear the gas prices. 16-20 mpg is not great, but unless you're commuting great distances each day, that's not terrible either. I think it is a really cool thing that you'd consider going into debt to drive a more fuel-efficient vehicle, but I think that your finances should trump environmental friendliness in this case, maybe just until you have cash on hand for your next vehicle. Good luck to you & Take care! :)