need car buying advice

impala or civic
if ur gonna buy a civic, buy it new.1 or 2 year olds can be the same price as new.they depreciate slower than most cars.if u do find one with a good price it probably has high miles.Also,if ur selling the impala ,sell it quick because those r worth half the price after 3 years .

Hi anoxia, and a belated welcome to A2K.

I'm online-constrained at the moment, so I'm going to address this later today; for now, would you post your answers to the following questions, please:

--What is your equity position? How much do you owe today on the loan, versus how much you put down when you purchased the Impala; total dollars, including the dollar value of any trade-in?

--What incentives -- i.e. rebates or low loan interest rates -- did you take advantage of when you bought the Chevy? And what incentives of this type are currently in effect in your part of the country on Honda Civics?

-- how much money is the Civic going to save you on gas and insurance over the course of the next twelve months? As precisely as you can figure it, please...

I'll be back later...

I'd check the insurance rates of the Civic before assuming it's lower...Hondas are generally pretty high because of theft rates.

I dont think there is much of a difference in insureance, but gas is about $250-300 over 12 months.

I owe nothing on my impala.

I don't know of incentives on hondas, but I was looking to buy used.

I was hoping the trade off wouldn't cost me anything... but I notice that my 2000 Impala has depreciated much more than I thought. This may not be worth it.

You're not going to be able to trade a 2000 Impala for a similar year, low mileage Civic straight up...it probably wouldn't be worth it simply for gas savings. Besides, figure you pay a little more gas with the Impala, but it's a more powerful, comfortable, larger car, too. It's a trade-off.

I'm going to start a job in another city, and having to commute. Ah well, I'll take the bus

That's the way to go. And it sounds like you already know the approximate value of it as a trade-in. You can do a little better by retailing it (private-party sale) but it's usually not worth it.



Obviously then, the calculation is easy. If you can't trade straight up for a Honda you like, then it's not going to be worth it to you...and it sounds as if you have already figured that out.

Good luck in any event.

True. Thank you all for your help