# Is $13,900 too much for a car on a $40,000 a year salary? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093 "2012-06-23T19:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/21 "2012-06-23T21:19:23Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Why on earth would you go 11k into debt for a car with 95k miles on it?! > > My Pontiac G6 cost about 14k, brand new (granted, this was in 2008). I got lucky and ended up with 0% APR, and that was with average-to-cruddy credit (this was right before GM completely fell apart and got taken over by Uncle Sam). Yes, but will you get 355,000 miles out of a pontiac with basic maintenance? A person who bought a new Pontiac in 1997 is probably on their 2nd or 3rd Pontiac by now. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/22 "2012-06-23T21:29:28Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > OK, I’m glad that you decided not to proceed, but if your budget is limited, a V6 with leather isn’t the way to go. Look at the four-cylinder Accords with cloth seats. And I don’t think a dealer is the best place to find a bargain. Yeah. I didnt go there looking for a leather V6. My price point was $10,000 max. But everywhere I went, i’d say to the guy “im looking at 10K or under” and you’d watch their face fall. lol And those cars are there. But as I said earlier, they are in the 150K+ miles range. Conventional wisdom is that the crap economy the past few years has caused used cars to sell at a high price. It sure seems so. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/23 "2012-06-23T21:49:27Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Yes, but will you get 355,000 miles out of a pontiac with basic maintenance? A person who bought a new Pontiac in 1997 is probably on their 2nd or 3rd Pontiac by now. I’m _not_ a car person at all but I daresay you getting 355k miles out of one car is quite unusual. You’ve probably been scrupulous about car care and also damn lucky. Correct me if I’m wrong (seriously). I’ve heard of a random Nissan or two hitting over 300k but this doesn’t seem to be the norm – at least, not without getting a new transmission (which, to me, if you have to get a new transmission, you may as well get another car). ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/24 "2012-06-23T21:56:50Z")
It just occured to me. If you keep your old clunker you NEED to fix that fan. Not so much for your comfort but for the car. You keep pushing that old engine heat wise and starting and stopping it all the time AND its now going from summer hot to damn summer hot its going to blow. I don’t care if the temp gauge isn’t red lining. That extra heat is just asking for trouble. Or you are going to find yourself somewhere on a REALLY hot day and you can’t stop as much as you like and its all gonna be over. So, IMO you need to either fix that fan or get a new/newer car post haste. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/25 "2012-06-23T22:43:45Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > It just occured to me. If you keep your old clunker you NEED to fix that fan. Not so much for your comfort but for the car. You keep pushing that old engine heat wise and starting and stopping it all the time AND its now going from summer hot to damn summer hot its going to blow. I don’t care if the temp gauge isn’t red lining. That extra heat is just asking for trouble. Or you are going to find yourself somewhere on a REALLY hot day and you can’t stop as much as you like and its all gonna be over. > > So, IMO you need to either fix that fan or get a new/newer car post haste. kinda my thinking too. you could buy a junk yard part for little money and mount it yourself. It’s about as complicated as changing the oil. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/26 "2012-06-23T23:40:57Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > I’m _not_ a car person at all but I daresay you getting 355k miles out of one car is quite unusual. You’ve probably been scrupulous about car care and also damn lucky. Maybe. I’ve done general upkeep in a timely manner. Oil change, air filter, plugs, replace timing belt/ water pump. But I haven’t been exceptionally fastidious about it. But the vast majority of my mileage is cruising 70 on the interstate. There’s not a whole lot of stress on a car driving at a moderate speed in 5th gear. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/27 "2012-06-24T00:29:42Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Used cars seem to be selling at a premium in the current economy. My gut and personality says find something reliable for $5000 (could pay cash) but that sort of deal seems a bit hard to come by. Such cars exist, but they are high mileage. Like pushing 200K miles type high mileage. I may get lucky and find a gem but I also may get a money pit, then i’m out my 5K and i’m paying for repairs. We just bought cars for 2 of my kids this year: both honda civic’s, 110,000 to 120,000 miles for $4000 to $5000 - avoid dealerships, minimal owners, check them out with mechanic, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/28 "2012-06-24T00:35:02Z")
Take a look at KIAs and hyundai, with good interest rates you might get in the same ball park payment wise and get a new one. I pay 264 a month for a new Tiburon from last year. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/29 "2012-06-24T01:52:30Z")
> [@Quintas](#): > > Yes, but will you get 355,000 miles out of a pontiac with basic maintenance? A person who bought a new Pontiac in 1997 is probably on their 2nd or 3rd Pontiac by now. Actually, my nephew is learning to drive on my old 97 Pontiac I got as a high school graduation gift. It sucks balls that they don’t make them any more, because my car now is an '04 Grand Prix that’s way undervalued just because they quit the brand, so the trade-in is worthless and I’ll have to do what I ought to do anyway and drive the wheels off. But it’s a great car and I’ll miss the hell out of it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093/30 "2012-06-24T05:55:27Z")
I think it sounds like you can afford that car, but I would agree with others that this particular car probably isn’t the best option out there. This vintage Accord also had some pretty nasty problems with the automatic transmissions. To be perfectly honest, if you want a mid-size car, an Impala or Taurus isn’t going to be any worse in this age range and I’ll bet you can get one for a heck of a lot cheaper or lower mileage. I would agree with the others that you should test drive some newer cars before you plunk down a big chunk of change on a relatively old car. My favorite recent compact car I’ve had as a rental is the Ford Fiesta, which has gotten great reviews and I think starts right at $13k. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-13-900-too-much-for-a-car-on-a-40-000-a-year-salary/626093.md?page=1)