How can you afford the cost of a new SUV?

[Joseph Garcia]

In your opening statement, these sentences say it all, IMO.

"I live in a city where morons rule the streets. My car has been hit 4 times....."

Purchasing a new vehicle in an area like this makes no sense at all. As you stated, it won't be a new looking vehicle for long. Purchase a used vehicle at a fraction of the cost of a new vehicle, and save yourself a boatload of money.

 

[mountie]

From experience...... An old girlfriend wanted a 'new' convertible. ( in about 1990)..... We discovered something.... We went to Enterprise Rental / used cars. We found a nice 'one-year lease' corporate rented car. ( 1990 Chrysler Sebring convertible ) It had 12,000 miles. We bought it for $12,000 ( I think?) The exact car, for sale at a Chrysler dealer used with 26,000 miles was $24,000.

Check out rental company auto sales... They never owned the car they just lease it, to rent. They are pretty well maintained. They sell the cars / suv's at a wholesale price, because they didn't 'buy it'. Plus..... You will be the "1st owner", so a " bumper-to-bumper " warranty is in affect. Plus you can get financing, because it is the 1st buyer of the car.

The rental / sales company can search for their 'corporate rented vehicles', nation-wide.

 

[tjs3922]

I think this question is very different for everyone. As you get older, you start understanding the old saying "life is short, enjoy it while you are able to". I have 2 Yukon Denalis and could clearly get by with a Traverse and an Acadia. But, I don't want to and am fortunate to be able to afford it (I think!). Our lifestyle fits well with this spend as we don't do exotic vacations and such, and have a 95% paid off home.

Another point on these big rigs. Mine have held their value extremely well. I typically put on 12-15K miles per year and keep them TOP NOTCH. I have done very well going back to my 2015 Suburban. So a decent down payment, keep the rig up, and you should always be in the black.

Clearly these 80-100K vehicles are not for most mid income young folks starting out in life. But live and let live. Just hope everyone makes financial decisions that they can justify within their means.

 

[Marky Dissod]

this question is very different for everyone

for GM, they answer this question by adding increasingly complex features that cost GM pennies, and charging hundreds or thousands for each one.


If you can afford a brand new 2023 or 2024 vehicle, congratulations, you did several things right with your life.
That has absolutely no bearing on how well a K2xx or a T1xx will hold its value after 20 years, given that part of that value may or may not be comprised of features that may be superseded or obsolesced in the near future.
My '02 Tahoe Z71 is holding its value pretty well, and the only fancypants feature that no loner works is OnStar.

 

[K2 Kaiju]

They used to discount the hell out of these just a few years ago - like 15k - and rates were 3%. Now they are msrp which is way higher, and double that interest rate at least. They really keep their value now, so trading one in gets you a lot off a new one...

If you work on these, you will see how similar the generations are to each other - some parts would fit a 2000-2020. The only big change is the IRS, but I feel the solid rear axle still rides pretty darn good. Why would you be truck poor?Get a 18-20 as you will get 90% of the function without the upfront cost. You wont get super cruise but you are already sitting in the driver seat - what else you got to do there, play air guitar?

 

[mountie]

I think this question is very different for everyone. As you get older, you start understanding the old saying "life is short, enjoy it while you are able to". I have 2 Yukon Denalis and could clearly get by with a Traverse and an Acadia. But, I don't want to and am fortunate to be able to afford it (I think!). Our lifestyle fits well with this spend as we don't do exotic vacations and such, and have a 95% paid off home.

Another point on these big rigs. Mine have held their value extremely well. I typically put on 12-15K miles per year and keep them TOP NOTCH. I have done very well going back to my 2015 Suburban. So a decent down payment, keep the rig up, and you should always be in the black.

Clearly these 80-100K vehicles are not for most mid income young folks starting out in life. But live and let live. Just hope everyone makes financial decisions that they can justify within their means.

One thing to consider buying a new version.... Are they higher than my '05 Yukon? The new darn thing has to fit inside my garage.

 

[Blueinterceptor]

Eating is highly overrated

leasing for 3 years used to be a good deal.

 

[Sparksalot]

For a short answer, I’d say many who buy expensive vehicles can’t truly “afford” them.

 

[mountie]

For a short answer, I’d say many who buy expensive vehicles can’t truly “afford” them.

Yup..... that's where the word expensive comes from.
Caveat : Working for wealthy people..... They say, "expensive" when one of their 4, $100,000 race boat engine explodes.

 

[B-train]

In my opinion, these vehicles are not worth their price. The interior finishings look nice, but most of the materials are the cheapest the factory can buy. Look at the amount of cheap plastic, and the fake leather bits, is where most of my opinion comes from. I honestly don't know why people are willing to throw away their hard earned money by overpaying for these things, all the while making the CEO's even richer. I even feel that the top trim Escalades are only worth 60-70k tops.

And at 60-70k they are still overpriced in my book. They probably cost GM 20k to build, or less. I WON'T make a CEO rich if I can help it. A company doesn't make BILLIONS, with a B, in profits without naming 2,3,4,5,6x their investment on each vehicle.

When the jeep Cherokee finally ended production, it cost Chrysler about $500-750 per vehicle to produce. It had such a long run, costs were fixed, etc. Think about them apples.......GM is no different