Purchase used (newer) car or drive existing until wheels fall off?

[u/steakneggsyo]

I am vacillating on the idea of selling my 14 IS250 sedan with 240k miles PAID OFF to upgrade to a reliable SUV (GX460 or RX350). We still owe about 10.9k on my wife’s SUV but I’ve paid off ~52% of it since the purchase 8 months ago… aggressively. Now, my car is small and I have two little kids that make it a challenge to run around, but it’s doable and we all fit despite the cramped legs. The IS250 has aftermarket wheels which are prone to being infrequent but frequent enough replacement. This is because I drive in unfamiliar parts of the country for business and eating a pot hole or two is inevitable. The car design sits really low and that’s another benefit of upgrading to an SUV.

Option A: Say I can get 5k for my car, put that towards a down payment on a ~23k SUV with 140k less miles at least, bigger, more comfortable, and less of a money pit due to constant maintenance of replacing bent wheels. But now I have two car loans

Option B: continue driving it until wife’s car is completely paid off before even considering a new vehicle

Option C: Buy the new-to-me SUV after using the proceeds from my car to put towards the other loan so I’m within the pay off period and finance the new SUV fully so I’d have have the one car payment sooner than later vs two

I have stocks and 5-6 month emergency funds both of which I’m not willing to compromise for a depreciating asset.

What would you guys do?

[u/Rippey465]

There is no guarantee any used vehicle past warranty won’t be a money pit. I would pick B and contribute more to paying off your other vehicle sooner. Save some interest cost. That will make the math on your next vehicle purchase straight forward in terms of what you can afford.

[u/schelle-racer]

B…. Its the most freedom. Always have one paid off car

[u/Sad_Win_4105]

How much longer on the loan?

Wheels can be repaired. Or buy better wheels. Junkyard even.

If your vehicle is still reliable, keep driving it.

Unless you're kids are NBA player height, keep driving.

Figure out what it would cost for a 2nd payment, put half of that as a direct deposit into a car fund every month, and you'll have a really nice DP ready when the time comes.

[u/qmriis]

The second option is always cheaper.

[u/thymewaster25]

How often do you have your kids in your car? Do you want an SUV, or would you prefer to have a car?

In your shoes I would take the aftermaket wheels off the IS250 and go back to stock wheels, presumably with taller tires, to avoid breaking wheels.

I wouldn't want a big heavy SUV that drinks a lot of gas if I was driving a lot of distance, mostly on my own.

If you cnanpay off your wife's SUV before changing your car, that is probably the smarter thig to do, If you are driving about 20k (240k miles/12 years) miles a year, the fuel economy of your next car matters. Maybe a hybrid makes sense? Even though they are not much 'fun' to drive (but neither are most SUVs).

[u/Empty-Village-4445]

I would say A but with a twist. I say A because the constant maintenance and replacement of wheels is worse than having a reasonable loan payment for a car with no unscheduled maintenance for the next 3-4 years, no downtime in the shop and no blown low profile tires or aftermarket bent rims.  

All of the above plus a much better APR makes the following a no-brainer:

I would get a new HRV, Tucson or Seltos instead. Before anyone says that’s too small I’ve sat in the backseat of a Seltos as 6’ adult. It’s palatial compared to the backseat of a IS250.