Here are 2 example scenarios to attempt to answer this question.
I'm making the following assumptions below to keep things simple.
Assumptions
New Mirage Price.......$12,000
Loan Interest Rate.....3%
Loan Term..............48 months
Mirage Trade-In Value..$2,000 (4 year old Mirage base model with 80K miles)
2 people each buy a new Mirage...
Both drive 20,000 miles/year
Both finance $10,000 over 4 years @ 3% ($220/monthly payment)
^^^ This is where the similarities of the 2 people end.
Over the next 12 years...
Person A trades his Mirage every 4 years on a new one
Person B drives his original Mirage for the entire 12 years
Person A
Every 4 years when his Mirage is paid off, he trades it on a new one that costs $12,000.
His old Mirage is always worth $2,000 at trade-in time.
He finances the $10,000 balance over 48 months @ $220/month each time.
Person B
When his Mirage is paid off in 4 years, he drives it another 8 years without a car payment.
How much is that Mirage costing each person over a 12 year period?
..........................Person A.......Person B
Total Payments............$31,680........$10,560
Sales Tax ($800 per car)..$2,400.........$800
Brakes/Tires*.............$1,500.........$2,500
Oil Changes**.............$x.............$x
Struts/Shocks***..........$0.............$1,000
Out of Warranty Repairs...$0.............$4,000
TOTAL.....................$35,580........$18,860
*Assume $500 for tires/brakes every 50,000 miles
**Both cars need oil changes at the same intervals...so cost is the same
***New set of shocks/struts every 100,000 miles (Person A never has to do this)
The difference in this example is $16,720 over 12 years...or $116 per month.
Is that a good deal to always be driving a relatively new car and never have to worry about an expensive drivetrain repair? Well...that depends! For me the answer is no...but if you want to drive a new car all the time, the Mirage may be one of the cheapest ways to do it!
There are lots of other things not considered here...some of which may be hard to assign a dollar amount.
- The guy who trades his Mirage every 48 months will be be required to carry full coverage insurance all the time. The guy who keeps his mirage for 5+ years may opt for less expensive liability coverage once the car is paid off and has a 'worthless' book value.
- Person B with the high-mileage Mirage may never get close to $4,000 of out-of-warranty repairs. I know I'm not planning on it based upon the Mirage's reliability history.
- If you buy a new Mirage and only put $2,000 down, you may be forced to pay for gap insurance which may increase your monthly payment for part of your loan term.
- How do you quantify driving a newer car all the time...or what about the value of not being in debt constantly?!?
I'm sure I'm missing something but I think you get the idea.
Last edited by Top_Fuel; 12-26-2017 at 08:49 PM.
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View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)