Originally Posted by
Eggman
These can be difficult waters to navigate as it's all to easy to get further in debt.
+1
The negative equity in the Fit makes this a more complicated decision. It sounds like you are a good candidate for a Mirage 5-speed, but only if it makes financial sense.
Let's talk economics for a second. You're upside-down in the Fit lease. So you aren't getting out of that without paying the lease company for your mileage, or you roll those fees into another car loan. That's not an ideal situation but it's reality.
Suppose you buy a new $13,000 Mirage tomorrow. You borrow the entire amount of the purchase, and you roll $2,000 of negative equity into the deal. You have a new Mirage, but you now have a $15,000 loan.
On a 5 year loan @ 4% interest, that's $276 per month. Add on the mandatory gap insurance that you'll have to carry, and that number is probably closer to $300/month.
After 1 year....your Mirage will be worth $10,000...but your loan payoff will be $12,300.
After 2 years...your Mirage will be worth $8,000....but your loan payoff will be $9400.
After 3 years...Your Mirage will be worth $6500.....and your loan payoff will be $6300.
So after 3 years...you will have made almost $11,000 in car payments, and you will have almost no equity in the car.
What's my point?
#1 - Make sure if you buy a Mirage, that it's the car for you. Because if you have to bail out of it in the first few years of ownership, you are going to be in another negative equity situation that may be worse than you have now.
#2 - Consider a used Mirage. There are lots of good deals out there on lightly used Mirages. Let someone else eat the depreciation for you. You will still be under water for a while, but it won't be as bad as if you purchased new.
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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)