Car Loan Rates these days, what is a good rate going into 2021??

[Mark]

I get my Mirage serviced at my local Ford dealer. One mile from my house. I had been getting my Mirage serviced at the Mitsu dealer for the first few years of ownership. An inconvenient 50 minute drive away. Back then Mitsubishi was attached to the Jaguar dealer, so their service seemed kinda pricey but I liked the cars in the lot and the free coffee and cookies.

Then the Mitsu dealer changed owners and staff and location. Then I got mad about something and I think I'm banned from Mitsubishi now. And when Ford gave me the first bill for an oil change and cost 50% less, I really knew I was being screwed the whole time by Mitsubishi. Oh well.

My Mitsubishi Mirage experience with warranty work is a lite version of what you went through with your Subaru. Could have been worse for the both of us. Anyways, what can you do, cars good and bad can be nightmare money pits. All works good now too for the both of us. I wonder if Volvos are as good as they used to be now. You can get used luxury goods one year old so much cheaper eh.

Overall, the Subaru dealership in Madison has been wonderful. I would have no problem recommending them. I did have to wait a long time for my repairs, but they were done for free & a free loaner was provided. They were honest about the delay, too. Their top mechanic who did their major repairs had a sick child. I had no reason to not believe them, & they didn't let just anyone take on the job. Plus, they were swamped with engine replacements. Thus, the dealership endorsement from me, but not the product. Service there has been wonderful.

Outside of free work, I avoid dealerships as much as I can. Some things I like doing myself. We are also blessed with many small town mechanics who are quite honest. Most of them, I had their children in school, & in some cases I had them as former students. When you know each other, that's a big plus, too. When I visit a dealership in Madison, LaCrosse, or Milwaukee, I am an unknown character.

I knew you use the Ford dealership for service. That is why I suggested you buy the new Ford Bronco coming out. The basic two door model with a 7-speed manual transmission would be fine with me. That way I can buy it from you years from now at a good price! I don't want to pay extra for all those silly extra features!

You seem to be a really good steward of your money. I'm sure you'll update to something else some day. The lack of manual choices keeps some of us in check, & that may be a good thing!

You may be happy with a Subaru Legacy. Don't let me totally discourage you. I have to believe AWD would be useful some days in Canada. There are days it's very useful in Wisconsin, especially in the driftless area that I live. On days it's not needed I have my trusty Mirage!

[dspace9]

I would stay away from Fords nowadays, personally. My friend is a teacher and she commutes around all the time and has for years, and her newer Ford Focus didn't last two years, and wasn't worth fixing. Might of been from being a used car however. She doesn't listen to my advice with cars anyways, she said my Mitsubishi Mirage was expensive at the time I bought my car, not sure why, but she likes her sonic now even though that wouldn't be my first choice in cars. I have been looking at used cars at Strickland's Stratford since they are supposibly the good ones for used cars around my area.

[Mark]

I would stay away from Fords nowadays, personally. My friend is a teacher and she commutes around all the time and has for years, and her newer Ford Focus didn't last two years, and wasn't worth fixing. Might of been from being a used car however. She doesn't listen to my advice with cars anyways, she said my Mitsubishi Mirage was expensive at the time I bought my car, not sure why, but she likes her sonic now even though that wouldn't be my first choice in cars. I have been looking at used cars at Strickland's Stratford since they are supposibly the good ones for used cars around my area.

We have multiple 2016 Ford Focus cars for driver's education. The owner of my driving school bought 6 of them in 2017. They are junk cars in my opinion. Transmissions are horrible. Thankfully, I have a 2015 Impala Limited that I can use most of the time.

Even though I am not impressed with the Ford Focus, I wouldn't shy away from a Ford pickup truck if someone gave me one. There's a reason they sold over 900,000 F-150 in 2018 & just slightly under that in 2019. It's been the best selling vehicle in American for as long as I can remember.

I have zero brand loyalty. One of my favorite vehicles was my cheap 1990 Ford Festiva (designed by Mazda, built by Kia, & sold by Ford). My best friends (married couple) have a Sonic, & she's a teacher, too. It's been a good car for them, but they only buy GM products.

The brand that currently intrigues me the most is Mazda. Mazda & Ford use to have strong ties, but Mazda bought their Ford shares back. I think Mitsubishi should do the same with Nissan. Unless Nissan turns things around, they are a sinking ship. They may/could take Mitsubishi down in North America to stay a float themselves, & I would hate to see that.

[dspace9]

Impala is a much better car. Domestic brands are getting way too expensive now. $81,000 for a big truck? Well I guess if you need one. But if you want the V8 sound, buy a sports car. I get trucks mixed up for farm vehicles, and to the detriment of farm vehicles trying to make a living.

I will give Nissan credit for making a cheaper truck, and for still making sports cars.

[Eggman]

A Mirage should be seen as the cheapest car sold in America!

Save that sentiment for Daewoo products please.

[Mark]

Save that sentiment for Daewoo products please.

The message needs to be the Mirage is the lower priced car that's the better value (made better & is more reliable) than a Chevy Spark. A good value is something that's made better & sold for less money. The Mirage could easily be that car, but the general public would never know that.

[dspace9]

Daewoo/GM Korea makes a lot of GM product sold in American showrooms.

[Fummins]

GM makes a lot of GM product sold in American showrooms.

Such as?

[Eggman]

I had some dummy playing chicken with me the other day.

Playing chicken? What did that look like? Was this dummy driving right at you from the opposite direction, in your lane?

A big Dodge Ram, driving in my lane, driving the wrong direction.

Unsettling for me, big ugly joke for him. I'm not sure why people get off on acting like sadistic nut-jobs. Maybe I should buy a Baby On Board sign for the front and the back of my Mirage. Like where are people's heads!?

Hey dspace9 something happened to me on my ride home that reminded me of this. Was that oncoming driver on their cell phone? Like what happened to me??? They only drifted some into my lane, not entirely but unnerving and a little enraging. And when I thought Fummins might make fun of me my rage subsided.

[2of9]

There are factors at play when getting good, really good, rates. Wife just paid off her 11' Outlander Sport we got back in 2014(?) about a month ago. So, the extra cash is nice. It got us talking about getting another car. But RIGHT NOW, kid-me would just go to California and get me a nice "Mirage". Haha! But Adult Me, we're being quite conservative right now, especially with the economy being what it is.

As for rates, a year ago, wife and I were 'almost' thinking about getting the Eclipse Cross so we were asking our credit union about rates and they just read off the rates on their website. Which we qualified for but it just didn't make sense because (1) Her car, the Outlander Sport was still running perfectly fine. (2) Car, at the time, was a year from getting paid off. (3) Budget (4) Driving only roughly 80-90 miles a week so, we were even thinking about (5) purchasing a Outlander PHEV. But the prices for the Outlander PHEV is still pretty high BUT super competitive compared to other PHEV models.

Also, I think it really depends who you talk to at the bank too because they can work with you depending on your credit score and other factors (how many credit cards you have, debt to income ratio, etc).

As for the Mirage, it was definitely a 'mature' purchase for me. Sure, I wanted a 03-05 Lancer Evolution but the ones around my town, they definitely were not worth the price they were asking since most of them had the "runs great but needs a tune" red flag. The Mirage just made sense since my commute at the time was commuting 60-65 miles a day. Plus, the monthly payments were well within our budget too. $8900 OTD for a 2015 Mirage with only 50 miles on it, heck yeah!