My wife and I are expecting a little one here in about 2 months, which brought up the issue of buying a new car for my wife (2004 hyundai accent college car)

I absolutely love the mini; actually been in love with the car since the early 1990's...

I really want to buy a Countryman; but with a pricetag of $26k and above it makes it difficult to win over my wife. She wants to buy a car that is less than $18k (2013 hyundai accent or 2013 Nissan Versa)

I must say that I am on a budget, I am the only income that our household has (approx. 40k year). I am one of those people who have window shopped mini coopers since 2002 and actually have test driven a Cooper and Cooper S before. both myself and my wife loved the car and loved the dealer experience that we received...

I guess from all of this I am asking what would you do in my position... I have looked into a lease plans... I am afraid that will end up being way more expensive than buying...

I just want to get peoples input. I scheduled a test drive of a Countryman this weekend during my wife's baby shower... I am still hopeful that a mini could be my future!

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated; I apologize on how hard this could be to read...

-Elijah

 

Given your circumstances - baby on the way, not wanting to spend that much, I'd consider a KIA Soul. You can't beat it for the money and it would be much more infant friendly.

On the other hand if that stuff doesn't matter too much and you want to appeal to your sense of style and adventure when motoring, then I'd definitely consider a Countryman.

 

You are probably better off finding a used CM. That takes away the big first year depreciation hit and can save you a lot of money while still being low miles. Also you can talk to her about safety - the CM is a very solid, sturdy car. I came from Nissan and Nissan's feel like aluminum cans by comparison, esp. the Versa.

 

We looked at the Kia Soul, which was not too bad; but the seats were rock hard and did not have a good dealership experience... For myself and my wife a dealership experience was very important. Our best experience so far was at MAG Mini in Columbus, Ohio... Went to Cincinnati Mini and got completely ignored...

 

I echo the suggestion to start looking on Craigslist for a low mileage, well cared for 2012 Soul or Countryman from the original owner and get a loan from a Credit Union if you can. You avoid the dealers all together that way. And BTW I found the 2012 KIA seats to be great - I know from experience and many long road trips.

Search Tempest lets you search the whole country if you want. Let someone else take the initial depreciation hit. I saved nearly eight thousand dollars off the MSRP and sales tax on my Countryman and it only had 2800 miles on it! Found it across country and had it trucked to me for $880. You can find local ones too. Just use Craigslist, Search Tempest, Autotrader and eBay for starters.

 

Any used Countryman you find is not going to be that much less than a new one since they have only been making them a couple of years.

Have you considered a used, 3 or 4 year old Clubman ?

 

My first suggestion would be to hold off doing anything until after your child is born. Wait a few months so you can get a good understanding of what types and level of expenses you are going to have. Babies get sick, you find out you need this or that, and next thing you know your monthly car payment is getting in the way. There will always be cars out there. Once things settle down I would definitely go with the cheaper vehicle route. Paying $26k to haul around strollers and all of the other gear, plus the mess that gets made by babies is a bit steep. Go for a lower priced vehicle and pocket the savings, because you just know you will need it some day.

Just my opinion...

Reid

 

We were planning on November or December area... The used Countryman is very hard to find... I look at 2009 Clubmans and they are still almost $25k for a low mileage one

We did look at a Clubman; quite a bit more room than the regular hard top mini, but it only had the third suicide door... It makes it quite a bit more difficult to move the baby in and out of the car...

 

I am assuming you are younger, and just starting your career and family. The one thing I can't stress enough from personal experience is, not to take on too much, and make yourself cash poor every month!! I have always loved cars, and always had to have the newest, and coolest ride! I ended up having a car repossessed and it screwed my credit up big time! I'm just now rebounding from that, and I will be 40 in a few months! Luckily I did not have a family at the time to depend on me!
You definitely want to get into something that would won't leave your wife and baby stranded on the side of the road. A new car will save you money on maintenance over something used. As mentioned the Kia Soul would be a great option. I would also take a look at the Ford Focus

Ill step off the soap box now!
Good luck to you!!

 

Invest in your baby.....plenty of time down the road to get a nicer vehicle.....

 

Agree with Ford Focus. Nice car with great looks (esp. 5-door). A lot better looking than the Kia. Ford is kicking butt.

 

Educate yourself and don't let a one-time dealership experience drive the decision. The more you know, the shorter and more enjoyable the dealership experience will be. And the more comfortable you'll feel because you'll be in control of the buying process.

If the service department is a problem, that's another story.

 

Never lease (I guess there may be some circumstances where it makes sense--but not for most people). If you can get your infant seat into the car she is driving now, keep it until the dust settles. Once the blessed event is behind you, you will have a less rushed feel and can make a calm decision. I love my CM, and wish everyone could share the joy, but 52804x4 is right--do not over extend yourself. Take your time. And don't buy a "cheap" car. Buy value--low mileage and 1-2 years old. 5-star crash-rated if possible. My $.02! Congratulations!

 

Wait until your baby stops spewing fluids from both ends before considering a new(er) car. Unless your current car is giving you trouble, now isn't the time to be adding more expenses to your life.

 

I want to take it a step further than most who say wait... I say buy a good reliable used car for now. 40k in a single income house is not much for a young family. Take that extra 100 or so you would have spent on the mini and split it between your kids college and your retirement. Then in a couple of years as your income grows and you know if you are only going to have one kid and your kid is older and healthy, then consider getting what you want.

With that said, I would have never taken that advice I just gave

 

Thanks for the Congrats!

Well the baby is due in September; so we will wait until at least the end of the year to buy anything, it will probably be more like in march...

I have already did the whole financially extended thing when I was paying over $1k a month for 2 cars on a $11.50/hour job... did not get a car repossessed, but created a whole lot of debt for myself that I am still paying off today and this was almost 10 years ago...

You say buy used... I have been shopping around at used cars, the same car 6 years old with 80k miles is only 2 thousand less in price than compared to a new car,

I am 30 years old, so yes you could consider me young and starting out my career although have worked most of my life so far,

I have put almost $5k into my wife Hyundai accent (worth $2k) over the last year, so I am not considering the car too reliable at this point...

Another problem is that I own a regular cab Ford Ranger pickup truck; which is not really safe to have a baby seat in it... so I was planning on trading in my pickup truck and buy my wife a new car, I would just start driving her old car at that point to just get back and forth from work...

We love the 2013 hyundai accent- the fit and finish of the car is fantastic over what it used to be, our families live almost 3 hours away so we require cruise control... fully loaded accent is only $17.5k, which includes stability and traction control...

The new ford focus cars are a great improvement, but so are their prices... meaning it will be hard to get a Focus for less than $19k with cruise at this point... especially if you want automatic and cruise...

 

The new hyundais are getting high praise from Car & Driver, Consumer Reports, etc. I know several people who purchased them in the past couple of years and love them! ( it was very difficult for some, since years ago when Hyundai first came out we thought of them as "disposable cars".)

I actually looked at them too....but our kids are pretty much grown, and I've been wanting a Mini for so long that I simply couldn't deny the longing anymore!!

I also agree that you are wise to wait until after your baby is born. Years ago, I bought a car shortly before my first child was born, and once we realized how much stuff we had, and some of the overarching safety factors that comes to life once the baby is here...we had to sell it at a loss. Anyway, good luck with your new addition, and with your car. You already sound like a smart, loving, Dad!

 

My wife and I had a baby boy back on June 5th this year. We used a birthing center and midwife for the birth. He was born without and complications but afterwards he had red spots on him called Petechiae which was caused by low blood platelets. We had to have him admitted into ICU for the next 3 days and even though we have health insurance we still received a bill for basically $11,000. I'm just saying this because even if everything goes well, there may be some unexpected caost and strapping yourself with a high car payment right now is not a great thing.

Before my son was born we had 2 R56's and needed cars with more room. She ended up with a VW and I got my Countryman. My suggestion goes along with everyone else...Getting the car that you love is a great thing but at your age of 30 there is a lot more time in your life to move into something more $$. My wife and I looked into a lot of different cars and in the price range that your wife is wanting to look into, a Hyundai would be a great place to look. I think it's the Accent that is right in that range and a very good car with a great warranty.

This is just my thoughts from a person that was in your shoes with a lot of debt at that age although no kid yet...but there is plenty of time in life to get what you want down the road.

 

Looks like you are going to wait, but my '11 CM is for sale. The price is a bit high, but I know they have some room on it. It has less than 17k miles and the only reason we sold it is because we got a great deal on a '12 All4.

http://www.miniofgrandrapids.com/Veh...-MI/1792024203

 

Look at a scion XB. $17K built by Toyota. Thing will go forever and have great resale value in a couple of years.

 

You will have better luck finding a used Clubman and the price tag will be less (if you like the Clubman) and mileage is marginally better but every ¢ & $ will count. Good luck & congrats on the adventure of fatherhood.

 

I wouldn't recommend a used MINI if you are on a tight budget, they are not the most reliable cars.

 

Ha! If only that were really true we'd all drive ours for 80k in six years and only lose $2k. Wouldn't that be sweet!

The best trick I have found is go on Craigslist and just search for 2012 or 2011 by owners and just see what comes up. It's AMAZING what you can find in terms of how much people are willing to lose on a new car when they have to sell it. Yea, you might find an occasional offer to sell for even more than you can go and buy a new one for at a dealer but those people are hoping they find someone that knows nothing about prices and sometimes they do, just like dealers find customers that know nothing about prices and values and then high five each other after customers like that leave because they've made a ton of profit on them.

PT Barnum had it right.

 

I'm a big fan of Craigslist ... that said, a number of listings for big-ticket items such as cars, campers, motorcycles are fronts for scams. (Apparently a popular scam is the seller emails the interested buyer and says they want to get rid of the item because it belonged to a son who recently was killed ... then a few emails later the seller is asking for the money to be wired upfront ... etc. etc.) Just be aware.

To the original poster, I agree with others that your best bet at this point sounds like the Hyundai. My two cents on the Clubman rec's ... I think the half-door would get really old, really fast with buckling a baby in and out of a car seat (and later a booster seat). That's just my advice, though ... that and two bucks will buy you a cup of coffee!

May you and your new family be blessed with health, happiness, and prosperity!