Long story short, DW is borrowing her parent's 2013 Chrysler Town & Country minivan for a couple of days. She will be hauling several pre-teens to Lansing tomorrow, and their van is roomier (and nicer) than ours is.
I drove our girls to an event in it last evening, and I'm telling you - this thing is loaded - leather heated seats, digital everything, touch screen radio, DVD - front and back, back-up camera, automatic opening side and rear doors, it rides like a dream, etc. All are luxuries you can get used to. All are temptations.
Before you ask, yes, they paid for it in cash. And they will drive it until it nearly dies.
Sometimes I wish I didn't even know those luxuries existed.
I'm guessing we'll have our van for about another year and a half. Then, we'll be in the market. And, we'll remain true to all of the guidelines I've learned here on SA - finance for no more than three years, with monthly payments not to exceed 10% of take home pay. Actually, I will shoot for monthly payments of more around 6-8% of monthly take home pay. But, yes the purchase will most certainly be financed for three years.
If anything, experiencing these more high-end features will strengthen my resolve to save more for a down payment, so we can actually afford some of them.
Temptation
March 27th, 2014 at 03:59 pm
March 27th, 2014 at 04:05 pm 1395936339
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March 27th, 2014 at 10:30 pm 1395959440
I found a heated blanket that plugs into the car's electrical outlets. That seems like it could work draped over my seat. (They make seat covers that will do this, and I tried one, but it drastically changed the shape of my seat and it wasn't comfortable).
March 27th, 2014 at 11:57 pm 1395964660
(I had a 97 Honda Civic. The windshield wipers didn't work right, the cruise control didn't work, the radio didn't work, the electric locks didn't work ... etc.)
When I put my Honda out of it's misery and upgraded to my Toyota Yaris, I was extremely happy with it - even though it doesn't have many extras (a place to plug my iPhone into is about the only "extra") - it was a major upgrade from what my Honda had devolved into. 9 years or so from now, my next vehicle might have something else extra ... who knows.
March 28th, 2014 at 08:16 pm 1396037775
That said, we just got around to getting our stereos upgraded. I mentioned in a recent blog post that we have never skimped on our car stereos. I share because picking one luxury probably goes a long way. Especially if it is the one that you most desire.
Also agreed with ccfree - buy it used and get everything your heart desires.