It's nasty and cold out, so I feel your pain. (Plus side, my fountain pen arrived today! Woot!)
Do a lot of research on hybrids before you buy one. They're still new enough that you still hear "They're not worth it." and They're the best thing since cheese." with equal weight on both.
I personally favor a used but slightly newer car because there may be fewer problems with it. You could also try to focus a bit more and have less with the body damage. *grin*
There is a couple of fallacies around hybrids. #1 They are good for the environment. This is not true. The difference in emissions is fairly low now with the ULEV (Ultra-low Emissions vehicle) plus it DOES NOT outweigh the fact that they are 100x more destructive to the environment to produce. The plant that makes the fuel cell batteries that hybrids run on has a 3 mile radius around it that is barren due to the waste the plant makes. #2 They save you a ton of money from gas. Also not true, first off you get approximately 5-16 miles more a gallon. Using the Camry as a base since it has both hybrid and non-hybrid models; the non-hybrid gets 24 highway and 33 city, the hybrid model gets 40 city and 38 highway. So you save on average 10.5 miles a gallon. Second the amount you save on gas over the course of 70k miles doesn't offset the cost of replacing the fuel cell at 70k miles (which needs to be done). The last point is that hybrid cars are considered "exotic cars" meaning most mechanics won't even touch them and even if you find one
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while i am a *huge* fan of the hybrid, i think that you should wait on one. mostly because i've done lots of research on it over the past two months
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As much as you research cars, also research loan rates and terms. Cars depreciate in value, but assuming you don't total it or something, I expect you're planning on keeping it til after the loan is paid off. If you have to get rid of it for some reason, it can be a bitch based on still owing on a loan and the car losing value
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Comments 9
Sometimes, a simple organizational task can help center you.
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Do a lot of research on hybrids before you buy one. They're still new enough that you still hear "They're not worth it." and They're the best thing since cheese." with equal weight on both.
I personally favor a used but slightly newer car because there may be fewer problems with it. You could also try to focus a bit more and have less with the body damage. *grin*
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