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View Full Version : Help, car decisions, which one do we sell?



hellokitty
09-20-2011, 03:01 PM
OK, some background info before I get into our situation. We have a:
2001 Honda Ody
1999 Subaru Legacy sedan
2001 Subaru WRX

So, all of our cars right now are pretty close to the same age. I drive the ody, DH is immature and babies his WRX and refuses to drive it in the winter. So, he stores the WRX in the winter and drives the legacy, and vice versa during warm weather. I don't like having 3 cars, but it has been handy at times if one of us needs to take a car in for maint, we have a spare and both subarus have needed very little, except for regular maint. The big problem is neither subaru can fit all three kids (if using two HBB and a convertible) in it and I never wanted that darn WRX to begin with, but he HAD to have it and refuses to sell it.

Well, my Ody is getting older, and not quite 80K in miles. My parents had it for 3 yrs, but only put 12K on it, and I live close to shopping, so I don't put a lot of mileage on it either, since all stores at 5 min from my house. Hondas usually do well, except my ody is the yr infamous for the transmission blowing around 100K, this has been looming over me for the past couple of yrs, since we are approaching that timeframe. DH already had the tranny flushed 10K ago, to try to avoid this scenario, but who knows, the tranny could still blow. We are going on a big road trip in Dec and I've been kind of worried about taking an older vehicle, esp since it is during winter time.

I told DH last wk that I'd like to start checking out different vehicles this yr, in anticipation that we will probably need to replace our ody within the next yr or two, but basically I'm in no hurry, but just want to narrow it down, so if we really need to get a new car, we know exactly what we want. He agreed with me, but all of a sudden this past wk, he applied for a car loan (accepted) and then said, "let's go look at cars." I wanted to check out the Sienna, Ody and Quest. DH said, "Why? We like the Ody, just get another ody." So, we went and tried a 2009 (it was a lease) and a 2011. Anyway, we are going to buy the 2009, we are supposed to trade in my ody (not happy that they aren't given me that much for it), but my DH later on decided that maybe we should trade the legacy instead. I agreed with him that, at least it would be more practical to keep the extra ody (which I would not mind if we mostly just drive it locally) to haul stuff and kids (right now it is a pita, b/c I cannot drive his wrx, it is stick shift, so we have to play musical cars if he is watching the kids and I need to drive the legacy, which can't even hold 3 kids). He said a few ppl he knows might be interested in the legacy, since the dealership wasn't going to give us much for it (it also has low mileage). However, he can't make up his mind. It's only a 2K diff in trade in value btwn the ody vs. legacy. I think it would make more sense to trade in the legacy and keep the ody as our extra vehicle, assuming it doesn't need a huge repair anytime soon.

So, do you think we should keep the legacy or ody? My DH is weird. He won't sell his WRX, but he has no stigma about driving a minivan as his, "un-fun" car either. I told him we should just try to sell whichever car on our own, since we're getting a bad deal on trade in value. I am leaning toward keeping the ody as our third car, DH is still wishy washy over it, saying that if someone he knows wants to buy the legacy, we'll keep the ody, but HELLO, if he still wants to trade it in, that means someone needs to buy it by tomorrow!?!?! I can't stand how impulsive he is. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Keep the Ody or legacy? Don't say, get rid of both, b/c my DH refuses to get any salt on his precious teenage boy car.

longtallsally05
09-20-2011, 04:34 PM
I'd get rid of the Legacy and get another minivan in its place. That way, when your '01 Odyssey eventually goes, you won't be without a vehicle that can seat your entire family. If your DH doesn't want to get rid of the WRX but doesn't mind driving a family-mobile as his secondary car, why not get another van?

hellokitty
09-20-2011, 07:19 PM
I'd get rid of the Legacy and get another minivan in its place. That way, when your '01 Odyssey eventually goes, you won't be without a vehicle that can seat your entire family. If your DH doesn't want to get rid of the WRX but doesn't mind driving a family-mobile as his secondary car, why not get another van?

Thanks. I've convinced DH to just sell the legacy on our own, so no trade in, since they are wanting to give us peanuts. He doesn't seem to think it will take long to sell the car. I hope he is right, winters are bad here, so I would think an AWD small car would sell quickly. I guess we will be a two minivan family! :)

Melanie
09-20-2011, 08:34 PM
Since the entire point of another car was to avoid having your minivan's transmission blow out, that's what I'd get rid of. Plus, I'm assuming your Legacy gets better gas mileage for when your Dh drives it in the winter - right?

I have to LOL at the WRX. Dh wanted one, too. THen I saw a high school kid peeling away in one at school pick-up. I convinced him he was no longer in the right age bracket for it. ;)

hellokitty
09-20-2011, 08:44 PM
Since the entire point of another car was to avoid having your minivan's transmission blow out, that's what I'd get rid of. Plus, I'm assuming your Legacy gets better gas mileage for when your Dh drives it in the winter - right?

I have to LOL at the WRX. Dh wanted one, too. THen I saw a high school kid peeling away in one at school pick-up. I convinced him he was no longer in the right age bracket for it. ;)

I know. This is the big dilemma, the 2001 ody is a hot potato, right? The thing is, we can't fit 3 kids in either subaru (why can't subaru frickin make a minivan, I'd buy it right now), either, so that isn't exactly practical either. Oh and I hate the stupid WRX. You should see all the teen boys whose tongues hang out when they see my DH's car. He has of coursed souped it up, so it really IS a teen boy's dream car. When we were only a family of four and would take that car out, I told him I was afraid if we went into a restaurant, we'd come out to discover that some teen thug stole the car. Oh and yeah, my DH is 40, I think he looks silly driving around in a WRX. He brags that if he wanted to sell that car, ppl would be lined up to buy it. However, that basically means that he would want to get himself an even more expensive car to soup up, so I will keep the current annoying one in place of him getting an even more expensive version.

ETA: Yes, I'm sure the legacy gets better mileage. However, DH's work commute is less than 15 min. I probably drive more than he does running errands.

maestramommy
09-20-2011, 09:00 PM
I'd sell the legacy, since neither Subaru fits all 3 kids. BTW, since you are not opposed to buying used, I think 2004 was the last year Honda made the bum transmission on their Ody. So if you want to save more money you could get an earlier year Ody. When we were looking it seems like once you cross into 07 the price point really jumps.

hellokitty
09-21-2011, 02:18 PM
Thanks guys. DH has a possible buyer for the subaru legacy. We will just keep my 2001 ody and drive it until we can't drive it or it's just too expensive to repair. I have to admit, it is nice to have an extra car that is bigger now, for hauling stuff and to be able to haul the kids too. Esp if we go somewhere that is muddy (sports, camp, etc.). I do have to say though, that I like the interior fabric of my 2001 way more than my 2009, it is much higher quality. I'm kind of miffed that honda cheaped out on the fabric of their more recent models. My light grey cloth interior of my 2001 still looks brand new. The one we are getting is some cheap looking darker grey fabric and just doesn't looks that nice, but I am not willing to pay extra for leather, so we will just deal with it.

AnnieW625
09-21-2011, 02:29 PM
Good luck selling the wagon. My DH wants a WRX too.