1.6 EX Saloon for 6 years OR 1.8 Civic for 10 years?

[Thermodynamics]

Hi all,

 

I need opinions on my calculations shown below, please help. I have two options:

 

Nissan 1.6 EX Saloon(M) $50800

10% downpayment = $5080

Balance = $45720

 

For 6 year loan @ 3.25% p.a. :

Interest = $9266.4

Total = $54986.4

Monthly = $763.7

Road tax monthly = $79.2

Insurance = $ 2400 (estimated) = $200 per month

Petrol = $300 per month

Carpark = $90

 

TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES = $1432.9

 

Honda Civic 1.8(A) VTi $75000

10% downpayment = $ 7500

Balance = $ 67500

 

For 10 year loan @3.5% p.a. :

Interest = $23625

Total = $91125

Monthly = $760

Road tax monthly = $103.5

Insurance = $2700 (quoted 0% NCD)= $225 per month

Petrol = $300 per month

Carpark = $90

 

TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES = $1478.5

 

It works out that the monthly expenses of a humble car and upmarket car works out to be almost the same. Should not I go for the Civic instead? COE for both category almost same. I pay almost the same every month so might as well enjoy a better car right? Civic is a good car and surely can keep for 10 years. If I get the sunny, I break even faster and will definitely upgrade another car because I do not believe I will hold it for 10 years and I guess I will spend more upgrading later compared to holding on civic for 10 years. Civic is 1.8L so I guess it is more than sufficient to meet my needs many years down the road. It is big and spacious enough for me.

 

Please give me your opinions and share your thoughts with me please.

[Panda88]

well, u probably have to list down ur priority and needs and decide from there. I would say both are good cars with each having plus points over the other. Personally I will choose sunny. My concern when buying a car is more for pt A to pt B, must be wallet-friendly, reliability. Style, power, and look is not that important to me. I will still put higher priority on the financing part as owning a car in sg is not cheap. anyway, these are my personal thinking. Hope it is useful to u.

[Tploh]

Try to add the price of your car when you sell, say in 3 years, 5 years or 7 years, down the roan to give you the total cost of ownership ( and not just monthly expenses ) to help you decide better.

[Quantum]

Since per month expenses is not much different, definitely Civic and better go for manual Civic 1.8 , you will get 2k cheaper than auto.

[Raymansg]

Think your estimates for insurance is too high ... and your estimates for petrol and parking is too low. Even if you drive for the weekends, sure more than S$25.00/mth assuming you have used S$65.00 for season parking HDB.

Maintenance ie. tyres, rims, audio, etc ... would add to your bill. Just make sure you are comfortable ... This is the best gauge on the car you shd get ... Balance ability with desire ... And finally, whichever car you get ... stick with your decision.

Drive carefully everyone

[Khee]

i'm in the same cross road now as well... but i find getting a sunny for 6 yrs a bit bo hua...

 

i'm now looking at less than yr old sunny/lance/vio... Maybe buying at around 40k-45k with 6yr loan... then change to civic within 2 yrs time... Somemore for car less than 3yrs, there is more value for export... The body should have at least 3k-5k...

 

most likely 2yrs later, civic production should be stablize and hopefully the price will drop....

 

dun forget Civic interest based on ur calculation is almost $20k as compare to $10k interest for a Sunny... furthermore, sunny should still have the 2.5yr free servicing package... ur maintainance for the next 2.5yrs is almost free... Ur calculation for sunny, is almost likely wat u paid but for civic, u still need to add somemore for servicing...

 

Kah Motor servicing is expensive...

Edited April 16, 2006 by Khee

[Crv2004]

depend on your need

[Dagger13]

As what many had mentioned, it depends a lot on your needs. Overall, I think maintaining a Sunny will be cheaper than Civic in terms of servicing, petrol, road tax, insurance, etc.

 

For me, I'll not want to commit something that breakeven longer, not forgetting the amount of interest you got to pay.

Edited April 17, 2006 by Dagger13

[Hosaybo]

hmm,

 

why do people always think of what you need to pay every month as a guage. Just look at the amt of $$$$ you are feeding the bank by choosing a civic over sunny... 23K vs 9k.

 

If you want to be prudent and save lots of $$$= dun get a car

If you want to be prudent= get the sunny or a 1-2 yr car

If you want to be have a nice factor car= get the civic

 

act all depends on want and needs..... it's your call.

[Zoom99]

I think yr calculations are biased, guess u wanna people to give u support.

Sunny is based on 6yr loan while Civic is 10yr loan.

So in fact yr heart has already more or less decided.

 

In this case, go for something u like lor.

 

In my opinion, Civic is overprice while Sunny is an economical one.

 

Suggestion: Do consider the break even point in 5 yr time.

[Dagger13]

Ya man, breakeven is something you got to really look into it as it's quite rare for people to keep the car till 10 years these days.

[Zoom99]

I believe that 5 yrs from now, the cost of ownership will drop.

Eg, OMV drops from 130%-->97.5%-->82.5%-->???

 

In this way, the older cars' owners would be force to keep the cars for at least 5yr.

[Zhihao]

I'm perplexed. Why are you considering amounts which is obtained for different loan years??!! Of course they would 'look' the same then! but u are actually paying much more

 

Look at the interest for ur civic! $23625 !!!! i feel which ever car u decide to buy, try to up ur downpayment as much as possible ...

[Sunray]

I would rather be a slave of my car loan for 6 years than 10 years. 10 years is too long for me.

[Swift]

10 years is too long a time....too many uncertainties...maybe 5yrs later a much better civic will be out...

[Soya]

having to take a 10yr loan to buy a mainstream jap car is a signal that the car is outta yr comfy budget. can't imagine buying a car now that will sufficiently meet one's needs for the next 10yrs. that means one assumes no change or improvement in lifestyle?....depressing leh.

[The01]

Go for the Sunny - it is always better to go for the one that can get you off the burden earlier. The earlier you're debt-free, the fatter is your bank a/c. You can't know what'll happen in 4-5 years time and the older the car, the more problems you'll encounter as older car breaks down more often than new car.

 

My dear fren, everytime I change to a new car, I always tell myself that I'll hold on to this one till the end of the life of the COE. And everytime, after 3-4 years my 'passion' for the old car is dead and want to go for a new and better ones. Sometimes, there're so many 'good offers' that your heart just over-rules your brain!

[Sunray]

Well said!