Hey I need some opinions on what to do .

[NOTSPCY]

Ok here is my problem . I have a 2003 mazda protege es with 46k miles on it . I have some of the stock parts like the hood , front / rear bumper covers , stock exhaust . Right now I owe 12k on her which i know is crazy . Lets just say i got owned on the interest plust i was a little upside down on my focus when i traded her in . I have had my car from 2003 so it is time for something new * something with more kick * I want a car that is fast from the start . I have a family so i need a four door car so i decided to stick in the mazda family and get a Ms3 . My g/f had the normal 2.3 mazda 3 b4 trading it in for the saturn vue and i loved how much more power that car had then my protege . So I went through alot of choices like (dodge charger , nissan altima/maxima , or the ford edge/fusion . Finally after alot of thought the MS3 was my finally choice. So what would my best option be to get my self into one . I know someof you guys have some tricks of the trade or inside info or ways to get the best deal and so on . So HELP. ha ha . i am really interested in getting this car within this yr i have some debt on a credit card that i want to eliminate b4 i buy the new car . Which should be done by end of feb . Right now i pay 437 on my car for a payment and dont want to go way to much higher for a new car.I could spend possibly about 75 to 100 more on the payment bc i have to consider my ins will go up a bit do to it being turbo charged. I am very interested in the Gt model . with no other options except possible the nav unit .



My last question . Do you think the dealership would let me test drive a MS3 ?

 

[Mocoso]

Like you already said: get rid of credit card debt before getting into more car debt. Once you are done with cc debt you have a few options on the car:
1. Find out how much you would get for the Protege and subtract it from the 12K you still owe... assuming you will get less than 12K for the Protege you will have to carry that over into the MS3...once you have the total amount you will finance youll be able to get a pretty good idea for monthly payment...my take on it is: Assuming you will put very little to no money down and that you will carry over some debt from current car and assuming you get GT model and that you have excellent credit and that you will be doing a 5 yr loan it will come close to 600/month (go to edmunds and do a loan calculator and enter estimated values to get an idea - I assumed no money down, 7.5% and 2 grand added to loan, and CA sales tax)
2. Downgrade to the Sport model so you can absorb the cost of the trade in... assuming your off by 2-3 grand on trade the out the door price will be close to 25K which would put you at 550/month for 60 months
3. Keep paying the Protege down until your trade in value = what you owe.. this will allow you to get GT model for around 550/month... I would only do this vs. the sport if the finance charges are close to what you could get from new loan... if the current interest rate on protege is through the roof you are better off with Sport version and rolling what you owe into it...
4. Refinance the Protege for a 1 yr/2 yr loan... only do this if the interest rates would be night and day (say 15% vs 7%) - a 1 point difference prob wont pay off due to closing costs, etc...

As for getting the best deal: RESEARCH! Spend a lot of time on Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book, Dealer Sites, call the dealers and ask to speak to fleet managers, etc... I have a good friend that owns a new car purchasing service - I will ask him if he services Florida or if its just California... he usually can get wholesale prices depending on make/model (note for MS3 he couldnt do anything that local dealer couldnt do due to supply/demand but Ill ask anyways)

 

[NOTSPCY]

Thanks for all the info . What do you think about refinancing . I was told not to do that bc it is a bad idea since the car is so old.

 

[redspeed]

You are definitely in bad spot to get a ms3. Like mocoso said get rid of the cc debt, see how much your protege is worth and save for down payment. The protege should be worth some good amount because is not even close to 100k miles, which is the braking point for trade in.

I know because that is what happen to me. My 01 maxima had more than 100k and the dealer refused to pay it off completely. So I had to transfer $1k to the ms3, after hours of arguing with the sales rep. The only thing that kept my payment down was the $4k down payment.

 

[NOTSPCY]

well . i dont know what to do . how about a lease do you recommend a lease ? i dont plan to mod the car at all i am tired of all the troubles mods bring . Thats why i want the MS3 its fast and sporty from the factory . well i dont have much cc debt at all just 3k which is gonna be gone. bc of income tax . I could wait till next yr and buy the speed but next yr there not gonna be around . so i want a new one not used

 

[redspeed]

No lease, lots of $$$ and nothing to show at the end. If the cc debt is no problem, just see how much your car is worth, and go from there. But you need to drop a down payment or your monthly payment is gona be stupid. How much you think you can pay for dp? I pay $4k and the monthly drop to $375, from a total of $24k.

 

[Young Roids]

Sounds like you are streached to thin. Keep your protege till it's payed off.

 

[NOTSPCY]

YEA but i dont want the protege any more. its run its course. How much do you think i could sell my protege for privately ?

 

[redspeed]

Well I check on KBB and for trade in it said:
Excellent condition-$7,175
Good condition- $6,670
Fair- $5,775

For private sale:
Excellent-$8,750
Good-$8,180
Fair-$7,410
So be ready to spend some money.

 

[Mocoso]

Used MS3 may be a viable choice... last thing you want to do is get so over your head on the car that you end up not enjoying it... not sure what you can afford to pay a month but rolling what you owe puts you at 30 grand... thats a lot of money over the value of the car.. if it gets totaled etc you may be stuck with over 10Gs out of pocket...

IMHO and a very blunt one at that: Financially you are much better off making accelerated payments on the Protege and wait on a new car until you arent so upside down on the car... a 4 yr old car with 50K miles should last you at least another 4 and it will save you tons of money over the next 2 yrs...The only way you are going to get from under the "focus being upside down" is either pay it up front so you dont go into the loan so upside down, or carry the loan through term - rolling the debt into another car is just postponing the pain and costing you dearly in the process.. put it this way: you are now refinancing those 12grand over ANOTHER 5 yrs instead of the 2 or 3 that are left... thats that much more interest to pay.... if you can afford an extra 100 bucks a month for car your better off financially accelerating the payment on the protege (not the best emotional choice of course)

 

[D_Roc7822]

yeah getting that protege paid down is prolly your best bet. Or trying to find someone that will pay you what you owe on it. The problem really isnt getting the speed3 cause like you said you could do 500/month but youd have to have a pretty good downpayment. I put 2k down on a 08 speed3 sport and am paying 420.35. From what Ive read by other Speed3 guys you either have to put a lot down or your monthly payments are gonna be in the high 400-500 mark.

 

[n|njutsu55]

Yeah your in a bad spot....get your debt down. I doubt you'd get any more than around 8k selling the car privately. If you have good credit and your able to get your financing down for the Speed then your payments won't be that bad. I financed about A little over 19k and my payments are only 365 a month.