I had been telling myself for months now that “ come new year, I’m gonna get rid of the BMW lease, and the Jag, and buy myself a pickup.
The i3 BMW is all electric, with a small gasoline powered generator on board to add range to the car once the short range battery goes away ( basically adds about 60 miles to the 100 mile battery range)
A stupid concept,...Driving the car on the generator is annoying. While it worked great to get me back and forth to work, especially since there was a free battery charging at the front of the dealership, the limited range made it impossible to use the car for anything except that. That lease was due to expire in June, which meant I had about $2,000.00 in payments remaining at 416.00 a month.
Getting a car that was capable of normal driving range was my justification for buying the jag 18 months ago.
But the car was so nice, I didn’t want to drive it. And.....it’s a jag. it’s only a matter of time, and something‘s gonna fail,...and cost a stupid amount to fix. It was also financed...for a long time..( like 84 months I think) add..280.00 a month to that.
Alabama penalizes you if you drive an electric car. They figure that you aren’t paying your fair share of road use tax by not buying gas, ( where that tax is built in), So come annual registration time,...you pay a surcharge to renew ( about 250.00 extra dollars) Insurance on the BMW was about 120.00 a month, and the jag ( even though it was an 07) was about 80.00/mo. ( guess they figure it was originally a $70,000.00 car)
Neither of these cars were serving my interest. I wanted something that would allow me to throw whatever greasy, dirty, bulky, oversized thing in back w/o concern...I wanted to have something that If I needed to could pull a trailer..I needed a V8 truck.
I don’t know if anyone here has purchased a late model Domestic PU here lately, but they ain’t cheap. Whether it be a Ford/Chevy/Dodge,...a 17-18 my low mile version of a quad cab anything is like 40k. I wanted to spend 30k
When 30k is the budget, What you find when you want a low mile truck with remaining warranty..Is an 30k mile Eco-boost 2.7, plastic mat-no carpet/ no heated seats/no power seats/no XM radio, white base 2017 2 door crew cab...
”But it has a 7/100 CPO warranty, and it’s rated to tow 7500 lbs”
Bunk. I don’t want some base looking white weenie-mobile.
Enter,..the offerings from the boys who live in the land of the rising sun.
2018 V8 Nissan Titan Quad cab...Still probably closer to their base offering, but it has everything that the Ford didn’t.
And a 5/100 b2b warranty, and only has 11.5k miles, And...a 28k price tag.
Which finances at 2.65% to 60 months ( 562.00/mo) and only costs 22.00 more monthly than the Jag did to insure.
I pay the lease off and turn it in early..( and save the 600.00 it would’ve cost to insure it, and the 250.00 that Alabama was gonna charge me to register it) So,...spend 2000.00 but save 850.00 in doing so.
I trade the jag in, and break even..I eliminate an additional 350.00 monthly, shorten my finance term by 2 years, and reduce the interest rate from 4% to 2.65. On a used car.
All in all...I’m happy..I’m thinking I did good.
The wife, was at 118k miles on her Cad SRX, So, we freshened her up too..She got a 19 Subaru Ascent. Pretty cool car actually...Especially when you know how a BMW x7 is equipped...Cause this thing has everything that that x7 does.
Except an engine with any balls..and a CVT trans.
But it’s her car, not mine
Now, the problem is garage fitment. While the Jag could fit next to her small Cad with no problem,...two full size monsters,....not the same deal. Looks like the Titan might have to live the life of a P/U truck........outside