Keep my Hyundai or buy another Toyota?

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The wife called this afternoon and told me "it's making that noise again", which is a low-pitched whine that reminds me of the Ford Escort my step mom had. Weeeeehhhhhh when you accelerate. Much less so at idle.

Now, being that the timing belt has not been changed that's the first thing on my mind. She says, "why don't we just trade it in. I don't know. Will we be paying a lot for repairs?" and I told her to cool it and said repair is part of the ownership of any vehicle.

But now I'm thinking...we are so impressed with our Toyota and her family has become total Toyota fans. So are we. We have a joint loan on our vehicles which is tied in so tight..both vehicles are under one joint loan for 1.9% APR. I get the feeling if we trade our vehicle we won't be getting th enew one under that awesome APR. I also don't want to stick a lot of money into this Hyundai either.. we are thinking of a Highlander or a 4 Runner (we need 4WD). We have roughly $5k left to pay on the vehicle before the loan is satisfied.
What do you think?
 
If it were mine: as long as it is dependable, fix it and drive it out until it is at least paid for.
 
There have been low interest rates since 2003 or so, I don't see them going anywhere. Cheaper to keep her.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette

"Tied in so tight"

What do you mean by that ???



My verbage of saying "we have a good loan tied together with both of our vehicles, and I would hate to spoil it."
 
Repair the car and drive it to 199,999 miles and trade it...because 200k really kills the trade in value....
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Used vehicles are holding their value fairly well in today's economy and the average vehicle on the road in now about 11 1/2 years old.

IF you've done the maintenance on your vehicle, then it is better maintained than the average vehicle (which is neglected in my opinion) and should serve you well for a few more years.

Also, IF you've paid your bills on time, then you should be able to get another loan under 2.0%. Last October, my wife and I took out a new 60 month auto loan at 1.49% (current rate at Pentagon Federal Credit Union is 1.74% https://www.penfed.org/New-Auto-Loan/ ).
 
Originally Posted By: zerosoma
We have roughly $5k left to pay on the vehicle before the loan is satisfied.
What do you think?


No way I trade in a vehicle that I owe a balance on. Bad financial move.
 
Originally Posted By: 147_Grain

Also, IF you've paid your bills on time, then you should be able to get another loan under 2.0%.


Yep, I always do.
 
Not always a bad idea to trade it in. If price is right the Toyota will way outlast and make you happier in the long run. A little money now for the long term investment. Most people simply will not admit that they made a mistake in buying some car and will live with a headache. I would prefer cutting it loose and getting what makes more sense long term but only if you can afford to do so.
 
Let me get this straight. You still owe $5k on a car that at 85k is making "that noise", which you are worried about affording to repair?

Sounds like you can neither afford the car you have, nor another Toyota.

Carpooling may be a better option if the prius is more reliable.

Trading it not paid off is a horrible move. Buying another car when it appears you cannot afford it and must take out loans is also a horrible move.

Save the cash to replace the transmission, do watever PM you need, and then keep driving the car. After the repair account is full, start saving for a replacement car you can afford. When something fails on the hyundai, determine the cost to repair and viability of it vs what you can afford to buy cash as a replacement.

If youve saved well, but a good replacement and throw the repair cash into the pit. If the repair is cheap, do the repair (no vanity of a new car if you cant pay for it cash). If the repair is very pricey, then dump both cash pots together and buy what you can afford.

Good luck.
 
I really like our Highlander, and our Toyotas while horribly boring to drive have been reliable to a fault (for a guy with a garage full of tools and a fridge of beer, thankfully Craigslist satisfies that itch). But I wouldn't trade in a car for another similar age and mileage car just because it makes a noise. The transaction costs will be more than the cost to repair what you have, and it is a terrible time to buy a used car right now.

Best of luck with the noise.
 
You still owe money on cars that are 7 and 8 years old? Even if you purchased them new at that age they should have been paid off years ago.

Fix the car that's making the noise-you can't afford anything else.
 
Yet another fine example of debt being bad. But what do very few of us, sharing that opinion, know right?
wink.gif


I say trade that Hyundai in, get maybe $2k for it, if the sells man works his magic right he will roll in 6k into the new loan. Monthly payment will be the same of course and OP will be paying that fine Toyota automobile for the next ten years making that debt "work" for him. That will show those banks who's the boss
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Originally Posted By: bepperb
The transaction costs will be more than the cost to repair what you have


+1. If that is 2.7 engine and IF this noise is timing belt related then If I'm not mistaken you can get timing job done in the neighborhood of $500 if you shop around at good independent shops.This is what I would do.

Good luck in whatever decision you are making.
 
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I'm not going to comment on your fiscal prudence or tell you what you should do, since I don't know your financial situation.
Unlike some posters above, I don't feel the need to passively ascert my assumed superiority by telling you that your cars should be paid for, or that you can't afford them.
The Hyundai in question is neither old nor high mileage.
As such, there is probably nothing seriously wrong with it.
Screeching noises typically involve belts, idler pulleys or both.
Not likely to invlove the timing belt, unless a tensioner bearing is bad.
Have the car looked at by someone competent.
I'd bet that the cost of repair will be minimal and the Sante Fe will go on to live a long and reliable life.
Repairs happen to cars as they age and accumulate miles.
A need to make a repair is no reason to dump a car that is likely less than halfway through its life.
No car can go through its life never needing some repair, although most of the Hondas we've had have come pretty close to that ideal.
Also, your Prius seems to have done pretty well, but was one of the best of Toyota's offerings when your car was new.
There was a member here, with the screen name of Lonnie, IIRC, who managed a large fleet, or at least a large fleet database.
He related that the Prius was the most reliable car in his database, lasting beyond 200K with minimal repairs.
It does not follow that all Toyota products are durable and reliable, so don't think that a Toyota will necessarily be a better bet than the Hyundai you already have.
 
Get an estimate on repair and then at least validate or invalidate your reason for dump/keep.
 
Quote:
Registered: 08/12/11
Posts: 1627


Looks like a write-only poster! Because if he had been reading, he would have already known the answer to his question and would have known about the incoming attack
 
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