Selling the Mitsubishi

[firemachine69]

Wife was getting annoyed that I kept dirtying up "her" 2015 Outlander, base model, 4cyl/awd/cvt. She bought it brand new, but since our family has exponentially expanded, we went from just one child, to a family of four (two foster kids, another one on the way), she's decided on selling it. I won't lie, it is pretty filthy in there (blue collar pipefitter - waddaya expect?

) She's pretty much committed as the stay-at-home mom, meaning she drives the clunker '08 Caravan. If she drives the SUV more than once a month, I'd be amazed.

In exchange, I get a 2008 Saturn Outlook with 100k miles (it's a former American car). I'll miss the forty-dollar-a-week fill-ups on the Outlander, but it was rather impractical to go fishing with the entire family. Yes, I'm still trying to sell myself on this, the financial aspect makes zero sense. Also, the interior is slightly dirty, and I told the wife it'll stay that way so she never sees how really "clean" it could potentially be.

At least I get to keep my AWD with the Saturn? Or stop playing the car-seat merry-go-round (for FOUR of them)

I'm still slightly annoyed how much money we're losing on the SUV.

 

[gregk24]

I thought the Outlander seated 7, and the Outlander Sport only seated 5.

 

[Kira]

The cast of characters in your post, while few in number, seems complicated.

1) The minivan just exists, yes?
2) Your Outlander is too small, yes?
3) A 7 year older Saturn Outlook will then be your car, yes?
3a) A "24-27 mpg" Outlander is bad compared to the Saturn?

So why are you selling the Mitsu? The goal is to do what?

Q: How many liters of fuel does C$40 buy you? Kira

 

[BrocLuno]

With that many kids, you need his and hers mini-vans

 

[Kira]

...or maybe two tool trailers...one for work....one fitted with seats...keep the vehicles cleaner.

 

[mcrn]

You need something like this....lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfzQiItRSC0

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Kira
So why are you selling the Mitsu?

Because it's dirty, according to the OP.

 

[dlayman]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Kira
So why are you selling the Mitsu?

Because it's dirty, according to the OP.



Yeah, I don't get that. Get it professionally cleaned, OP be more careful and don't get it all covered with grease stains and such, your wife needs to accept that cars get dirty when you have kids (is the house perfectly clean?), pocket the thousands saved. With a growing family and one wage-earner, you can't afford the kind of financial folly you're talking about here.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: dlayman
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Kira
So why are you selling the Mitsu?

Because it's dirty, according to the OP.



Yeah, I don't get that. Get it professionally cleaned, OP be more careful and don't get it all covered with grease stains and such, your wife needs to accept that cars get dirty when you have kids (is the house perfectly clean?), pocket the thousands saved. With a growing family and one wage-earner, you can't afford the kind of financial folly you're talking about here.



Ironically enough, the house is impeccable. She is most definitely a neat-freak. I'm the opposite.

I actually cleaned the Mitsu to the wife's satisfaction tonight.

Eff that, I am NOT spending six hours on it every week... Which is how much scrubbing/detailing/washing the thing took. I'm physically burnt from my everyday job, I don't need to make it worse.


I should add, we're paying down my personal LOC with the financial "gain". I took a job making 20-30k less a year two years ago, and it's starting to catch up to me.

To answer Kira:

$40 is about 40L.




Originally Posted By: gregk24
I thought the Outlander seated 7, and the Outlander Sport only seated 5.



Your "Outlander Sport" in the USA is called the RVR in Canada. We can actually buy a five-seater Outlander (the "proper" midsize SUV). The seven seater is a joke. Sorry, but even a five year old doesn't have enough room to fit his feet alone back there. Think of it as trying to cram a back seat in a Corvette.

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
With that many kids, you need his and hers mini-vans

I wouldn't mind actually, if the Caravans and such were so utterly useless on non-concrete boat launches.

Originally Posted By: mcrn
You need something like this....lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfzQiItRSC0




We actually looked at the Mercedes Metris when we purchased our Caravan, because we were planning on having another child after this one.




I try to let the missus know this isn't a wise financial move, but she's "decided". My choices are either to forfeit a large part of my life meticulously maintaining the Mitsu, or just taking the keys to what I'm given. Meh, maybe she'll have a eureka moment and decide to flip the Outlook.

 

[Nick1994]

6 hours a week detailing the car? What are you talking about?

How on Earth could a car get so dirty?

I've spent maybe 6 hours cleaning my Camry this past year. And that includes me cleaning it out last week and it's still clean. 22k+ miles a year and I can be quite a slob in it.

 

[dlayman]

It sounds like the OP is greasy and dirty st the end of his workday and hops in the car that way. If you transfer grease to the seats and doors and carpet and armrest and also eat and drink and spill things in the car, I can see it getting pretty grimy pretty quickly. The proper solution is to change those habits. Perhaps it isn't possible for the OP tonclean himself up before getting in the car, I don't tknow. If that were the case it's still easy enough to buy a steering wheel.cover to protect that, am warmest cover, floor liners that can be cleaned and which will protect the carpet and at least cover the seat with something. I can't believe anyone would sell a one year old vehicle and take the depreciation because it's dirty. At least not someone with unlimited resources.

 

[KrisZ]

What's the difference between a new filthy car and an old filthy car? If wifey doesn't drive the new car anymore, or very little, why does she care? The "new" old vehicle she planned for OP will be the same. I don't get it.

 

[glock19]

This doesn't make any sense, and I'm not just talking about financial sense. You're selling a car because you don't want to keep it clean? What part of buying a different car changes that?

Clean the car once and buy seat covers and a cargo tray. Cleaning the car after that will take minimal time.

 

[supton]

Seat covers. I'm about to look into some as I've been using moving blankets--when I go mountain biking, I'm a bit nasty afterwards.

If cleaning is a big issue, find a local service to clean it for you. I'm sure they exist, the sort that will drive to your place of work (or residence) and clean it for you. Not a cheap solution, but another. Otherwise, a five minute job with a vac, with a trashcan handy, should go a long ways to keeping any vehicle reasonably tidy.

Weathertec/Husky floor mats/liners work great for catching dirt, snow, water.

 

[Subdued]

your wife will be driving a minivan why the F should she care what you do to the outlander, or what you're driving

 

[Ducked]

I think there IS a psychological and financial difference between a dirty/scruffy old car and a dirty/scruffy new car. That's one of the many reasons I prefer old cars. Much less stress.

There's also a difference between me dirtying/denting "my" car and me dirtying/denting "her" car, so I don't drive her car.

So the OP's dilemma makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense is getting in it in the first place. Shouldn't have bought that car, but then the OP didn't.

Women. You can't win.