What's Your Turn Off Point in Dollars?

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What I mean is where do you draw the line with your wallet?

Let me give you a for instance.

I love the look of the new Mazda 3.

A guy on another site said he'd had some damage, and had to buy a new headlamp. For over eight hundred dollars.

Personally, I think Mazda has a winner with this new car. To me the look is hard to beat. I think the reviews have been positive as well. Love to have one instead of a Toyota or Honda.

But eight hundred bucks for 1 headlamp on a $15k car?

Where do you draw the line? How much is too much?
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
But eight hundred bucks for 1 headlamp on a $15k car?

Well, it probably costs $1500 on a $45k car.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
but I really don't like the big smile front end.

Same here. Looks like something straight out of The Cars cartoon. Of course, beauty is very subjective.
 
That has been my point on tires for a long time. How much does each tire cost on the new Mazda 3?

Some will claim better handling, bigger brakes, better looks. Maybe. Cars got along fine before, with proper driving within the realm of the design of the car, nobody needs this stuff to be a safe driver and go along/around safely for their whole life.

Alas, you get a $15k economy car, and the tires cost $120 each. Stupid if you ask me.

And this kind of thing drives people towards purchasing lower quality parts, in order to be able to afford whatever they are trying to do.

Not the best, IMO.
 
Not me.

I will NOT waste more than 20 grand on a new car. It's simply stupid (to me) to have huge payments that could be used elsewhere (oil! :!). My wife's next car will be used, and mine will be a new Compact car of some sort. Cars are simply getting pricey, and I still want to be able to afford what I want to do with the car.


I also would like a classic car not too far down the road. Gotta know what you want, I guess.


BTW, when I had to replace my Cobalt headlight, it was only 100 bucks....
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Makes me appreciate my SL2. Parts have been very reasonable. I was turned off by Mazda when the U-joint on the 92 B2600i went bad. My mechanic called me and said you are not going to like this. The U-joints were not replaceable and it was $800 or so for a new drive shaft from Mazda. He made a custom made drive shaft with serviceable U-Joints for half the price. I will pass on the Mazda 3.
 
Originally Posted By: Rabbler
How about a $1200 fuel pump on a $14k car? (Sunfire, Cavalier)



Every car has a high priced item that you have to replace...pump is pricey....
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The fuel pump is the only thing I've replaced on the wife's 03 in 6 years, so I'm not complaining....
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
But eight hundred bucks for 1 headlamp on a $15k car?


he shouldn't have gotten the HID option then. the regular halogen housings are a lot cheaper.
 
I don't spend more than $1k on a car, (my SL2 was $800) and no repair no matter how large will cost more than the car, end of story. (I do the work myself, and I am not far from 3-4 auto wreckers) My drivers window was not working when I got the car, and saturn wanted $269 for the whole assembly. I went to the wrecker and got an entire door with matching exterior color and paid $75. Everything works.
 
people dont realize the cost of some of these parts on a new car.thats why i want a simple car.if there is such a thing anymore.i kick myself now because when i was a teenager i worked at a gas station a guy used to come in with a 56 plymouth savoy with a flathead six and pushbutton automatic he wanted 500 dollars for it i decided not to buy it wish i had it now though.i think there still is a market for a cheap 4 door sedan thats a basic car nothing fancy.
 
i love my car, but the price for replacement parts is a little outlandish and Im pretty jaded working in a parts dept. front dampeners list for about $800 each and i have to use factory ones since the car has active suspension. sometimes OEM is cheaper. i bought a front hub/bearing assembly for $130 from the dealer who stocks it where all the aftermarket ones were over $200 and 3-4 days out. the headlight assemblies are around $900 each and the factory bulbs are around $300 each.
 
If I can get something through mail order for either 40% or $50 less I don't mind waiting, even a week, to get it. Lower control arms, radiators, even a ring job kit. Fortunately my fleet is such a vintage the aftermarket has stepped in as well as junkyards.

I had air shocks in the back of my silhouette. IMO the air pressure helped them blow the oil seals faster. Replaced them with $20 ghetto yellow Monroe shocks and the thing instantly stopped making drivers seasick. I would love to see someone make an air suspension with a 20 year warranty!
 
Just like bdcardinal said, if he wanted a 15k car, he should've opted out from the HID's.

The halogen bulb for my Mazda 3 costs me 11 bucks from the dealer.

You have to know what you are getting yourself into, how can you expect to have all the bells and whistles, and all the electronic gizmos (HID's, adaptive headlamps, auto-leveling headlamps, whatever) and then whine that "it's just a 15k car"???

DON'T get these options and Mazda is as cheap/expensive to maintain and repair as any other car.
 
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Yeah, that's what sucks about buying a car in its first model year. Everything's expensive. When I had my SAABs (6 and 4 years old respectively when I bought them), between internet parts stores and car-part.com for salvage parts, I never had an issue with paying too much for parts.

As far as price, I agree on the sub-20k limit. Maybe one day if my wife wants to be sweet and buy me something better, I won't complain. But I had a hard time paying near $40k for a minivan. I can't fathom paying more for something that is just for status or fun.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
he shouldn't have gotten the HID option then. the regular halogen housings are a lot cheaper.

Are they really? Typically, most of the HID-related hardware (like ballasts) sits outside of the housing itself, so it should not need replacing if only the housing was broken. And the housing itself, whether it's meant to accommodate a halogen bulb or a xenon bulb, shouldn't be all that different in price. The only major difference I can think of is the auto-leveling mechanism that's required in a HID setup - that does sit in the housing. The leveling sensors typically sit somewhere else though.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Just like bdcardinal said, if he wanted a 15k car, he should've opted out from the HID's.

The halogen bulb for my Mazda 3 costs me 11 bucks from the dealer.

You have to know what you are getting yourself into, how can you expect to have all the bells and whistles, and all the electronic gizmos (HID's, adaptive headlamps, auto-leveling headlamps, whatever) and then whine that "it's just a 15k car"???

DON'T get these options and Mazda is as cheap/expensive to maintain and repair as any other car.


I think we're having a communication problem here. I assume (and I may be wrong) that the OP is talking about the whole headlight unit, not just the bulb or capsule. Yes, HIDs are HIDeously expensive when replacement time rolls around, but halogen or HID, you're gunna pay if you have to do the whole housing. Ahhh, it was so much simpler when I was a kid in the 70s. Most cars had "round" lights. For a couple years, the "warning" that a cop might be behind you was the "square" (rectangular, really) lights. Now, every car has it's own custom, and very expensive, shape. Even if you have halogens. Of course, if you want to be ultra "cool" and have the HIDs, you should expect to pay a severely high price every time something light related happens...
 
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