Decisions, Decisions...

Car Buying - A Pain Level Somewhere Between Root Canal & Gangrenous Hemorrhoids.

Well, this is a pickle...

I've really got to get a new ride, and it's been so long since I've been car shopping, I'm in a state of extreme perplexitudinous despair.

The Big Red Ford is now old enough to legally vote.  In addition to the ongoing and chronic failure of the coil-on-plug abominations that have me running on 6 or 7 cylinders, the turn signals and hazards haven't worked in 5 years, the radio hasn't worked in 6 years, and the complete heating-A/C system gave up the ghost last fall.

Gas mileage has dropped from a barely acceptable 14 MPG to less than 10, largely due to the wasted gas passing through the non-firing cylinders.

Add to that the 210,000 mile tally on the odometer, and it's past time to put the BRF out to pasture.

"Well, Cap, just buy a new car!!"

Nossofast, Sparky.   I'm still adding up medical bills from the 5 week hospital/rehab facility stay.  There's also the house flood issue, which has paid out a smidgen of the insurance claim, but not enough to get back to 100%.

I'm still in the 1st year of the new house and the joys of mortgage payments, so my income's already strained.  Not painfully so, but I do need to avoid frivolities.

I'm fresh out of old relatives needing to dump a low-mileage car for pennies on the dollar, and the Texas Lotto jackpot remains annoyingly elusive.

So, here we are, with three options that I can see.

#1 - Finance a 2-4 year old low mileage vehicle, and live on tapwater and pinto beans for 48-60 months.  In the dark, with no A/C except on the "Free Weekends" plan.

#2 - Buy a 5-9 year old vehicle with 50-100K miles on it, pay 1/2 down, finance the rest, and have a 36-48 month payment that is annoying, but livable.

#3 - Pay cash for a beater, drive it until it explodes.  Rinse, repeat.

What say you, denizens of the Intertubes??