New car....
 

I'm so excited but I can't share it too much yet with anyone I know in person.

I'm looking at cars. I'm looking at some of my borderline dream cars actually.

My husband & I revamped our finances and we are planning to be ahead of the game by the end of the year. Last year I got a job that is exactly 2 miles from my house, and 2 months ago I got a significant promotion/raise.

I worked my butt of last year to pay off about $8k in debt we had and I have a savings plan in place to make some major headway in stuff we need to do to the house and other things we will need chunks of cash for.

My husband told me that I should look at leasing a car that I want. :) LOVE HIM! He went with me to Lexus last night and we test drove a convertible. It was AMAZING!!! My true love is an Audi A5 (this was before I knew about the Lexus). So tonight I go back to Lexus to get some figures, and tomorrow we are going to go to Audi and check out that car and leasing options also. I am just soooooo excited. I love cars, everything about them. Leasing one of those cars, won't be much more than I pay for my car payment now. Maybe $100 a month. Now seems to be the time to do it.

Anyone drive an Audi or a Lexus and have anything to share about them?

I don't...:rolleyes: But CONGRATULATIONS!!! I know it is hard to save and climb out of debt. Good for you!!!:thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks girl!!! It took quite a bit of sacrificing to do that last year, but it was worth it now. :) I figure I love cars, have no kids (and not having any), have a very short commute now, make a decent salary and have a very good savings plan in motion, so what the heck, if you can't spend a little of what you make on yourself then what was the point of working so hard and sacrificing a lot initially, right?

Volvo has a pretty sweet hardtop convertible. :D
Plus they have 5 year complimentary factory service. :thumbup:

Congratulations:D!!!!! I used to have an Infiniti, until the economy tanked and I had to give it back:cry: Check them out, and use websites to compare different brand cars. I found that in the class I was looking at (mid-size luxury sedan, 4 door) Infiniti gave the most bang for the buck.

Good luck:D!!!!

hhhmmm really? I'll have to go check those out too then! :) Thanks!

Infiniti was on my list. They are SWEET looking cars! There are a couple issues with that though. The convertible only has rear wheel drive, which is not the only issue, bc so does the Lexus, but the JP Power & Associates ranks Infiniti pretty low on the number of service calls list. They have way more than industry average service calls on their cars. Plus the infinity is about $10K more than the other 2 cars I'm looking at. (I'm talking the convertible model though)

My daughter had a audi.. she was way too young to have such a car but she was over 18 and had a job..

She LOVED the car.. but... it had some electrical problems and was very expensive to have work done. I would guess that would not be an issue with a new car and with leasing.

Good luck, and congratulations!!!!

Have you checked BMW 328 Xi (all wheel drive)? You can get some great deals on a 2011 lease unless you truly want a 2012! In addition, service is included with the lease price plus most dealers will give you a courtesy vehicle (when yours is in for service). Monthly lease on a fully loaded 2011 328 Xi should run you under $500 a mth.

P.S. I have both a 2012 X5 and 2011 328 Xi :-)

everyone is telling me BMW. But I really wanted something else. I hear they are very good cars though, and I may need to reconsider. :)

Test drive the BMW and tell me what you think!!! I like the tight suspension especially on the turns/corners and you cannot beat the technology. I personally downsized after driving suburbans for 15 years (and once my daughters started driving). They use the 328 to commute to/from college and my X5, well it's parked, as I work from home.

I love Lexus I mean love them! My husband likes Audi's:rolleyes: The main reason I would choose a Lexus over Audi is in my experience it's cheaper to fix them in the long run. But either way they are both great cars! Congrats;)

Oh wow how exciting for you! I adore convertibles especially in the summertime. For a couple of years I drove a Tiburon sports car and loved it. But well life happens and I had to go the mini van route, cause of multiple dogs, parental care etc. I also love the Volkswagon Cabriolet convertible.

You must keep us updated on what you finally select.

Well, I got mine at the end of 2008, so things appear to have changed since then. Good luck in your search. My BIL's family owns 5 Lexus cars and they LOVE them:)

I live in New England and the Lexus has rear wheel drive. That is a MAJOR down side of it. I mean major. Its pretty much a no-no to drive a rear wheel drive in the winter up here. :( They are telling me that it has features like traction control that will make it better to drive in the winter, but I won't know until winter and by then its going to be too late to change my mind and I'll be stuck with it for 3 years and not be able to drive on snowy days. I am not sure if my husband & I can work around that if we needed to.

EEK! That's so exciting!!! Hard work pays off :) Congrats!

Sweetness! Happy car hunting. How exciting. :)

I'm an American Caddy gal all the way, just love mine, plus all the service work even the oil changes are free at the dealership

We have been looking into convertibles. We plan on purchasing one next summer, and we want a hard top. We checked out the Volvo C70 and really like it. BMW also has the 3 series with the hard top.

Good luck in your search! I want to see pictures when you get it :D

We went back to the Lexus dealership yesterday just to let them look at my car (an Accord) and took the car back out for a spin. The car is SWEET, no doubt about it. They came back with a 36 month lease, $2600 down, $678/month with an option to buy of $31,000 at the end of the lease. I did the math and I'd be paying out $58k for a $50k car. Thats kind of crazy. I did not try to haggle or talk them down at all since I still have more cars to check out in the next week or two before I decide to do it or just to keep my car. I am disappointed that they started THAT high though. I see a $550 a month car payment, everything else the same, as feasible. I'd be paying about $53500 for the car that way, which is still 6.8% more than the MSRP.

What do you think is feasible on a car like that?

I would LOVE a BMW convertible:rollingey:dribble::hands:. You can get two and hand one over to me!!!:D:D:D

One of my friends checked both the Lexus and Audi and was disappointed in the high monthly lease payments. He went to the BMW dealer which was offering the 2011 328Xi at $475 a mth -- 26 mth lease, service included! He called for my advice and here's what I said "Do not pass up that deal because it's significantly LESS than I am paying for the same car!". He went with the BMW.

Car shopping is no fun but stick with your budget and GOOD LUCK!

Oh wow... now $475 is right up my alley! :) Did that include a touchscreen Navigation system do you know? (gosh I sound spoiled! LOL)

BMW navigation is not touch screen but YES, the iDrive is included, with sunroof as well and the cold weather package -- heated steering wheel and heated front seats. I love BMW's navigation -- the 3D feature is especially cool when I drive into NYC.

I'm on my second 3 Series BMW and will go there again. I just love it.

If it were me, living in NH I would not get a rear wheel drive car. I get a lot less snow here, but I always have front wheel or all wheel drive. Just my opinion.

Tried to test drive an Audi A5 tonight. Dealership was not all that friendly. We went to Volvo and drove the C70 convertible. It was nice, but makes me think I'm maybe not ready for this yet. I may need to save more money. I loved the Audi, wish I could have ridden it.

Well sbgooljar, you will be glad to know..... I leased a BMW 28iX. I got it at $465 a month for 30 months. It does not have navigation, but it has everything else. It's a 2011 Executive car, so it had 12,000 miles on it, but it was never titled, so it sold at a used car price, but I was able to lease it. I have a 30 month lease for 25K miles, however, if I think Im going to go over the mileage on the lease I can do a mid term mileage adjustment and pay only 16 cents per mile. I don't anticipate going over the mileage at all though. Actually it's been pouring here and I haven't even driven it more than 20 miles since I got it saturday morning! All service is included except tires and I pay for the state inspection fee. Inspection costs $29 which was funny to me and I told the guy that we own a service station and the state inspection fee cost is only $8. He seemed surprised to hear that, said he had no idea, but I can't imagine he didn't know that. It's black with off white & black leather interior. It has the cold weather package, the convenience package and many other packages.

I loved how it felt when I sat in it, and I love how it drives. I think I am going to be VERY happy with this car! :) Oh and when I called my car insurance for a quote, my new insurance went down $400 a year with this car. I was sooooo pleased! I went from a 2007 Accord to a 2011 BMW and my yearly car cost went up by less than $800 a year. Even I'm still kind of in shock about that!

WOW and CONGRATULATIONS! I can't wait to see the pictures and you will LOVE, LOVE driving that car....

Its been raining so hard here, pics are no good. I'll try to get some when the rain clears out in a couple days. :) yeah, I already love driving it. I loved the test drive. This car was pretty amazing all around and then cost of ownership.... the decision was made for me! :)