Deves

Please help me decide.... should I get a new XB?

Currently I drive a Silver 05 Dodge Magnum SXT 3.5L V6 with all the bells and whistles including an aftermarket Eclispe double din CD/DVD Nav system with a backup camera. I mean this car is loaded with options..It has a tilt steering wheel that also telescopes outward toward the driver and the pedals are electronicly controled so you can set the distance away to stretch your legs for comfort. And speaking of comfort the car has an 8-way adjustable power drivers seat. All the seats are clad in gray leather....ok you get the picture.

Now comes the tough part....
I bought this car new in the summer of '05 and rolled about $10,000 into the loan from another car that I traded for the Magnum. I have about 40 payments left on a 6 year loan and the payments aren't getting any cheaper.
The price of gas isn't getting any cheaper either.
And I need to lower my car payments.

So I went down to the local Scion dealer to drive one of these XB's and wow! It amazed me how much power it had and the handling was great also compared to my car. I've been reading everything on this forum since last December when I found it online and I can't get this Box outa my head.

The dealer will probably give me close to $13,000 for my Mag and I would have to roll another $10,000 into a $17,000 car. I'm sure alot of you reading this are saying this guy is crazy for even thinking this but maybe with a 3 year lease I can lower my payments?

Well there you go this is my sad story but this is what happens everytime I see a car I like.

I go through this every couple of years....
So tell me what you think...

healthynine

sounds like you need to pay off the magnum or at least pay the loan down some more...a $27000 scion is crazy!

ibnboxin

umm well credit wise it sucks to lease a vehicle. judging by your car i would say that you don't need credit that much. but what you might find is that after three years you may not want to give up the XB. now you will hear the first gen'r ringing in about buying a first gen. but in all honesty doesn't really matter what line you buy either 1st or 2nd. they are both XB's and both scions. now back to what i was saying. with all the modifications you can do with both new and old. you have unlimited possibilities. meaning you can drop it or you can add air bag system to it. you can get better exhaust on it add sway bars. if you want to go really big you can do a wide body kit on it (not sure if XB 2 has one of these yet. but wait for it will come.) oh they you can get into the staero or in car entertainment (I.C.E) part of it. heck you could drop a 36 inch flat screen in the back storage area of the car if you wanted to.

as for your car you have now. i would say try and sell it first to see if you can get a better price for your car. i would rethink the least thing all together.

rule of thumb is once you start modding it is like crack. you start with a little and end up bottoming out. well by bottoming out i am saying you hit that speed bump cause you made the car way to low and start a movement to get ride of them all together and add lowered car ramps in steep driveways.

just buy the XB is all you need to know...lol then let us tell you what you should do with all the different mod...lol hows that??

CIONIDE

iTrader: (1)

With credit tightening up the way it has in the last year, I would be very surprised if you could roll $10k on top of the xB price. Nowadays most lenders will only allow a maximum of 20% over the vehicle M.S.R.P., and I have never seen a lender that will wrap that into a lease. Even if they would, the entire $10k (if that's what it ends up being) would be put into the payments over the lease term; that would mean a lease payment over $600 a month, and nothing to show for it in 3 years.

As much as I'd like to see you get an xB, you need to either keep the Magnum, or find a way to pay it off, before thinking about a new car. That upside thing with your auto financing has got to stop, and the current credit crunch may not even allow you to keep doing it. BTW, if anybody will wrap $10k into a new loan, they're going to charge interest up the you-know-what.

I do honestly wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide. Have you had a serious talk with the finance manager at a Scion dealer yet? That would be my suggested next step. That way at least you'll have a better idea of what your options include and don't include.

VC-17

The smart thing to do is keep the car you have and pay off your loan. No offense to you, or anyone else, but what were you thinking when you bought this car and rolling over $10,000.00 on your loan? How'd you sleep after you made the purchase? Don't be foolish and make the same mistake again, just live with what you have and pay it off.

bugtoxb

i would have to agree, i wouldnt do it! i would pay off the magnum or possibly find someone to buy it for close to what u owe and start over!

chadfo

I agree too. If you keep rolling cars, your debt is just going to keep getting larger. Pay off the Magnum or at least get to the point where it's worth what you owe, then trade or sell it.

uberspeed

In the Scion at least you'd get better MPG and cheaper insurance, no? But man, you need to hold off on changing cars, that's a lot of negative equity to keep carrying over!

alank2

Hi,

I was in a similar situation, when I bought my last car (05 Altima 6cyl), I didn't want to have 2 car payments so I rolled about 5K into the loan to have a single larger payment. Well, I didn't end up keeping the other car because I didn't use it as often and sold it. That left me with a car that had a higher payment than I wanted (51. I had about 30 payments left on it and I owed about 1K more than the dealer would offer me, but I traded it on a 08 Scion xB and paid the 1K difference in trade in vs my old car loan. I ended up with a new payment at 348 and I love the Scion xB.

I'm not going to say don't do it. The truth is, you are upside down on the loan you have already. So you might be upside down on the Scion too. At least you would get better gas mileage and be in a car you like more.

With that said, there are things you can do to lessen how upside down you are on it:

1. Sell your Magnum directly to someone instead of trading it in. This will be your best way to reduce the difference. I have no experience selling a car private party, but it seems like there are tons of ways to do it these days. You have a car with tons of options, people like options.

2. Put some money into it from savings, etc., if you have it. If you talk to a Scion finance person and they say you can only roll 4K of it into the new loan, then you only have 6K to worry about.

Good luck,

Alan

RyanW

Dude, trust me, jst pay off the magnum deal with it for now and get a box when your payments are done. Then you can keep the magnum for a beater.

goosala

Since this is the first year of the current xB design you have a couple more years to pay down the balance on your Magnum. You might even decide on the next xB design by that time anyway so look upon it as a positive.

AAG

iTrader: (1)

Only 13k for trade in on a magnum? Damn resale sucks for Dodge vehicles. Honestly don't do it, you are getting more & more debt by rolling the loan over. Pay the loan to where atleast you break even or close to it.

These are great vehicles for the money but my advice would be to wait because you never know scion might fix the "problems" with the 08s we have complained about (ex. one reverse light, non-adjustable headrests, etc). Good luck with whatever you choose!

ChspkScion

How will you feel about your Magnum when Gas is $4 / Gallon this summer? Remember Oil is almost $100/ barrell now! Gas has not gone up much when do you think they will make up for it?

I worked (don't anymore) at a high volume Scion Toyota dealership for a while & I sold a lot of cars. The advice I would give a family member would be:

A: Find a car with a $5K rebate put another $5K down that can hide the negative equity, Negotiate a great deal BEFORE the REBATE AND make sure your interest rate is LOW!!!! Make EXTRA Payments Early in the loan to get ahead into + equity so when you are ready to get into a Scion/Toyota you get a better deal AND a better car.

B. Lease a Toyota Corolla (you'll still have to come up with a big down payment but there is a rebate that STILL APPLIES to Help!!& you can still Negotiate on Price!!!) USE the higher payments than a normal lease as a way to force you to pay off the negative equity, turn the car in and never have to worry about it again. The next car WILL have the lower payments. Then use the extra cash to pay down your Student Loan or mortgage, put in your 401K, or Save for your kid's college fund. $100 a month will make all the difference in the world if you put in something that gains equity instead of looses it.

C. Least Attractive, Keep a car that is continuing to LOOSE Value faster than you can pay for it. Make double payments just to get out of it only see equity the last 9 months of your loan term! ALL the WHILE PAY, PAY, PAY to keep it running, remember you bought a Chrysler! Who is gonna want it after you? Don't forget $4/Gallon Gas is coming!

If you can't or won't do A or B above, your problem WILL get worse! If your Credit rating is low, then you need to stop and look at what you are doing giving everyone so much of your paycheck in interest payments! Get humble & live smaller.

I have a great auto loan calculator I can send you that will allow you to input your KNOWN numbers and see how things work out. It will show you how making extra payments can shorten your loan term too!

Invertalon

Lease to buy.

It is what im currently doing with my xB. I needed low payments and a new car, and it worked out perfectly. I traded in my old sunfire for like $1800 (generous!) and placed $1500 down I believe. I did a 3 year lease and my payments are $189 a month, dirt cheap.

I have the option to buy my car at the end of the lease for $10,000 I believe (which I will be). They calculated how much the car would be worth in 3 years with 45,000 miles on it and then I pay the difference in payments. Since the xB's hold their value so well, you get cheap monthly payments!

But yeah, at the end of the lease I hope to save enough on the side to bascially pay the remaining balance off and be done with it. Not bad to pay a car off in three years!

Now the only bad thing is, if you add options later on like I am, it doesn't increase the value (that price they set) when you trade in. So bascially, if I DO want to trade in my xB, I will get more basically by buying my car at the end of the lease and then trade in a few months later or whatever and all the options will be included.

Hopefully that made some sense, but is definitely a nice way to go. Yes it does suck your leasing, BUT, you can buy it right after at a set price you are told when you sign the papers, and it cannot change. So if your xB goes UP in value, you still pay that price on the paperwork.

That's my vote on what you should do. But if you are trading in your truck and get 10-13k for it, your payments will be quite low regardless. Your choice!

ChspkScion

Here's why leasing is Great! (If you don't drive huge miles)

Scion/Toyota sets their Residual Value at the end of the Term to equal what they expect to BUY the identical car at auction. So, it is a WHOLESALE Number!! You can usually SELL it privately for MORE!!!!

People that do not come into the lease with Negative Equity and take care of their vehicles normally SELL their Leased ride in the paper. Just post it about 3 months before the lease is up. If the residual value is $10K and you get $12K then the difference is YOURS TO KEEP!!! = More $$ for YOU I had customers get $3-4K more than the buyout figure!!!

That is why people lease and keep leasing. IF the Car holds its value well, they NEVER pay as much as everyone else AND they keep getting new cars every 3 Years!! Just return it to Stock when you sell it. Then sell the Mods separately or put them on the new ride if the model didn't change.

2 things that make SCION Toyota Lease even better.

1. When there is a Special Lease, GRAB IT!!! It is normally very close to 0.9 -2.9 Interest!!

2. If your itchin for the Newest Model and just cannot wait, AND you are within the last 6 months of the term, there is a good chance those last payments will be waived. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE THEM. JUST GET THE NEW RIDE!!!!