What would you do? Buy now or wait?

[Dukeboy01]

I am jonesing hard for a 5th gen Camaro. My plan has been to wait until the summer of 2011 when my wife's van will be completely paid off and then buy a Camaro. In the meantime I've opened a dedicated savings account that currently has about $2,000 in it, planning to have at least $10,000 and hopefully more to put down on the Camaro. I was planning to go all out and get a RJT 2SS/ RS, with an MSRP of around $38,000 after I loaded everything I want on it into the Camaro builder.

The thing is, the more of these cars I see on the street, the more I want one sooner rather than later. I am basically 2 years from getting a Camaro at this point. In addition to my wife's van, a 2006 Honda Odyssey, we have a 2003 Chevrolet S-10. The S-10 will be paid off in January and I planned to start making double payments on the van to get it paid off a year early so that I could get the Camaro in 2011. I planned to keep the S-10 on the theory that it's always a good thing to have a pickup truck around.

The thing is that I don't drive the S-10 very much. I have a car (currently a 2005 Maxima) assigned to me from work that I get to drive home, so my daily commute is covered. If I had to, we could really get by with only one personal car as my wife is a stay at home mom and hardly drives her van. It's three years old and only has 24,000 miles.

The S-10 is used even less. It currently has just under 49,000 miles. In fact, I have to make an effort to drive the S-10 around a little every other weekend just to make sure the battery stays charged up. If I keep the S-10 and have a Camaro as well, I'll have to jump the S-10 every time I want to go anywhere in it because I know that I'll drive the Camaro on weekends unless the weather is bad, in which case I'll drive the Odyssey or my work car. That being said, I still like the idea of having a truck in the home fleet. The van can handle most of the things that I need to transport, but a couple of times a year I need to load up a few dirty things in a pickup bed like yard waste or old furniture. I don't do any off- roading, but I like having a 4WD vehicle for the 2 or 3 snowfalls or ice storms we have every year in KY.

So, I'm looking into the idea of going ahead and trading in my S-10 for a 1SS/RS Camaro sooner rather than later. I went by one of the local Chevrolet dealers in town today and it looks like they aren't charging any "market adjustment" crap anymore. I checked on the NADA site and figure my truck is worth around $12,000 - the $3,000 (give or take) that I still owe on it. If I ordered the car in the next couple of weeks, I figure it will still take several months to get the car, in which I will probably get the S-10 paid off anyway. It will depreciate a little more in the interim, but not much.

If I get a 1SS/RS instead of a 2SS/RS, I'm looking at an MSRP of around $35,000. The Edmunds car loan calculator is telling me that I can have it for a monthly payment that is roughly what I'm paying now on the S-10, so it's a wash as far as the monthly budget is concerned. I haven't checked into insurance yet, but I figure that will probably be a wash as well given my clean driving record, married male over 30 years of age, etc.

I haven't brought this up to the wife yet, so the whole thing may get shot down anyway. If I do this, we'll keep making the scheduled payments on the van and pay it off in 2012 instead of 2011. What do you guys think? Should I go ahead a fulfill my Camaro dreams with a 1SS this year by getting rid of my truck or wait until 2011 to get a 2SS and keep the truck? I realize that the longer I wait, the less the truck will be worth, but I'll be saving more money every pay check in my Camaro savings account, so it just means that I'll put more down in cash.

[Rikarus]

yes, it is so awesome it even gives backrubs!

[Beefman]

The camaro is a great fun car but it's not really a great utility vehicle. Just don'r really expect it to get a lot of things in it.

[M121SS]

$12,000 for a 2003 S-10? If you can get that, you better run to the closest dealer!! I have a 2004 F-150 and i was offered around $8,000-$9,000. (yea, i know its a ford) Not trying to talk you outta the car, but I wouldnt count on that much for your S-10.

[Dukeboy01]

Originally Posted by M121SS

$12,000 for a 2003 S-10? If you can get that, you better run to the closest dealer!! I have a 2004 F-150 and i was offered around $8,000-$9,000. (yea, i know its a ford) Not trying to talk you outta the car, but I wouldnt count on that much for your S-10.

Yeah, I know. There's a whole lotta "ifs" in this whole scenario. $12,000 was what the NADA website and Edmunds said it was worth. It is low- mileage, mechanically sound, and the body is in real good shape. I figure it's possible that I might get that, especially if the dealer wants to make the deal. It is realistic that I could, but I realize that it's not guaranteed.

[BlueMarlin]

Don't overextend yourself, thats why the economy is in such a mess. The camaro is not going anywhere, save the money until you can purchase it comfortably and not overleverage yourself.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm waiting for 2nd year.

[rmpackers]

Buy it! Life is short, don't ever look in the rear view mirror, and never ride the brakes!

[Mr_Draco]

As much as I would love to say get one, I'm afraid that I would wait if I was you. It sounds like you're over extending yourself as it is.

As far as trading in your S-10, you won't get that unless you sell it privately and even that is a huge IF. As a general rule of thumb, dealers will only offer you 70%. If KBB says $12k then a dealer will offer you $8k - $8.5k plus you still owe $3k so you're only looking at getting $5k.

If I was you and you wanted a Camaro as quickly as possible, pay off the S-10 first. Since is sounds like you use a truck enough to need one but not enough to need something that new, sell the truck privately and take that money and spend $4-5k to buy a decent truck and put the rest in your Camaro fund. With the extra money you may now have a monthly payment below that of what your S-10 was running.

[tosh]

dukeboy: sell the s10 buy a trailer for yard work save on insurance and registerstation fees

[wavrun2000]

Fail on my part I didn't read the thread before voting. I thought it was a question about what we were going to do. I think you should do what you want. If you want a Camaro then go out and get one.

[jackka]

Based on the fact that your wife's van is barely driven and the truck even less, if I were you, I would get rid of both the van and the truck, ordering a Camaro asap.

Having vehicles that you barely drive is such a waste, especially when because of them you have to wait years to get a car you want now badly.

Just ask yourself, how many times are you really really gonna need a truck or van in the next 2 years because your Maxima isn't big enough for whatever. And is that worth waiting 2 years for the Camaro?

Maybe just my opinion, but getting rid of the 2 vehicles you barely drive and buying a Camaro now would be the most effective spenditure of your money/monthly payments. Also, I would downpay as much as humanly possible, if not pay up all in cash.

[PQ]

I voted other because ........ well, just because.

But really, I'd get the Camaro. It's YOUR car.

[walls]

Originally Posted by jackka

Based on the fact that your wife's van is barely driven and the truck even less, if I were you, I would get rid of both the van and the truck, ordering a Camaro asap.

Having vehicles that you barely drive is such a waste, especially when because of them you have to wait years to get a car you want now badly.

Just ask yourself, how many times are you really really gonna need a truck or van in the next 2 years because your Maxima isn't big enough for whatever. And is that worth waiting 2 years for the Camaro?

Maybe just my opinion, but getting rid of the 2 vehicles you barely drive and buying a Camaro now would be the most effective spenditure of your money/monthly payments. Also, I would downpay as much as humanly possible, if not pay up all in cash.

Never use your own money when you can use someone elses.

That is, if you're responsible and have liquid assets to pay back any amount of said obligation at any moment.