This weekend I traded in my CL type S 6spd with Navi, for a Honda Accord EX-V6. I will definitely miss the CL but will not miss the payments. I found a sick accord 2001 with 8K miles on it and worked a great deal. I got 24K for my CL and had no negative equity on my loan. Acutually had a little positive which I paid towards my new car. Althought the speed isn't there and there is no more 6 spd, the car is very nice. Its pretty much the same car when it comes down to it. I'm getting a spoiler on it from the dealer for 275, installed and painted. I would like some 17's cause the stock rims are 16's but i'll live. Other then that its got leather, 6 disc cd, auto climate, and believe it or not a much better stock stereo. Even though i took a pretty big hit on the depreciation, i'm happy to get out of those high payments and now i can save more. Too bad none of you wanted my CL it was pretty much brand new, I never drove it hard cause I drive mainly highway miles, and I sold it for only 24K. Personally I think thats a freakin steal but there was nothing I could do about it. At first they offered me 21.5K. I almost shit my pants and was like bring it up or i'm walkin out of here. Ahh whatever, i have plenty of time to get a better luxury sport car one day.

 

Sorry to hear ya had to downgrade. Before you bought the CL and saw what the payments would have been, how come you made the decision to buy?

Best of luck with your current car.

 

Cause i'm an idiot pretty much, I can afford the payments and its not a money issue, its kind of a saving issue. I'm only 23, i don't need 470 car payments. I should save, i have plenty of time to own a real sports car one day. If i could have my cl back believe me i would, but in the time being, the accord isn't that bad, i'll live

 

You should go on the road as a motivational speaker...

Not too many 23 year olds can walk away from a HOT car because they'd rather lower their payments and save a little.

You're smart, grasshopper.

 

Thanks sensi, I have been studying the wise ways for many years. I have ascended to the next level!

lol

 

I feel for you man.. i'm only 24 and bought myself a CL-S too about 2 months ago. Paying 414/mos. I need to save!!! But.. i love my CL

 

Hey noodle, i just would rather eat the lose now, and save more over the next 5 years you know. I mean, i'm planning on moving in the next 6 months, change my job, and maybe move in with my girl. So, i can't take the chance of not having a job when i move and have a freakin near 500 a month car payment, plus insurance, plus school loans. So sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Just another lesson learned. Sounds like something out of a fortune cookie huh

 

hey i'm 23 too, 379 for my cl payment is alright, cuz it's like my prized possession. Nothing could cheer me more than having it right in my garage even if it's costing 15% of my salary, not too mention the mods.

 

My CL is about 50% of my salary! hahahha

 

I just turned 23... I bought my pre-owned 2001 CLS Aug 20 2002 and had it paid off Aug 1 2003 ... i lived at home for the first year after school, thus saving on rent, and elected to pay off my car instead of saving a bunch.. so now that hte car is paid off i throw nearly $1k/mo into savings which I intend to use for car insurace payments, house, and other expenses..

whether i should have saved more and put less towards the car is a fair question to ask.. but i thought it through and elected to do it this way... living at home for one year was the best decision I ever made.. was well worth it..

now i have rent and small insurance payments.. and can save a bundle.. i think it worked out well.. to each their own

 

Hey ST2000, if my payments were 379 i would have kept it for sure. Also, your 23 and 379 is only 15% of your salary? How did you break that down, by how much you make a month and then 379 is 15% of that? Actually before taxes, which is nonsense cause its not like i make that much, my car a year was only 18% but i'm sure if i deduct tax, 401K, and my stock purchasing plan, it would be much higher. Do you have a lot of bills? do you live at home? What do you do? my new payments for my accord are 345 and my insurance dropped about 120 for every six months. So its definitely nice to put away more each month

 

yea elliot i would agree living somewhere rent free is a great decision, but you must not have financed that much especially if you paid off your car in a year! Thats great, shit if i didn't have a car payment i would be saving literally a 1K a month also, after taxes and everything, thats great if your doing that. I financed 24K and could not pay that off that fast, i was paying more then my amounts each month but could not speed up the process appearently like you.

 

My fiancee has an accord V6 LX and its a great car. Sounds like you made a good decision after a bad one. Its too bad you had to let the CLS6 go though!

 

Reddly,

I financed about $16k ... I bought the car for $23,500 with 24k miles (mint condition literally) ... I used my signing bonus towards the car and kept kicking much of my net income to the car to get rid of the payments.. Worked out.

 

Well, if you do the math, his monthly salary would be $2500 for $379 to be 15% of his salary. Only he can answer whether that is before taxes or after.

You definitely overbought if your car payment is 18% BEFORE taxes....

I wish I had a nice car when I was 23....I was driving old pieces of Sh!t cars....didn't buy my first new (or nice) car until I was 27 (I'm 37 now). Although I wish I had nice cars, it was better, because now I have a nice house, etc. My car is only 6% of my AFTER tax (take home) salary.....my house, wife, kids, retirement plan, etc, take the other 94%!

Reddly...you made a good move.....when it comes to a car, if you can't afford it, then you shouldn't have it. Too many people overbuy their cars because they want to keep up with their friends, or they want to drive something they really like but can't really afford....and believe me....if you overextend at a young age, it will take you MANY years to get yourself back to where you should be.

 

yea thanks for all your support, believe me it was tough getting ride of that ride! I mean it was really my first new car, first of all, and then it had navi and 260hp and 6 spd, it was a dream come true and a hard lesson learned on my behalf. I didn't want to end up like one of those people who have a sick car and a freakin trailor home ya know. I know in the end I made the wrong decision up front and fixed it in a timely fashion. I know i did the right thing, but it sure was fun for a little while. I definitely should have kept it another week and freakin lite that car up! 90% of my drive is highway and i never really played to much. Oh well i have plenty of time to have fun in life! Thanks playas

 

You should be commended for realizing your mistake and taking care of it sooner rather than paying for it later. Musn't be easy going to an Accord from a CLS, but good for you!

 

good work ! congrats

 

im 18 and bought my cl .. its about 90% of my part time job salary!!!!!

 

So, how do you pay for other things....such as food, clothing, shelter, and most importantly, beer???? (oh...wait a minute...you're 18...you can't drink beer! )

How long is your loan for....if it is 90% of your salary for then next 5 years, you might consider looking for a full time or better paying job so you can pay off sooner.....Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you would want to be 23 years old and have no money in the bank, and nothing saved for a house, or nothing to show for your work other than a car that is worth a few thousand dollars at that point. If you meet someone you want to marry, I doubt they would consider it if you put most of your salary into a car that loses value every year.

Just my $.02 from living through some of that (I never had good cars, but blew my money early on, and it took some time to get into a position to be able to buy a house, etc)

 

next time buy used from begging ...i m getting same thing only 01 that saves me like 10k

 

Saving at 23???
I was still in college at 23! Van Wilder was my idol!
I'm one of those stupid people who can't stand to drive a p/o/s. I even tried buying a beater and having my TL-S in the garage and stuff, but I just couldn't hack it. Even more stupid is that I live less than 3 miles from my office. Granted it's like 20 minutes in traffic, but I can't hack bad cars...
I really didn't start saving until 28 and now all is well. Nice cars and all. I suppose I could save more, but why...I'd rather enjoy what's around me now then wait until I'm too old to enjoy it. And as far the the future is concerned, how bad of a job is a Wal-mart greeter? Nice gig at 80...

 

i agree the stock 6disc changer in my accord sounded much better than the bose in the cl-s my friend has

 

I'm 47 and just made my last payment,,, still can't figure out how anybody in their early 20's can afford a $30k car. ???? Best of luck,, I'm keeping mine for 200k miles,,,

 

Depends on luck and the kind of job. I make payments for 2 cars and still have some cash to blow (on top of regular expenses). It just requires proper mathematics (where income - taxes - expenses - extras - savings >= 0). And also, it requires some backup $$ just in case u get laid off, or u had a bad investment.

People need to be sure on what they are gonna sign before they do so. In many cases they run nuts just after the first car payment.

Think, then exist.

 

Welcome to the Accord family! Take very good care of your tranny because we have the same problems as the CL guys here. You might wanna check out www.v6p.net for more info on your ride. Remember who sent you.

 

I had a big down payment ( 10g + ) From selling my old car.. plus money saved from workin summers, so i got my payments low for this car .. ( 250 plus insurance ) 90% of my salary cuz i work at a cheap movie theater and get paid $6.25 an hour ..... I don't plan on working there for much longer so i know my job is going to pay more .... plus working more hours.