A few months ago I sold my 04 4Runner and bought a used 2005 TL with 60,000 miles on it b/c I have a long commute to work. I was driving an 08 3.5 Altima, but decided putting 40,000 miles a year on it when it was so new was a bad idea. I let my fiance drive the Altima and out of the blue her father calls up and says he wants to help her out and get her a car...a "new" car so neither or my cars are in the picture and I'm going to have to sell one of them...neither one of us even remotely saw this one coming in a million years...

So this is my situation. The TL is paid off and I owe 22 on the Altima. I can sell the TL and have roughly 1 years worth of payments on the Altima, so this time next year I would have a paid off loaded 3.5 SE Altima. Or I could sell my Altima, but b/c of the recession I would probably come up about $1500-$2000 short when it was all said and done. At about 100,000 miles I'll have to replace the timing belt on the TL and probably get new brakes as well, so that is another $1000 so when it is all said and done it will cost me 3-4k more to have the Altima.

Both the Altima and TL have leather with Nav and are both very well made. The TL's interior is nicer, but the Altima is more fun to drive. Also he leather in the TL is perforated while the Altima is not and it gets hot here in Vegas. They also are very close when it comes to actual fuel cost too. The Altima is a little more tricked out though with the I-key and backup camera.

The TL is supposedly more expensive to maintain though. The timing belt being a good example and supposedly in replacement parts in general are more expensive with an Acura.

So basically I have to choose b/w two near luxury vehicles...not a bad position to be in to be honest. Any thoughts as too which one I should keep?

 

Which one do you think were gonna tell you to keep...




Timing belt on either car is gonna be an expensive repair, the important thing is keeping up on all maintenance and your car with take care of you...

 

i would probably keep the car i liked more. think about which one is more valuable to you and which one has more benefits.

 

Man, I wish I had your problem. Since you're considering selling the TL, you must not feel to badly about putting 40 Gs on Altima going to and from work at this point. I say since the TL is paid for, park it in the garage (if available), drop the insurance, and have a nice project car. And If anything ever happens to the Altima in terms of an accident or major mechanical repair taking it out of commission for a while, you already have a ride.

 

I don't feel bad about driving the Altima that many miles if I pay it off in a year. I'll try to invest the money I save from not having a car payment for a few years before I buy a new car. I do have a problem driving that many miles and having a car payment the entire time since it will plummet in value and I'll be upside down on the loan for most of the remaining 4 years...so that means just holding onto the TL as a project car won't work for me.

 

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