Which car to replace?

[brshoemak]

Both of our cars are getting up there in years (and miles) so we are looking to replace one of them. We know we'll have to do both eventually, but don't want to be stuck with

two car payments at the same time so we are staggering the purchases. The question is, which one do we replace first?

We have:

- 2001 Honda Civic that is basically just driven around town - 110K miles - 32 MPG
- 2005 Honda Pilot that we take on long trips, so it caught up to the Civic really quickly - 115K miles - 17 MPG

Conventional wisdom would dictate selling the Civic that is 4 years older than the Pilot, but my wife (who loves her little Civic) believes that the Civic would outlast the Pilot mechanically so we should sell the Pilot while it's worth something, replace it with a crossover and keep the Civic until it dies or falls apart.

If it matters, the Civic has a door that is rusting from the bottom due to a bad scrape from long ago that I never knew about. Because of the amount and location of the rust it would probably be more cost effective at this point to just replace the entire door. Besides that issue, it's mechanically sound and the exterior is decent.

The Pilot has a small area of rust that we could take care of for a couple hundred but it's in great condition beyond that - MPG is a bitch though.

If we wanted to sell the Civic we might have a private buyer that would give us $3,000 for it. The trade-in value would probably be less than that from a dealership due to the rust and the fact that my wife had to thumbtack the headliner for it to stay up - there is a line of about 20-30 silver thumbtacks that are only visible if you look pretty hard at the car from behind. I'm not sure if there is a condition tier that involves thumbtacks, but it can't help.

What would you do in our situation?


[btw, it's sad but not at all unexpected that the '01 Civic has a KBB value of $3,200 while the '05 Pilot is only valued at $5,200.]

 

[dbk]

I would prob sell the Pilot and get a more fuel efficient SUV/CUV/Wagon and keep the Civic for general use. That's not really that many miles on a Honda. Plus you can easily travel in a Civic unless your family is comprised of big teens and/or dogs

 

[toronado97]

The Civic, in spite of it's cosmetic defects, will hold its value much more readily than the Pilot will. In another two years, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Pilot value at the same level as that Civic. Sell the Pilot and get a newer SUV.

 

[tracerbullet]

Agreed to the above as to the way to go. And when that's what the wife is suggesting you really can't say no!

 

[Naeeldar]

Sell the pilot. Won't last as long as the Civic and it still has some value compared to the Civic at this point in time.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If the wife loves the civic keep it. Sell the Pilot. Take some of the monies and get the civic's door and headliner fixed.

 

[brshoemak]

After some more thought and with the help of your input we'll probably just end up keeping the Civic and selling the Pilot. Thanks for the insight.

Another quick question (and if I should start a new thread or find another forum to ask this please let me know):

Do you guys have any recommendations for crossovers around $22,000? Something smaller than a Pilot with better than 17 MPG.

I've been considering a Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5. and my wife really likes the styling and standard AWD of the Suburu Crosstek although I'm not sold on it personally. We have yet to test drive any of them, which will be the next step, but I wouldn't mind hearing from an owner or someone who has experience with them.

 

[TripleThreatTLT]

Maybe check out the new Jeep Cherokee?

 

[dbk]

Hyundai Santa Fe Sport? Has the AWD option

 

[toronado97]

Drive the CX-5. The new one with the bigger 2.5L engine is fantastic.

 

[squarecut1]

I know someone who knows a lot about vehicles. He recently got a cx 5 and is very pleased with it

 

[boomhower]

Your making the right choice. I also suggest fixing the civic if your keeping it. Finding a door for cheap shouldn't be tough and the headliner is a relatively easy fix. I'd take a hard look at the Cherokee but there are lots of really good options in that category.

 

[brshoemak]

I'll definitely look into the CX-5 and maybe the Jeep Cherokee. Other opinions are definitely welcome.

I must have been out of the game too long, because a crossover used to be a single offering for each car company - now it seems like each company has a least two if not three crossover offerings, or they just shuffle the marketing and price point of their current offerings to make it seem like they are different tiers of crossovers.

Example: Subaru now presents their Outback, Forester, Crosstrek and Tribeca all as crossovers which exist in different price/feature bands. I always thought of the Outback as just a stylized station wagon, but now it seems like the Tribeca is built off the Outback platform, however they call it a mid-size SUV.

As far as the door on the Civic, it would be great if I could find a (reputable) junkyard around here, but there are slim pickings in my area and if I did happen to find a door, it would probably be in worse shape than the current one. At least I have some time to figure that out.

 

[uOpt]

The Pilot is sucking gas and losing more value per year.

Plus either of those two can get you stranded on the long trips.

No question I would get a more efficient cruiser.

 

[uOpt]

BTW, a quick calculation says that the pilots lower efficiency left $13000 on the floor for the miles you drove, compared to the civic.

 

[Herr Kutz]

After some more thought and with the help of your input we'll probably just end up keeping the Civic and selling the Pilot. Thanks for the insight.

Another quick question (and if I should start a new thread or find another forum to ask this please let me know):

Do you guys have any recommendations for crossovers around $22,000? Something smaller than a Pilot with better than 17 MPG.

I've been considering a Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5. and my wife really likes the styling and standard AWD of the Suburu Crosstek although I'm not sold on it personally. We have yet to test drive any of them, which will be the next step, but I wouldn't mind hearing from an owner or someone who has experience with them.

I'd suggest taking a look at the Subaru Forester too.