What type of car(s)are you driving?

It's not even comfortable for kids. My brother has two kids in car seats and bought one when he returned from Japan. They've always gotta switch out the seats between that and his wife's car and it's always an Olympic sport to do so.

I have to question his decision to purchase this car.

Two car seats is hard period.

We've got a mid sized sedan ('08 Fusion) and even then I'm backed up to the car seat.

I'm currently trying to leverage that to my advantage. "Things are going much better with Rio than Isaac at this point. Not sure if she's just a better baby or if we're better parents. Got us considering going for 3, but we just don't have the vehicle. A '14 Explorer or Flex, I bet that could carry 4 grandkids...."

(parents own a Ford dealership)

On American roads I do not see the need for a speedy car you cannot get near the top in without risking tickets. Also most people are not going to play around beyond ninety. It is great your car has the potential for greater speeds, but if you have to wonder where your car is regulated to cut acceleration that value is pointless. Seriously, even in my four cylinder fusion most people are going to fall off before I hit 120. So I find top end power to be bullshit because most people don't have the chops to make it there.

So really it more comes down to handling, acceleration power, design for use, and gadgets. A decent turbo four gives you nice acceleration when you need it, but a six has that extra kick to get you into a space if you drive that way. I hate the laggy economy car acceleration because I am used to having the boost when I put the pedal down. I also can get jumpy so the turbo four just does not have the ability to get me into trouble on back roads. The gas mileage is nice also. The four has to work for the speed which is good for perception for me. It has decent handling, and I like the gadgets. Plus it has nice trunk space and passenger room. It also has a decent frame so I should survive impact. I rammed an suv and it only did cosmetic damage at a good twenty mph.

Oldfella, I can NOT recommend a Mini Cooper. My wife got one because it was "cute", and she loved it for the first couple of years. Then shit started breaking. The damn thing has BMW parts (or something like that), so every repair costs a fortune. A plastic housing under the engine cracked and cost a grand to replace (they had to pull the engine to get at it). Oil changes were $110. By the time it was 5 years old and paid off it was a hangar queen. The dealer told us a Mini owner can reasonably expect to pay $2,000 a year in maintenance and repairs. We ditched the little fucker and got another Subaru.

I've got a rear facing and front facing in both of our cars. It's tight but I sit in the front so I don't care.

Switch them out? Hell no. I buy 3 at a time to avoid such things.

Tererun is right about a speedy car - you would never need a car that goes to 100 MPH. Granted if the speed limit is 70 and the guy ahead of you is going 60, you need to have the speed to get around him quick, and you need adequate speed for a brief time. But a turbo for fast acceleration is literally a life saver (at least for me) depending on how your roads are laid out, traffic density, etc. About an hour or so ago I had to pull some G's or get t-boned or worse. Light frame with big engine = fast moves but not really much top-end speed (which I don't need because I drive very slowly + carefully except for certain situations).

You had a 1st Gen, no?

Back then, BMW was outsourcing the parts to other companies (namely Peugeot) and those older ones were definitely riddled with problems. I don't blame you for not wanting to come back. The 2014 and newer are built with the new BMW technology that's far more reliable. And even if you get a particularly wiry one, they have maintainance included for three years, so there's no cost outta your pocket anyway.

I think ours was a 2005.
Sure, they fix it AFTER we get screwed.

As of 2016 back up cameras are required for all new cars in this state.

2017, actually. I think we only have a few cars on our lot with the cameras, but they will all have them for sure next year.

If these two posts don't bring back @Uncle Albert, nothing will

I suppose you can use a back-up camera for that, but I find the bumper's tactile feedback system works just fine.

They are very dull, but very reliable and easy to maintain. The IS 350 is awd, and pretty fucking cool.

He's probably dead.

I must say I really envy you folks who can keep a vehicle going for well over a decade. I suck as a mechanic, or maintaining anything that has a lot of moving parts.

One of my cars is 12 years old, the other is a mere youngster at 7.

Yeah, I get my money's worth from the cars we buy.

Of the new cars we've owned, I kept one for 14 years before selling it, my wife's Explorer is 10 years old, and my Tacoma is 9 years old.

I had my truck for eight years. My dad had it for eight before that. So it was old. Had 251,000 miles. My Mazda will be seven in August with about 75,000 miles. It is not on pace to match the truck. Yet I am still thinking of upgrading. Need my wife to pay off her credit card and car which will take another three months at least.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but adherence to the maintenance schedule has us going 16+ on the Accord and 8+ on the Fusion.

Biggest expense was a $400 alternator.

Oh, plus side being no matter where I go I've always managed to make friends with mechanics (benefit of growing up redneck, I guess, always end up finding cool monkey wrenchers). So I only pay parts and beer.

It is kinda funny. Move across the country and most of my friends aren't even from Seattle. Instead its the smart Eastern Washington folks that got the fuck out dodge and moved to the city. Still get to go get drunk and shoot shit 4000 miles away from home.

It's surprising to me how many people don't budget out for the maintainance of a car or look this up when they buy that used Bimmer or Benz especially. My folks stupidly bought a used ML 320 that's spent a good portion of the last six years on proverbial cinder blocks because they'd put off taking it to the shop until it was broke. And even now, my mom stupidly brags about the fact that it only took six years of owner ship to break (it was already 4 years old when we got it, and I'm sure it was traded into our Volkswagon dealership for a reason).

Long story short, but this is why, after being in the industry for nearly a year, I will never own a car again. Leasing, yes, and if/when I have a problematic car, the longest I'll be stuck with it is three years.

Leasing really only makes sense for fleet owners. All of my vehicles other than the first one were purchased new, ran for years, and were either traded in or sold for junk. The mighty Jeep is ten years old with over a hundred thousand miles on it and despite spending some bucks on required maintenance is still going strong. The Fit is a year and a half old with about 25k miles on it and not having a bit of trouble.

Fiat Chrysler says they have cut a deal with Google to work on self driving cars while both Google and Apple are working on their own line up of cars. I believe we are on the cusp of seeing two new American automakets (Google and Apple).

I think the entire industry is ripe for the biggest shake up in the better part of 100 years. The companies with deep pockets will survive but it is hard to see which technologies will ultimately win (electric, hybrid, traditional engines, smaller engines with turbos, hydrogen?) and that is before the massive expense of self driving technologies.

The last time there were thos many competing technologies in the automotive field was the early 1920's. Much has been written about the rise of China but theor car industry is still based upon copying others and just having a lower cost manufacturing base withput seripus R&D money. Theor automakers are also young and small withput deep pockets so I see most of them failing and the rest consolidating down to low tech also rans.

So, as a subject matter expert: what are the benefits of leasing versus buying? Here's my situation:
1. married, kids are moved away/have their own cars
2. commute about 20 miles per day, occasional day trips and short vacations (within 500 miles radius)
3. live in a mild climate with no extreme cold or heat (can be stressful on a car)
4. prefer smallish cars

Leasing might be cheaper. It's unlikely as you will be gambling that the depreciation of the car is more than the lease company calculated. The cost of the lease is how much they think the car will depreciate, plus their profit. Part of this is how many miles are allowed (overage will cost you when you turn the car in, as well as any excess wear and tear which is hard to judge). Can't win against the house. Usually. And you still have to negotiate the terms of the lease (purchase price of the car, lease rate). Most dealers structure leases so people think it's a done deal.

I think people lease cars because it will put them in a better car at a lower monthly payment than they can afford with a car loan. But over time leasing a different car every 2-3 years will cost a lot more than if you keep the car for 5 to 10.

If you need a car, buy a dependable one based on industry statistics. Pay cash if you can. Maintain it and drive it for a long time. VW's don't have great reliability stats.

Waiting till the fall to think about another car. I really don't want a payment, but the hubs has been making noises for a year on upgrading the family car since it hauls the kids around.

Maybe we will keep the car instead of trading it in so I can drive it to work, less miles on the newer one then. I won't buy new again, will probably take Anc's advice and look into a car that used to be a rental.

I would reconsider buying a rental car, those aren't exactly treated well when they are rentals. I can't think of a single rental car that I ever treated well.

#2 is gonna be the biggest deciding factor. From what you've told me you could do well with 10,000 miles a year, or even 12k just to be safe. I'd recommend it if you were looking to try a new brand you'd never bought from before (as is the case for you and MINI) or one that is notorious for breaking down fairly quickly (ie, Volkswagon as Steve mentioned).

I definitely wouldn't buy the thing at the end of it, because the residual that's left and what the car will be worth will always be way off. If you like the model, just buy the current year model after you're done with the lease. Certified preowned is a good way to go as well, particularly service loaners for high end brands where the clientele generally won't run the wheels off and usually get placed on sale after about six months.

@Ancalagon what say you?

My two vehicles are both program. As I said above, very little issues over the past 14 and 7 years.

What you get with a program car is a one to two year old used vehicle that you know for a fact has been professionally maintained. And for every jackass that trashes a rental, you've got 20 other business people countering it. And if the jackass does fuck something up, it will have to be repaired before going back out in rotation anyway.