WHY do I want one so bad?

[BLAZINBLUEVITZ]

Originally Posted by YarisOwnersDad

Naw, it's just a stripped down LS.

Tom

dropped like yesterday's newspaper if that was mine.....

[YarisOwnersDad]

Still having a hard time shaking the thoughts about the Yaris, despite all the practical reasons that I should keep the Cobalt.

Does anyone know what the rebate will be after today? Today is officially the end of the current $1000 rebate. Will it be extended as is, increased, decreased, or completely done away with? I almost hope it goes away, and then I could quit thinking about trading.

Tom

P.S.

Does anyone have a REAL GOOD picture of a Yaris sedan in Flint Mica? I have done some looking in the Owner's Garage section, but I haven't looked at every page.

P.P.S.

OK, I guess it is called the Photo-Media-Video section where I have been looking.

[tomato]

Tom> Sorry, I don't have the answer to your question. But if you today is the last day for that rebate, sounds like you're gonna have a long day ahead of you arguing the pros and cons! Good luck with your decision !

[YarisOwnersDad]

Originally Posted by tomato

Tom> Sorry, I don't have the answer to your question. But if you today is the last day for that rebate, sounds like you're gonna have a long day ahead of you arguing the pros and cons! Good luck with your decision !

Thanks, "Mater."

Tom

[roxy1]

i wouldnt worry about the rebate. as long as car sales are so slow, i expect the rebates to continue.

FWIW, Kelly Blue Book: a 2008 cobalt LS, 4 door automatic w/ 15k miles shows an $8200 trade (excellent condition) down to $7700 (good condition). dealers rarely will give the excellent value on a trade. that is some brutal depreciation. unless you paid close to 9k-10k for your car, you will take an absolute beating on a trade. plus, w/ GM facing a likely bankruptcy, it could be even worse. you might end up w/ a 21k yaris. i like the yaris quite a bit, but only as a sub $15K car.

[YarisOwnersDad]

Help me out here, People. Please, let me hear your opinions as to the MPG I could realistically expect to get with my normal driving mix.

Here's what my normal tank of gas would see. I drive 24 miles each way to work and back five days a week. The two miles at the work end of the trip are in town, the other 22 miles are on rural two lane roads with a few hills and curves and a couple stop signs. I drive about 60 MPH on these roads.

I also drive about 8 miles round trip in town at lunchtime five days a week. There are usually just a couple short trips on weekends, like to church and back, or maybe to the store.

When in town, I try to coast up to redlights in hopes that that the traffic will clear before I have to come to a complete stop, and when I do get caught by a light or have to stop at a stop sign, I don't do jackrabbit starts.

I don't "hypermile," but I don't hotrod either. Well, as peppy as my little Cobalt is, I HAVE to play once in a while, but I don't make a habit of it.

Given what I just said, what would you guys expect that I would get for MPG with a Yaris sedan with auto tranny on a normal tank of gas?

Also, is the possibility that GM could "go under" a factor that I should consider in this decision? I still have over 20,000 miles of original warranty on tha Cobalt, but what if GM goes out of business? What about future resale value?

Thanks.

Tom

[tomato]

To Tom: I don't know what to tell you, seems from your posts that you are really torturing yourself over this, but I will say this much in case it helps.

I traded in my old Honda CRX mostly because of fear (not that the manufactuer would go under, in my case it was mostly fear that she wouldn't SMOG, and that she would fall apart at the seams - I had to fix the front with duct tape to hold it together among other things)

I still have somewhat mixed feelings about trading in when I did, because I think the CRX could have gone a while longer while I was looking for the "perfect car" for me. It really was just fear that pushed me to close the deal quickly rather than waiting for the best opportunity to come along. I could probably have waited a few more months and gotten a different color or an updated model or even a different car (oooooh, I'm gonna get some nasty comments for this!! lol)

You know how it is, anyway. No matter what you get (whether its a car, or a jacket or whatever) there is always something better than comes along the minute after the money changes hands, it's like an unwritten rule or something (sigh).

Nobody can tell you what to do. Nobody knows what the future holds, or what's going to happen to GM, or whatever.

Personally, I believe there is always another deal and another opportunity and it's not the end of the world if you wait a while. But I'm not in your place. Also, you have to consider your wife's feelings in that regard. Does she want to spend the money? or is she going to make your life hell for a while if you buy the Yaris, lol?

Good luck and let us know what you decide! If you buy the Yaris, we're gonna want pictures!! :)

PS. Note to self, dump GM stocks. JK

[tomato]

PS I didn't say anything about gas mileage because I'm not even sure what I get with the Yaris. Whatever I get, I"m happy with, let's put it this way. I don't think there is any car out there (except maybe hybrid?) that's going to give me a whole lot better so why bother thinking about it. Sorry, don't have any MPG data.

[YarisOwnersDad]

Originally Posted by tomato

To Tom: I don't know what to tell you, seems from your posts that you are really torturing yourself over this, but I will say this much in case it helps.

I traded in my old Honda CRX mostly because of fear (not that the manufactuer would go under, in my case it was mostly fear that she wouldn't SMOG, and that she would fall apart at the seams - I had to fix the front with duct tape to hold it together among other things)

I still have somewhat mixed feelings about trading in when I did, because I think the CRX could have gone a while longer while I was looking for the "perfect car" for me. It really was just fear that pushed me to close the deal quickly rather than waiting for the best opportunity to come along. I could probably have waited a few more months and gotten a different color or an updated model or even a different car (oooooh, I'm gonna get some nasty comments for this!! lol)

You know how it is, anyway. No matter what you get (whether its a car, or a jacket or whatever) there is always something better than comes along the minute after the money changes hands, it's like an unwritten rule or something (sigh).

Nobody can tell you what to do. Nobody knows what the future holds, or what's going to happen to GM, or whatever.

Personally, I believe there is always another deal and another opportunity and it's not the end of the world if you wait a while. But I'm not in your place. Also, you have to consider your wife's feelings in that regard. Does she want to spend the money? or is she going to make your life hell for a while if you buy the Yaris, lol?

Good luck and let us know what you decide! If you buy the Yaris, we're gonna want pictures!! :)

PS. Note to self, dump GM stocks. JK

You will definitely see some pics, if I pull the trigger on a deal for a Yaris.

Tomster

[roxy1]

even if you pull 40 mpg in a new yaris, i believe you will never recover the losses of that trade. for example, at 17k miles per yr and 28 mpg in the cobalt, you will spend $1214/yr in gas. at 40 mpg in yaris, you will spend $850/yr in gas. so, you will save $364 per year. after 10 yrs and 170,000 miles, you will have saved $3640 in gas by driving the yaris. that wont even come close to covering the trade loss if the cobalt only trades for $8000.

assuming you paid about $14k for the cobalt and you really dont mind losing $6,000 on a trade and you have your heart set on the yaris (which it sounds like you do) then, hey, its your money. you may want to visit a dealer and see what they would realistically give you on a trade.

GM is not going to go under. they will either get bailed out or, more likely, file for bankruptcy. the resale on a cobalt is already awful to the point that you will never get much money for it. the only value you will get out of it is to drive it until it cant go any more.

this isnt like trading in a 1 yr old toyota or honda after 1 yr, where you would still get very good value for the trade. the cobalt lost about $6k in value in only 1 year.

sorry, just trying to be the voice of reason. drive that cobalt into the ground for 10 years. by then, there will be all types of new fangled hybrids and who knows what else pulling 70 mpg's.

[YarisOwnersDad]

Yeah, Roxy, I know all that you are saying makes sense.

This is a battle between my head and my heart. My head says all the same things that you are saying, and my heart says go get that Yaris.

Tom

[brainless twit]

I think I told you this already, can't remember, but since my 5,000-mile oil change, I've been averaging 41-42 mpg without even trying. Before the oil change I got 35 or so. I'm no granny driver but I'm pretty reasonable behind the wheel unless I get behind a coal truck. Usually 60-65 mph on 431.

For the most part, we're driving on the same roads. I'm guessing you take 70 to work since you aren't going on the parkway?

I do agree with the posters who said that the difference in mpg isn't enough to justify the car. It would be more because you just want it. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

What kind of mileage is Wes getting?

[YarisOwnersDad]

Originally Posted by brainless twit

I think I told you this already, can't remember, but since my 5,000-mile oil change, I've been averaging 41-42 mpg without even trying. Before the oil change I got 35 or so. I'm no granny driver but I'm pretty reasonable behind the wheel unless I get behind a coal truck. Usually 60-65 mph on 431.

For the most part, we're driving on the same roads. I'm guessing you take 70 to work since you aren't going on the parkway?

I do agree with the posters who said that the difference in mpg isn't enough to justify the car. It would be more because you just want it. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

What kind of mileage is Wes getting?

Thanks for the post, Twit.

Wes isn't really all that much "into" gas mileage. I mean it is important to him to have a car that gets good mileage, but it is not important to him to know exactly what mileage he is getting. So, he "estimates" his mileage by assuming he has used 11 gallons of gas, since he runs the tank way down to the last bar on the gauge. He divides whatever miles he has driven since the last fill-up by 11. He has gotten 370 to 380 miles on his first couple tanks. We all know that he is not really using 11 gallons of gas, so if we assume he is using ten gallons, then his mileage is about 37 or 38 MPG. Not bad at all!

Tom

[tk-421]

MPG is definitely not enough to justify the trade. But what about service and maintenance costs? The Yaris is very inexpensive in that area as well. As for GM? I'm not so sure...

[YarisOwnersDad]

Originally Posted by roxy1

even if you pull 40 mpg in a new yaris, i believe you will never recover the losses of that trade. for example, at 17k miles per yr and 28 mpg in the cobalt, you will spend $1214/yr in gas. at 40 mpg in yaris, you will spend $850/yr in gas. so, you will save $364 per year. after 10 yrs and 170,000 miles, you will have saved $3640 in gas by driving the yaris. that wont even come close to covering the trade loss if the cobalt only trades for $8000.

assuming you paid about $14k for the cobalt and you really dont mind losing $6,000 on a trade and you have your heart set on the yaris (which it sounds like you do) then, hey, its your money. you may want to visit a dealer and see what they would realistically give you on a trade.

GM is not going to go under. they will either get bailed out or, more likely, file for bankruptcy. the resale on a cobalt is already awful to the point that you will never get much money for it. the only value you will get out of it is to drive it until it cant go any more.

this isnt like trading in a 1 yr old toyota or honda after 1 yr, where you would still get very good value for the trade. the cobalt lost about $6k in value in only 1 year.

sorry, just trying to be the voice of reason. drive that cobalt into the ground for 10 years. by then, there will be all types of new fangled hybrids and who knows what else pulling 70 mpg's.

Roxy:

My Cobalt stickered for $15,530, and GM had a $2000 rebate in effect at the time. So, I got the Cobalt for $13,530 minus about $400 that the dealer knocked off. I had accumulated about $1800 earnings on my GM credit card, which I used on the Cobalt. So, I got the car for $11,330. I let them have my little 89 S-10 pickup with 219,XXX miles on it for $500, and I was able to avoid the $200 repair bill on its air conditioner, so I effectively got $700 for the truck. (I was having the air conditioner on the S-10 fixed when I bought the Cobalt.) So, with my trade-in allowed for, I got the Cobalt for $10,630 plus tax and license.

I get $8962 when I run the Cobalt through Edmunds.com's used car appraisal program. I figure I can get the dealer to over-allow on the Cobalt by a few hundred bucks, or else knock something off the sticker on the Yaris.

The sticker on the Yaris I want, which is equipped exactly like my son's Yaris, is $16,514. Knock the $1000 off that from Toyota and assume that the dealer will give me $9500 for the Cobalt (or else knock $500 or $600 off the Yaris and give me $9000 for the Cobalt), and I am looking at trading for a difference of $6000 plus tax and license. Who knows, they might give me $10,000 on the Cobalt, allowing me to trade for $5500 plus tax and license. Payoff on the Cobalt is about $10,500, so I am not too badly upside down on it.

Tom

[frownonfun]

i too have been trying to be the voice of reason but i gotta admit sometimes you just gotta throw reason out the window and do what you really want to do... just get the yaris. it's only money and you can't take it with you.

[roxy1]

since you owe 10500 on the cobalt, you wouldnt get hurt that bad IF you got 9500+ on the cobalt. but, dealers often like to use kelly blue book as a template, in which case youd be closer to 8k. once you find out what the deasler will actually give you, it will be much easier to mke a decision.

[YarisOwnersDad]

Originally Posted by roxy1

since you owe 10500 on the cobalt, you wouldnt get hurt that bad IF you got 9500+ on the cobalt. but, dealers often like to use kelly blue book as a template, in which case youd be closer to 8k. once you find out what the deasler will actually give you, it will be much easier to mke a decision.

Right, Roxy. The BIG factor here is the trade-in allowance. As you say, what they tell me might make my decision a very easy one to make, if they low ball me.

Tom