Thanks again.

Well, we're waiting for them to get back to us. We had decided privately that the most we would accept for a price for that car would be $17900 ($1000 less than what they were asking) and a free 2 year, 24,000 mile, bumper to bumper warranty. I think that he is going to call us with an offer of $18000 even and the free warranty...I think for $100 difference from what we wanted we are just going to go for it if he does. I wanted to pay less (around $16900), but my hubby let the cat out of the bag that we would take a warranty instead of more money off way too soon...I really need to go shopping for cars alone. There'* nothing worse than haggling down the price, the dealer is just about to go back and ask his boss again if he could lower it some more, and seems pretty confident that he can get a little more off, and then the person you're with says, "but if you can't we'll take a warranty instead of more money off". So much for trying to get the price down...we're stuck now.

Whether we buy it though, is still dependent on the interest rate the bank gives us. We have a certain maximum payment in mind, and a maximum loan length, so we have to work within those bounds. If they can't get a good loan to us, we'll pass on the car. I don't want to pay many thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan. We'll see what happens.

How would you clean the curb marks off if Hubby didn't drive?

Oooooh...that was a low blow.

I don't think you're current car will nickle and dime you at all. My 97' that I bought over a year ago hasn't cost me a dime in nessesary repairs. Sure, i'm an anal retentive car guy so a bought new shocks (prolly didn't need), new tires (definitly didn't need), and an o2 sensor that was just fine. I bought it with 107K and now has 122K. Its been on a 2000 mile trip in which I ran it at the track 11 times in an hour, many burnouts, and things I can't say on here. The point is, I think you'll do just fine with you're current car.

It may be too late by now, but I'm gonna jump in with the "keep the 2000" crowd also. You've got tons of miles and time left on that car, and as mentioned the money spent on something newer could be invested for a much better return. The new-car feeling will wear off after awhile, and all you'll be left with is more debt. :?

If you do decide to buy, do NOT let that dealer push you around. Even if he calls back with the offer of 18k, you can still change your mind. Tell him "you know, we've been talking some more and I think the most we can spend is 17k" or something like that. They might have 15k in that car, just to turn it around and sell it immediately for 18k with absolutely nothing put into it (except maybe an oil change)? No thanks. Make sure YOU are holding the ball in your court, and not giving it up yet!

We haven't settled on a price yet but we are pretty sure we are going to buy. We have gotten them down to $17,400, and I think that is worth it. It just isn't worth the risk for us at this point in time to have a car we are not sure we can rely on. We did that before with a Grand Prix that got to 215,000 miles before we gave it up (still running), but it cost us thousands of dollars a year for the last few years in repairs, and was in the shop a considerable amount of the time. This is our only car (the only car we can have because we have no parking for our apartment...we pay so much in tickets and meters for the one car that two would break us), and to have the only car we both have to get us to work and school break down, we'd be in deep trouble.

Plus, the white 2000 we have now is not what we really wanted when we bought it...we wanted a black 2002, loaded with options, but couldn't afford it. Now we have a chance to fulfill the dream and get the car we really wanted. Literally actually...the car we are trying to buy, as it turns out, is the same exact one we test drove and tried to buy at that dealership 3 years ago (which was bought later that month by the guy who just traded it in). We couldn't afford it, but it was our dream car. If that isn't a wierd coincedence, I don't know what is.

So I'm thinking we're going to go in and do the old, "we just tried to get the loan from our bank, and we are $500 short...I don't think we can do this unless you bring it down another $500". My mother used that after talking the dealership down as low as they would go, right in the middle of doing the paperwork, and they did it.

Thanks so much everyone for your opinions and advice. I know it doesn't seem like we are taking it since so many of you said to keep the one we have, but believe me, everything you have said has been considered, and weighed against our own feelings on the matter. It just so happens that buying the car comes out ahead right now, but if you have anything else to add we're happy to hear it. We have almost 2 weeks before we can buy it anyway as they don't have the title yet to transfer to us.

One last warning Hailey.

Black is not the same as white. White is nice and doesn't show every little thing. Black looks fabulous when clean and horrible when dirty.

Yah...that is something we considered too. However, white looks pretty nasty dirty too (our car is yellow all through the winter ). Let'* face it...if your car is clean it looks nice, and if it is dirty, it looks disgusting. There are varying levels of disgusting, but they are all bad. :P

never owned black before have you?

I swore I'd never buy a black car again because I am always washing and cleaning keeping it clean. Takes up so much time.