What do you do when your winter/beater car becomes a money pit?

Vaughanabe13

How do you define "Car payment" though? Say I have to spend 2K on my Maxima every year. That comes out to $166 /mo.

If I buy a 10K car with only 2K down and 3%, and assuming I have to junk my car and don't get a trade in value, that means a 3 year loan will be about 250/month for 3 years or 145/month for 5 years.

However, if I buy that same car with 0 down, that means 292/3yr, 180/5yr. What kind of loan duration are we talking about here, and what down payment, because there are a variety of different ways you could look at it. And that's not including any potential maintenance I would have to do on the new (used) car.

Also I'm just throwing it out there that I won't be putting winter tires on my Z because A) the road salt is really bad here in the midwest, and B) I go snowboarding and need a big enough vehicle to haul 2 boards and gear.

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2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black.