Maybe This?

 

A four year old Jaguar XJ8. Believe it or not, they get about 30MPG on the highway. Power - thanks to the V-8 - when you need it, a big back seat for the kids, and lots of pampering details up front for me, whilst I drive that 50-mile roundtrip commute.

I test drove one last night. My first impression as I slid behind the wheel was that I was getting into an airplane cockpit, not a automobile driver's seat. I felt enveloped, and yet not cramped in the least.

Asking price?                        $13,900
Odometer?                               64,000
Blue Book?                about $18,000

But 30MPG? Really?? Yeah, really. It drops for stop-and-go city driving, but my commute is mostly highway-style cruising. The Mercedes routinely gave me full highway type mileage. It was the errand-running that dropped the S-class's mileage. So 30MPG seems like a reasonable expectation.  Surprisingly enough, that's about the same mileage that the Chevy Cobalt shoebox rental care gets.  Purchase price on the Cobalt, used? About $18,000. Oh, here's what a Cobalt looks like:

Obviously the Chevy is eliminated as a candidate. Why, after all, would I pay twice as much for the same mileage, half the useful life and none of the safety engineering that saved my skin twice this year already?

The question now is, do I buy a comparable S320 outright and enjoy no car payment but lower MPG, or do I finance a bit and step over to the Jag for a payment and improved MPG?

Let's do an analysis, yeah?

I drive 1,000/month exactly for my commute. The Mercedes got 20MPG. If I get a car that delivers 30MPG, I'll save $60/month on gasoline at today's prices ($75/mo if gas goes back up to $4.50.) And, let's say that I get $10,000 for the S-Class as market replacement value. That means I finance $3, 995 of the purchase price on the Jag, for a payment in the $80/month range. Subtract the gas savings, and the monthly payment for the Jag nets out at $20/month today. If gas creeps back up, my net payment drops down as far as $5/month.

That, and the car would have about 70,000 fewer miles on the odometer, and fewer repair/maintenance/restoration issues.

I dunno... does $5-$20/month for an additional 70,000 on the odometer seem like a fair trade?

What do YOU think?