Allison has moved back to California after living in NYC for a long time. She doesn’t want to borrow her mom’s car forever and is looking for something easy to live with with good fuel economy. With a budget of around $30,000 what car should she buy?
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Here is the scenario.
I just moved back to my native California after a decade living in NYC, both to be closer to family) and to pursue a career change into baking and pastry/food in general. Currently I’m living with my mother deep in the greater LA suburbs (near Thousand Oaks), but ideally I’ll move to a more densely populated area in the near future.
For now, I have access to her car–a Lexus sedan, I can’t even tell you what model, but, and I cannot stress this enough, I really need my own car. I’ve been looking around at what’s out there, but honestly I don’t know enough to be able to discern what I need or want or should even be thinking about. My previous cars were hand-me-downs, so I really have no idea what I’m doing here, other than I don’t want something that leaks coolant, idles so low it shakes, or costs $2K to fix regardless of the problem.
Paying California gas prices and having environmental leanings, I’m interested in a hybrid situation, if possible. I’ll be using it for a lot of local driving but hope to regularly make 100-mile trips to visit friends and family, and eventually longer road trips. Once I figure out my career situation, I imagine I’ll need to haul a fair amount of supplies–nothing that I’d need a pickup or SUV for, but more than will fit in a standard sedan trunk.
Pricing-wise, I’m somewhat flexible, but I’m not a millionaire. I was planning to buy used, but I’m open to something new if it’s right. I’m targeting something around $30,000. Since I do have some money saved up for this, I’m willing to put down a little more upfront if it means a lower monthly payment.
Quick Facts:
Budget: around $30,000
Location: LA metro
Daily Driver: Yes
Wants: Good MPG, decent storage space, easy to live with
Doesn’t want: Too big or too thirsty
