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The Millennial Used Car Project: Chapter 1 | Edmunds.com
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The Millennial Used Car Project: Chapter 1 | Edmunds.com
A yearlong chronicle of ownership of a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 with real maintenance costs and an imaginary millennial behind the wheel.
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I'm not unhappy with the choice mind you, but a low volume high performance special is not the best choice to evaluate the viability of a used car.
A few considerations:
* Insurance costs on a 425 hp rwd car for someone in this demo? Could be a deal breaker.
* Rear tires will likely require replacement on an annual basis considering the available power and driving behavior of someone interested in this car. Tire Rack indicates that a rear set is between $300-400. Anyone living in a 4-season climate will also be forced to shell out for winter tires since this will a wild ride when snow falls. It's one thing to run all-seasons on a 130 hp Civic, another to do it on a 425 hp rwd vehicle.
* Fuel economy: Fuelly.com reports people getting 17-18 mpg for the 5.7 V8 and that's only 340 hp. Another 85 hp and .4 liters of displacement will likely reduce that by 1-2 mpg, at least. Assuming $3/gal and 15 avg mpg, it costs 20 cents/mile drive. The SRT8 has a 19 gallon tank and assuming you fill up at 1/4 tank (14.25 gal), you've only driven 213.75 miles (14.25 gal x 15 mpg) at a cost of $42.75, again assuming $3/gal and 15 avg mpg. Said another way, you're spending $171 in gas per month, and this is while gas is cheap. The $171 assumes you fill up once per week.
*Assuming you could get a $20,000 loan at 1.9% with a 4 year term, the monthly payment is $433.03. Someone could avoid the loan assuming they had $20k on hand, but I'd hope they also have remaining liquidity to handle possible repairs, and other life contingencies.
I hate to throw a wet blanket on this idea and I think this would be a fun car, but a poor life decision for someone in this demo. I don't think it makes sense to spend this much money on an 8-year-old vehicle, particularly since this article seems to suggest it'll be a daily driver. If a millennial has the disposable income and a second reliable vehicle, it could make sense.
I think it would be smarter to buy something new with a better fuel economy, and a warranty; something along the lines of a Fiesta ST seems like a reasonable balance between fun, practicality, and cost.
I'm 33, could easily afford one of these and would enjoy driving it, but I don't think it's reasonable at this point in my life.
I've got a paid-off 2001 Toyota Camry that my mother-in-law bought new, and my wife drives a 2010 Odyssey LX which we bought for $13,440 last year and financed for 5 years. I plan on paying that off quickly. I'm an auto sales consultant but I will cling to these two cars as long as I can. I'm a car geek and I love driving.
So yep, I'm an atypical milennial. But I'm still very interested in this long-term test!
@zoomzoomn, the engines you're referring to are the 5.7, not the 6.1 that the SRT8 comes with. The 5.7 (early years) suffer from improperly installed valve seats that can later fail without warning after a prior overheat situation. Not all of them will fail, and also consider that overheating an engine in any car is usually the beginning of the end.
@bankerdanny, @commenter1 "According to the MTV study, "85 percent of millennials are looking forward to one day owning the car they've always wanted," compared to 59 percent of boomers and 72 percent of gen Xers." --- what better subject for this test than a high performance "dream" car? Take a muscle car that has been potentially beat on for several years already, has accumulated some miles, and is now in the price range for someone on a budget that still wants to have fun. The results of this test can help determine whether or not it's a reasonable course of action or a disaster. A one car example doesn't prove it one way or the other but is still useful information. Is it a sensible choice? No. Do all choices NEED to be sensible?
I own 2 SRT8's that I purchased used. Love them both, flaws and all! I don't find the insurance to be unreasonable, tire life and gas mileage are dictated by your right foot, and these cars easily do 20 MPG highway (around 14-16 city) which is impressive for a 425HP 4000+ lb fullsize car!
All this says is that Millennials* are so broke that all they could buy was an eight year old Dodge that they probably financed because the monthly payments are cheap.
*I doubt Edmunds will actually release the average age and income demographic age of these buyers but I am guessing over 30, with a family, lower credit scores, lower disposable income, who bought the base v6.
I did have some problems with the car, being inner and outer tie rods (twice). Actually, the front end suspension in general is over engineered (in a bad way, thanks goes out to mercedes). I also think the interior (except the seats) felt super cheap, and is lacking, but with that said, it was a great car.
I believe that for most sport cars the answer to #1 is Yes. For $20k a V8 monster from 8 years ago is way more fun to drive than a brand new Civic EX. At least for a person who enjoys the act of driving. And for question #2... well, that's the point of this exercise, as you said. It'll be interesting to see how this used car's maintenance costs compare to the ruinous experience you had with the V12 Benz.