A bit worried about dragging the baby through rush hour traffic for 80km a day. Live In downtown Toronto and will be commuting to Mississauga. For experienced owners here, is owning a second car (e.g. beater for $5000) financially sensible?

 

I would do the math. How much will you be spending in gas alone per month? $600? You could probably lease an econobox for the price it will cost you in gas, not to mention you could put that car as your primary on your insurance and maybe save there. But is it worth it, but then again, you wont be driving the car

 

I would factor in an increase in depreciation as well. Sure the car is going to lose value over time anyway but this is 16k km per year - are these additional km to what you do now or is it only 6k additional km? Also, is this a long term venture or only a couple years? Short duration may not be worth the cost of another car, the longer it goes the better the economics of another car I suspect.

 

Thanks folks. I will crunch the numbers. It's for one year minimum, likely to extend to two years. I guess the only way to find out is to crunch the numbers.

 

Just drive the car. Enjoy it. It's meant to be driven.

 

+1. Drive it. Sitting in the garage ain't fun for no one. Maybe get a daily if you are so inclined to do so for financial reasons, but been there done that, and I've found it just doesn't pay off. AMG's depreciate anyways -- might as well be in the seat while it's doing so.

 

I was daily driving my C63 for a while until I got a custom tune done. It is really too much fun to go slow in this car, so I had bought a BMW with the intentions of having it as a winter beater. However after getting a set of HRE's, lip kit, and a custom tune done on the BMW, I think it is going to become the daily driver & winter beater. The gas mileage on the C63 and out-dated interior really isn't suitable for my everyday use. I mean its a great car and I have a lot of things to put on the AMG but it's just not that practical for my everyday use. I mean even the siruisXM and GPS craps out on my just by driving it on a daily basis. Not to mention a lot of problems are starting to arise as the vehicle ages. Keep in mind the Benz is a 2009 in comparison to the BMW which is a 2013.

However to sum everything up, with my own personal usage, the C63 is ment to be a weekend warrior. Some other's may have it fit for them perfectly as a daily driver. It all depends on your own personal needs and what you are able to put up with.

 

You safe it in gas, tires and depreciation by buying another vehicle.
I used to drive 75km a day in a 2003 M3. I ended up buying a Dodge Colt for $300 and drove it for 2.5 years and sold it for $350.
The Colt had an oil leak therefor all I had to do is refill oil once in a while when the engine started knocking (no oil change needed). The condition of the car didn't matter to me and if it would have broken down, all I had to is take it to the junk yard.
It was also fun to drive.
It's more fun driving a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

 

If you can live with racking up km on your C63 and the added depreciation go for it. An econo daily driver can be good, but in GTA the insurance costs for another car might be as much as what you'd save on gas and depreciation.

 

I'll just say this: Every time I drive the R350 to work I wish I was in the C63. Every time I drive the C63 to work, I'm glad I'm not in the R350.
My commute is 64 miles a day.

 

I've been thinking about this one for a while and going back and forth. My commute round trip is 106 miles a day which has been awful for racking up miles, fill ups every 4 days and wear on the tires. I can barely make it through a full season on both my winter and summer setups in the rear. I know I am stripping value out of the car by putting miles on the car and it is always in the back of my mind, but every time I have to drive my wife's car to work I get genuinely bummed out. I bought the car because I love to drive, and more importantly I love driving the C63. It makes the commute just that much better.

That being said, outside of the wear and tear from miles alone, risk of damage from other drivers when daily driving, especially in the winter is a real threat and something to be considered. For me the biggest challenge is finding an affordable car that I enjoy spending 2 hours a day driving to and from work.

 

I lived in MA for a year, and I can definitely understand why you'd be a bit nervous driving on the highways; especially during winter. Personally, I wouldn't drive a nice car there lol. I've never seen more fender benders in my life.

 

enjoy your new job as there are a lot of people who would like to be in your shoe
it's triffle that you will have to ride a lot per day to get your new work place
in fact even smart people fail to be employeed due to the fact that they simply can't write a simple resume...