A couple things to note: a new transmission doesn’t buy you a lot more time on the car, I’ve been quoted that a new transmission gets you another year or two at most.

I bought a slightly used Matrix. I have a 2005 and I bought it slightly more than one year ago.

If you’d like to sit and chat some time, we can do that, and of course, you know my screen name.

Actually what’s frustrating me right now is all the different opinions I’m trying to sort through. Nothing wrong with people offering them – and I certainly asked for people to offer them! – but it’s a lot to take in.

Right now I’m working on just educating myself before I jump into any big decisions. Things like this should not be done without an excess of emotional attachment.

I assume your upset about this situation – understandably so – but you’re coming off a little bitter in this post.

Therefore, you might want to reach acceptance of the situation before you make any decisions on how to fix it. Your judgement might be clouded by your irritation and could take away from your ability to make the best choice…

I can feel for you. I’ve been there.

Also, don’t lease, you’re wasting money. It’s an expensive rental. Plus you drive a lot of miles, won’t you go over and have to pay later?

You could also:

Save as much as possible until the transmission actually goes then buy a beater for cheap for the time being until you can save more or find a better option.

You might save yourself 6 months – 1 yr and with some diligence find a perfect fit and pay cash for it.

That’s my opinion. Do what you want with it. :)

Did you buy a new or a used Matrix?

Transmissions suck. I had mine die on the old Altima, and at the time I needed it fixed because I was driving down to VA for a conference, and I wasn’t prepared to go car shopping.

That set me back $2000. _ouch_.

So you’ll be doing much better by preparing for a newer car now. And in that vein, a few comments:

First, auto loans can suck nuggets. Especially if you get it from the auto dealer. Don’t. Go to your local credit union and get a preapproved used auto loan there. Not only will you get a much better loan overall, but you will have better leverage when negotiating for the car. You can bargain them down pretty hard, and then spring out the fact that you have a preapproved loan, when they may have been expecting to get some grease off of giving you a loan. To give you an idea, I was preapproved for up to 20k for a used loan, at 5.5% interest on a 60 month loan, so yes, you can get acceptable loans. (I didn’t use the whole 20k, obviously).

As for the vehicle itself, to really get you money out of it, look for something 2-3 years old, low mileage, one owner. That seems to be where the curve of value/cost takes a bend. Before that you’re spending too much for a used car, after that, you’re losing long term life of the vehicle. I have to admit, the Matrix is a very sweet vehicle, roomy, with good cargo capacity, but not an SUV. I get about 26MPG, but I don’t do a lot of highway *and* I have the all-wheel drive package, both of which lower fuel efficiency. If you skip the AWD, I wouldn’t be surprised to see numbers up to 35 MPG. The Scion happens to be Toyota’s budget line. I looked at it, but one of them looks like a box on wheels, and the other was squinchier and didn’t have the options I wanted. The Yaris is a two-door vehicle which may not be a problem for you, but I occasionally ferry people, and this vehicle should last me long enough that if/when children exist, I can get a car seat in and out without killing myself. Until then, the back seats fold down enough that I carried a whole refrigerator in there.