Ordinary families don’t need to “spend high prices” when buying a car: the “poor buy” version is more practical

Ordinary families don’t need to “spend high prices” when buying a car: the “poor buy” version is more practical

"Brother, why don't you buy a car with a panoramic sunroof? It's so spacious!"

"What's the point? In the summer there are fried eggs on my head, and in the winter the rubber strips are old and leaky. One repair costs 2,800 yuan, which is enough for my child to attend cram school for a year."

This is a real conversation I heard in a residential parking lot last week. The speaker is Lao Wang, who runs Didi downstairs. He bought the car three years ago and has a mileage of 90,000 kilometers. To sum up, the car is a tool, not an ancestor. Don’t let “high configuration” turn into “high compensation”. Today we will break it down and talk about how stingy ordinary families should be in order to spend their hard-earned money wisely.

1. Panoramic sunroof, automatic parking, and large passenger screen—a three-piece set that “looks beautiful”

Let’s talk about the panoramic sunroof first. 4S store sales generally package it as a "mobile sunroom", but in fact 95% of car owners cannot drive it five times a year. In the summer, when the sun is shining directly, the temperature in the car can soar to more than 50 degrees, making a child feel like a steamed bun when sitting in it; in the winter, when the rubber strips get old, they will play "ticking" music for you, and the 4S shop will quote you "It's a small thing, 2,800 yuan." My cousin bought a German car last year. She paid an extra 8,000 yuan for the sunroof, but it leaked within a year. She was so angry that she slapped her thigh: "Wouldn't it be nice to use this 8,000 yuan to buy a gold bracelet for my mother?"

Ordinary families don’t need to “spend high prices” when buying a car: the “poor buy” version is more practical

"Brother, why don't you buy a car with a panoramic sunroof? It's so spacious!"

"What's the point? In the summer there are fried eggs on my head, and in the winter the rubber strips are old and leaky. One repair costs 2,800 yuan, which is enough for my child to attend cram school for a year."

This is a real conversation I heard in a residential parking lot last week. The speaker is Lao Wang, who runs Didi downstairs. He bought the car three years ago and has a mileage of 90,000 kilometers. To sum up, the car is a tool, not an ancestor. Don’t let “high configuration” turn into “high compensation”. Today we will break it down and talk about how stingy ordinary families should be in order to spend their hard-earned money wisely.

1. Panoramic sunroof, automatic parking, and large passenger screen—a three-piece set that “looks beautiful”

Let’s talk about the panoramic sunroof first. 4S store sales generally package it as a "mobile sunroom", but in fact 95% of car owners cannot drive it five times a year. In the summer, when the sun is shining directly, the temperature in the car can soar to more than 50 degrees, making a child feel like a steamed bun when sitting in it; in the winter, when the rubber strips get old, they will play "ticking" music for you, and the 4S shop will quote you "It's a small thing, 2,800 yuan." My cousin bought a German car last year. She paid an extra 8,000 yuan for the sunroof, but it leaked within a year. She was so angry that she slapped her thigh: "Wouldn't it be nice to use this 8,000 yuan to buy a gold bracelet for my mother?"

Let’s talk about automatic parking. During the sales demonstration, it was done in one go, just like an experienced driver, but when I got home, I realized: if the parking space line is slightly blurred, it will be "blind"; if the car next to it is tilted, it will be "confused"; when it rains, the camera will be wet, and it will directly stop working. My colleague A Bin struggled in the underground garage of the shopping mall for 20 minutes, and finally he fell in by himself. The elder brother in line behind him kept honking the horn, and A Bin died on the spot. Since then, he has never touched the button again. In his words: "It's not worth spending five thousand yuan to be embarrassed."

The salesperson said that "watching TV shows is not boring for my wife." However, when she got in the car, she got motion sick and vomited when the screen came on. The child was very happy, watching animations all the way, and complained that his eyes hurt when he got off the car. For resources, I have to buy a membership myself, which costs more than 300 yuan a year. The key is that the driver couldn't help but take a peek and almost rear-ended the bus. Thinking back, this was not an entertainment screen, it was clearly a "distraction screen".

If you save 5,000 to 10,000 yuan, you can enroll your children in swimming classes, and the whole family will benefit.

2. Compact or mid-size car? ——“Big” may not necessarily be “cool”

Many people want to "get it right in one step" when buying a car for the first time: the compact class is too small, so they settle for a mid-sized car. But once the accounts were calculated, all the extra 100,000 yuan spent would be wasted in five years.

My cousin is a living example. There are four people in the family, commuting to the city, and occasionally going to the suburbs for barbecues on weekends. Originally, I was looking at the Sylphy classic from the Chinese-style Nissan, which costs 110,000 yuan, has enough space, and has a fuel consumption of 6.5. As a result, when I saw Tian Lai at the booth next door, he could cross his legs in the back row and said, "If you get a promotion and a salary increase in the future, your customers will be decent if they sit in the back." He swiped his card for 190,000 yuan on the spot. I was happy to go home for three days, but troubles came one after another: the parking space limit for mechanical parking in the community was 4.7 meters, and the parking space for Tianlai was 4.9 meters. Every day, emptying the garage was like taking a driver's license test; adding one liter of gas during the morning and evening peaks cost an extra 1,200 yuan a year; insurance cost 2,000 yuan, maintenance cost 400 yuan, and over five years it cost 55,000 yuan more. What’s even more distressing is that when I wanted to change my car last year, the second-hand car dealer directly cut it to 100,000 yuan. Teana lost 90,000 yuan, and Sylphy only lost 45,000 yuan. My cousin was petrified on the spot: "I spent an extra 100,000 yuan to buy two customer rides?"

The data is also defensible: the five-year value retention rate of compact cars is about 55%, and that of mid-size cars is only 45%. The more expensive they are, the more meat they lose. For ordinary families, the number of times the back row is full of people in a year can be counted on one hand. It is really not as realistic as "compact + child seat + small school bag". It's easy to park, saves fuel, and has a high value retention. With the 50,000 yuan saved, I bought a double-door refrigerator for my wife, and the whole family's happiness index skyrocketed.

3. 1.5T or 2.0T? ——20 more horsepower, slimmer wallet

"Motivation is like savings. You can use it, but you can't live without it." This sentence made many young people's blood boil. As a result, when they stepped on the accelerator, their wallets "bleeded" first.

When buying a car, he was torn between 1.5T and 2.0T. The salesman said, "Young people want to be prosperous." So he gritted his teeth and spent an extra 20,000 yuan on the 2.0T. I regretted it on the first day after returning home: the city was clogged with parking lots, and the surging traffic could only "squeeze"; the fuel consumption soared from 7 liters to 9 liters, and the annual fuel cost was 1,600 yuan; maintenance was 300 yuan, insurance was 400 yuan, and another 10,000 yuan was spent in five years. What's even more depressing is that in the second-hand car market, the 2.0T is only sold for 3,000 yuan more than the 1.5T. Xiao Zhao smiled bitterly: "I bought it for 20,000 yuan and it went 0.7 seconds faster. As a result, there are traffic jams every day, and even the bicycle can't run."

In fact, for ordinary families, 1.5L self-priming or 1.5T low power is completely sufficient. When the light turns green, just tap the accelerator to jump out; overtake at high speeds, and you can reach 120 with deep pedaling; the key is low fuel consumption, cheap maintenance, and you can feed yourself with No. 92 coarse grain. I drove a 1.5L Fit and ran 100,000 kilometers in five years, with an average fuel consumption of 6.2 liters. Apart from changing tires, I had no problems. It can be sold for more than 40,000 second-hand, and the cost per kilometer is less than 50 cents. It is really a magic car for shopping.

4. Real case: How a father of two children with a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan "poorly bought" to satisfy the whole family

Finally, tell a heart-warming story. My high school classmate Da Liu earns a monthly salary of 6,000, and his wife takes care of the baby full-time. The second child is just one month old. I only have 80,000 yuan in savings, but I urgently need a big car that can hold a safety seat, a stroller and my mother-in-law's bag. The 4S store’s first sale was a medium-sized SUV, priced at 160,000 yuan. Liu shook his head and said, “It’s twice the budget. Who will pay for my baby’s milk powder?”

He operated according to the "three-step method of poor buying" I gave him:

As long as ESP, six airbags, reversing radar, automatic air conditioning, sunroof, leather seats, and large screen are not required;

Locked into the compact class, the wheelbase is about 2700mm, and two adults can be seated after installing safety seats in the rear;

The third step is to stimulate motivation. 1.5L self-priming, fuel consumption is about 6 liters, and one maintenance is 300 yuan.

After visiting three stores, he spent 78,000 yuan to buy the fourth-generation Geely Emgrand, which cost less than 90,000 yuan. Comes with ten maintenance services, plus child seats, floor mats, and driving recorders. On the way home, the eldest son was singing children's songs in the back seat, while the second child was sleeping soundly in the safety seat. The mother-in-law, holding the vegetable basket, praised: "This car is so spacious and not bumpy!" Liu did the math: he saved 70,000 yuan compared to a medium-sized SUV, paid three years of kindergarten tuition for the eldest son, and enrolled his wife in a yoga class. The whole family was enjoying themselves.

5. Write at the end: Saving money is not about being stingy, it is about spending love on your family.

A car is a tool, not face. You can’t see the stars from the panoramic sunroof, automatic parking can’t showcase your technology, and high horsepower can’t bring you happiness. For ordinary families, spending every penny on "safety, fuel saving, and value preservation" is truly decent. The tens of thousands of dollars saved can be used to enroll children in interest classes, buy a dishwasher for my wife, and take my parents to the beach. This is more practical than any "high-end plan".

Next time you go to a 4S store, no matter how sweet the salesperson is, don’t forget to ask yourself three questions:

"How many times a year do I use this configuration?"

"Can I use the big space on a daily basis?"

"With 20 more horsepower, can I fly?"

If you understand these three points, you can drive the "poor buy" version home with a smile, and then safely save the money you save for your family's happiness.