[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

Cars are a depreciating asset. It makes great financial sense to use it as long as possible. Once the EMI's are paid off, you can enjoy the car to the fullest without major financial burden

Fully agree with the first two statements. Differ a little with the third one: It is best to completely avoid the loan/EMI route for a car purchase. I would wait patiently until I could afford one. Further, I would only buy a car that I could afford to fully purchase today, rather than dipping into my future (to-be-built) kitty through EMI payments (easy availability of loan has had grave and adverse repercussions world wide). Post purchase one should use it for a really long period. That's how I bought my Santro Xing GLS in 2009 (full downpayment), used it for 13+ years before upgrading, and never regretted. While there are fully understandable and genuine situations when we "need" a car and we cannot afford to purchase it without a loan, but it is disheartening to see many getting into unnecessary debt trap without evaluating their "needs" versus "wants".