Considering a Z

Originally Posted by edeeZee

You're going to be "upside down" most likely, unless your balance on the Maxima is very small. The sticker on the Maxima is immaterial at this point, the used car manager at the Nissan dealership will use a KBB value or arbitrarily give a trade-in value. You know that cliche, "as soon as you drive a new car off the lot it automatically loses $5,000"? This isn't far from the truth.

For example, say your loan balance on the Maxima is $27,000; and the used car manager says, "this car is only worth $25,000," then you are $2,000 upside-down. So if you put $7,000 down towards a Z, then only $5,000 will apply to it.

I say keep your Maxima and consider a Z or another car when you're done paying it off.