diff --git a/git/repo/base.py b/git/repo/base.py
index f35870803..af8e0c74c 100644
--- a/git/repo/base.py
+++ b/git/repo/base.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class Repo(object):
     'git_dir' is the .git repository directory, which is always set."""
     DAEMON_EXPORT_FILE = 'git-daemon-export-ok'
 
-    git = None  # Must exist, or  __del__  will fail in case we raise on `__init__()`
+    _git = None  # Must exist, or  __del__  will fail in case we raise on `__init__()`
     working_dir = None
     _working_tree_dir = None
     git_dir = None
@@ -202,7 +202,6 @@ def __init__(self, path=None, odbt=GitCmdObjectDB, search_parent_directories=Fal
         # END working dir handling
 
         self.working_dir = self._working_tree_dir or self.common_dir
-        self.git = self.GitCommandWrapperType(self.working_dir)
 
         # special handling, in special times
         args = [osp.join(self.common_dir, 'objects')]
@@ -210,6 +209,35 @@ def __init__(self, path=None, odbt=GitCmdObjectDB, search_parent_directories=Fal
             args.append(self.git)
         self.odb = odbt(*args)
 
+    def _get_git(self):
+        working_dir = self._working_tree_dir or self.common_dir
+        if self._git:
+            if self._git._working_dir != expand_path(working_dir):
+                self.close()
+                self._git = None
+
+        if not self._git:
+            self._git = self.GitCommandWrapperType(working_dir)
+        return self._git
+
+    def _del_git(self):
+        if self._git:
+            self._git.clear_cache()
+            self._git = None
+            # Tempfiles objects on Windows are holding references to
+            # open files until they are collected by the garbage
+            # collector, thus preventing deletion.
+            # TODO: Find these references and ensure they are closed
+            # and deleted synchronously rather than forcing a gc
+            # collection.
+            if is_win:
+                gc.collect()
+            gitdb.util.mman.collect()
+            if is_win:
+                gc.collect()
+
+    git = property(fget=_get_git, fdel=_del_git)
+
     def __enter__(self):
         return self
 
@@ -223,19 +251,7 @@ def __del__(self):
             pass
 
     def close(self):
-        if self.git:
-            self.git.clear_cache()
-            # Tempfiles objects on Windows are holding references to
-            # open files until they are collected by the garbage
-            # collector, thus preventing deletion.
-            # TODO: Find these references and ensure they are closed
-            # and deleted synchronously rather than forcing a gc
-            # collection.
-            if is_win:
-                gc.collect()
-            gitdb.util.mman.collect()
-            if is_win:
-                gc.collect()
+        del self.git
 
     def __eq__(self, rhs):
         if isinstance(rhs, Repo):
@@ -431,7 +447,15 @@ def _get_config_path(self, config_level):
         elif config_level == "global":
             return osp.normpath(osp.expanduser("~/.gitconfig"))
         elif config_level == "repository":
-            return osp.normpath(osp.join(self._common_dir or self.git_dir, "config"))
+            try:
+                config_path = self.git.rev_parse("config", git_path=True)
+            except GitCommandError:
+                return osp.normpath(osp.join(self._common_dir or self.git_dir, "config"))
+            else:
+                if self.git._working_dir:
+                    return osp.normpath(osp.join(self.git._working_dir, config_path))
+                else:
+                    return config_path
 
         raise ValueError("Invalid configuration level: %r" % config_level)
 
diff --git a/git/test/lib/helper.py b/git/test/lib/helper.py
index 1c06010f4..687db9906 100644
--- a/git/test/lib/helper.py
+++ b/git/test/lib/helper.py
@@ -366,8 +366,7 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
 
     @classmethod
     def tearDownClass(cls):
-        cls.rorepo.git.clear_cache()
-        cls.rorepo.git = None
+        del cls.rorepo.git
 
     def _make_file(self, rela_path, data, repo=None):
         """