Buying a new car - do you think I'm crazy?

[Boyd]

this just in... mercedes E class series

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010...-potential-steering-problems/?test=latestnews

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Why is it folly to buy new?? Just wondering..
I'm leary of buying used.. i've always been told that you buy other peoples problems.. or buy a car that someone beat on...etc..
At least if you buy new.. you have the full warranty....
My van is almost paid off... and we're thinking of a new car...
so.. it is beter to buy new... or used?? Thanks!

 

[WingingIt]

I didn't read all of the responses, but don't forget that if you want to add to your family, you want something that you won't be outgrowing with the next child, too.

 

[Xtina]

My high school economics teacher pounded this one in. The depreciation on a new car isn't worth it. It's better to buy a couple of years old used car, from a make that has an excellent record for reliability. I'm not the sort of person who can crunch the numbers for you, but buying new is almost never worth it. I'm just one example. You might end up alright if you really do drive the car till the wheels fall off, but very few people actually do this because life changes make it impractical to keep a car too long for lots of people. This is in good economic times that you might not lose too much with it. If the economy falls out though, and you have a car loan (how many people do you know who can buy a new car outright with cash?), then you'll be upside down on the loan. There were more points I had to make, but I lost my train of thought typing all that.

 

[mom'sfolly]

We buy new, but we keep our cars on average, about 10 years. I had my last one 12, dh had his last one 10, and the one before that 14, the Ford we only had about 5-6 years, but it had 140,000 miles on it when we got rid of it. Both of our cars are now under 2 years old. I think for us, buying new, and knowing how it is cared for make it worth it. My dh is pushing fifty and just bought his 3rd car.

 

[MaggieRae]

You really can't go wrong with a Toyota (You may also want to consider jeeps. I've got an 11 year old wrangler and all I've had to do is replace the drive shaft and fix the muffler). I have more to add, but I've got a movie to get to.

 

[nivtup]

Used mid-sized Toyota or Honda

Good mileage

Good Quality

Reasonable Maintenance and Insurance.

There are lots of them out there that are not beat............


I am sold on Toyota after my wife was hit nearly head on in our used Corolla.

The car was a total loss, however she walked away with little more than seat belt bruises. In my way of viewing things, the car performed very very well in that split second.


Good luck.

 

[fowler_chick]

wow, i've had a lot of cars in the 22 years of driving , the best one is my current nissan titan that i bought with cash and drove off the lot the same day. worst car i ever owned was a 1979 jimmy....that thing cought fire on my dad.........i have had 2 saab convertables, 1 toyota, a buick, a few hard top saabs, a silverodo (that was a p.o.j) owned a towncar for a bit but felt i wasn't old enough to drive it......i currently own a mini van but refuse to drive it.... when not drving my titan you can catch me in our tracker which is a 2 door hatch, with 2 small kids in car seats it's a paine in the buttttttt..........but drving it saves money!!!.....i rather take the extrea time it takes to buckle them up in there cars seat, fill up the tracker for around $20 and head out RATHER then $70 for gassing up the titan

 

[AllAlaskan]

I now this may sound funny but the one care I really miss was my 2005 Ford Focus. I hada 05 Ford Focus SES ZX5 (Thats the 4 door Hatch back that they dont make any more) fully loaded (except for auto tranny, I liked my stick shift

) and that was a great little car. Easy to get the kids in and out of. I got 36mpg on the highway and no less than 25mpg intown (even when I drove it like a little race car lol). It was quick (for a 4 banger) great milage (not as good as some but still darn good in my opinion) and when I folded the back seats down I could fit a 26 inch mountain bike in the back of it and one time I had fit 9 full size suit cases in there to (that was like playing tetris). If lifes circumstances hadnt taken it away I would still have it.

BUT the big draw back was back in 2005 when I bought it brand new I payed 19,500 for it. It blue booked at almost 21k (it was FULLY loaded with the exception of the manual tranny which I wanted any way) according to NADA when I was looking at it, when I was hit head on in it 6 months later, suddenly my 21k car was only worth 13k! Will I ever buy brand new again? No. Would I buy another Focus If I had the chance? Hell ya!

Another buddy of mine has a 2001 focus with well over 200k miles on it now (drove it back and forth from the valley to Delta Junction for a few years) and it still runs, he didnt change the oil in it for a year once ( I still tell him how stupid that was) and it didnt seem to phase it.

I know some people hate them but Every one I know who has owned one has loved em.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

My last two cars I purchased new. The first was a Mini Cooper. I loved that car. Sadly, it broke down all the time. The joy of buying it new was that the dealership had to cover all the repairs. It just meant that I was out of a car for the day (or three) that it took to fix it. I finally traded it in when the transmission went out at the end of year three. That car had lemon written all over it. I'm still a little bitter as I fully intended to drive that one until I was 90.

I traded it in and bought a Scion Xb. It's made by Toyota. That was my only real requirement when I started looking. It had to be Toyota or Honda. You can drive those suckers into the ground and take decades doing it. This Scion is awesome. It's five years old now and has over 80,000 miles and it is still going strong. I have only done oil changes and tire stuff. Other than that it has performed perfectly. One of these days I'll haul it in and get a preventative maintenance check up. It is small enough to get great gas mileage, but big enough for me to haul everything I need. Love it!