Not to bring up an old argument, but that statement is so general as to be useless. Buying a used car is an educated risk and, in fact, much likely to be a net win in terms of thrift except in the rare cases where you inherit a total lemon/salvage job, which is exceedingly rare.
It is analogous to buying insurance, which is a financially bad move on average (otherwise insurance companies wouldn’t bother) but at the extreme is a win if you need it.
I hope i never live in you guys’ reality of constant, expensive, auto repair. In the last 10 years or so of various cars i think i’ve had… two or three trips to the shop for significant repair, and mostly to the cooling systems. I can see how someone would be scared off from buying used if they’re constantly in the shop, but, otoh, if you have a record of never needing repairs (more or less) buying used from experience seems a safer bet.
The Toyota Avensis is called Scion tC in the US.
S40, Diesel, '98, 150k Km. 1800€.
In my case, it would be a no brainer, my 307 has 280k Km.
Just for comparison’s sake, I checked 2001 S40s, they’re around 3000€ (4050$), same mileage. Our prices don’t seem much lower than yours, but we’re just comparing one car (and maybe a rather obscure model, I don’t see many Volvos around here).
I usually buy a car at 20k or so miles, long enough to be discounted but still with some warranty left to wring out any issues. Then I drive it into dust, I’m on year 8 with my truck, and it’s given me pretty much zero problems.
H.
American thought patterns are dominated by worst case scenarios =)
In the last 10 years or so of various cars i think i’ve had… two or three trips to the shop for significant repair, and mostly to the cooling systems. I can see how someone would be scared off from buying used if they’re constantly in the shop, but, otoh, if you have a record of never needing repairs (more or less) buying used from experience seems a safer bet.
The reality is that most modern cars are incredibly reliable, and even if you have one major repair, it is likely going to be fixed once and then you’re set. A relative of mine has a late 90s Volvo V70 with like 150K miles, and it’s been totally paid off for years and years. Every year there is some random $300-1000 repair bill that comes up, and I used to make fun of her for it, until she pointed out that for the past 9 years she’s paid an average of $80/month for her car.
I would focus only on our relative repair bills while conveniently ignoring the difference in actual monthly cost of ownership (i.e. my additional car payments).
From my perspective this is the truth. I have a 20 year old car that, while the paint is quite faded and will catch for me no female glances, is still reliable and can be used around town on daily errands, saving mileage and gas on the sportier car. At worst it only costs me… 250$? a year to own with insurance and taxes? A bit of regular maintenance, and it’s still fine. I can’t bring myself to part from it (though i am strongly considering doing so to getsomething like a Jeep or FJ Cruiser) on the grounds of cost. It just never has problems, and is pointless to sell.
Frankly it’s almost impossible to surpass the cost of buying a new car with repair bills, and if you are doing so you’ve hit some kind of epic clunker and are unwisely throwing money down the hole instead of letting it go. Even 3000$ a year average repair bills is nothing on a monthly basis. I’ve always said, justly or not, that buying new to save on repair bills might be sound logic w/re to exotics or expensive luxury cars (80k$+), is probably related to a driver that always has a car payment and never wants or expects them to end (always budgeting 1000$ a month till the end of time on car payments or something), but is mostly about justifying a person’s preference for owning new cars in general. Which is fine, you know, as far as it goes.
The key to my argument was that most people buy cars by “here’s what I can afford to pay, now, what can I buy?” A dude who is comparing elderly, high-mileage Jaguars and Mercedes AMGs to a new Fit or whatever (and I realize he’s actually looking to pay less than that Fit; bump the mileage down and the years up on the Jaguar/Mercedes cars until they cost the same for comparison purposes) is a dude who is not going to make a financially prudent decision by spending his budget on the older cars.
But he gets a more fun car out of the deal.
A large proportion of my income goes on running and maintaining my car but to be honest, they’ll never be as affordable to buy and run again.
Unleaded(gasoline) is $7.60 per gallon here and has been over $7 for the last 18months.
Annual motor tax on any of the listed cars is $2,000 and will only be increasing.
In 4 or 5 years I’ll have far more disposable income, but these kinds of cars will be far rarer, far more expensive to buy and far more expensive to run.
Kind of a no brainer really, if the one thing you love most is driving/cars :)
@Tortilla: Thanks! The beemer is probably the least ‘drivers’ car, but has the most toys and would probably be the most pleasant place to be(closely followed by XJR). Believe it or not, all of those specific models are pretty damn reliable. Not Toyota or Honda reliable, but still above average for their age. Engine and gearbox problems are what really cost in these kinds of cars.
Only thing I’d say about Texas World, the track near College Station, is it is fast and can be unforgiving (ie no run off area in places). There are a few more newbie friendly tracks around, like Motorsports Ranch in Cresson (near DFW), or Harris Hill near Austin, or Motorsports Ranch near Houston. But keep the red mist down, and follow what your instructor is showing you and you will do fine.
Toys are cheap. Buy a car that lets you feel the road. Also, as a matter of faith, I must point out that all Jags are unreliable. Sexy, but unreliable.
Since the Fit is in the shop and our Mustang really needed to be washed, I decided to go the whole nine years and do a full detailing, inside and out. Spent all day working on it, and now my arm feels like it’s about to fall off. It still needs to be waxed, but I did treat it with clay compound, which makes the finish look all nice again.
So while the car isn’t new, it now looks new. We actually bought it new 16 years ago, but it’s in great shape and runs well (we garage it in the winter). It’s only ever had one mechanical problem; it’s easily the most reliable car we’ve ever owned. Which I know is not par for the course with Mustangs or sports cars in general, but sometimes you get lucky, I guess.
Beautiful looking car, Ben. Nice work.
The clay took alot of your wax off. Don’t delay too much in getting it rewaxed.
I have a thing against buying new cars. But the new Toyota GT86 (Scion FRS in USA) is making me reconsider. RWD, enough power (but not too much power) This could be very very good.
What I’ve seen of this Toyota/Subaru conglomeration is pretty interesting. It’s an attractive car, and would be a good option if I was in the market for a new car and didn’t live in a place where real wheel drive isn’t terribly practical.
Bought a new Mazda CX-7. I can pick it up on the 21st. It’s not exactly this one, but it’s close:
It looks very interesting. Hopefully a lot more information coming out in the next month or so.
It’s a really nice-looking car, too.
First damn Toyota in ages worth looking at, too.
