Originally Posted by supton
I'm 43 and I hate to say it but I'm starting to feel entitled. I've tried to talk myself into a Yaris and then a Prius C for my commute (which is 55 minutes each way according to my phone); it's all highway and all of 54 miles according to Google. A Yaris (or a C) might last a long time but I'm afraid I'd be right back to where I am now after a few years, and others on this site talked me out of it each time. The last time I shopped I got my Camry and while it's been wonderful, I wonder when it's time to move on. The Camry is easy to repair and I feel like I should keep it as a spare vehicle, but I'm not sure I want to pass it down to any new drivers (call me a nanny if you want but I've grilled my kids and confirmed that they have no desire to drive, unlike my generation, and so I'm starting to wonder how many safety nannies I want in the thing carting around my 16 year plus investment of time and money).
I don't think you need to get a brand new car, something that's in the 3-5 year range would probably work. Typically the depreciation at that point is in the 30-60% range but the car will probably last at least 3-4x as long. With the kind of mileage you drive, I'd like to see you get a CPO Mercedes with the 3 years unlimited mileage warranty. Imagine getting warranty service on it when it's at 140k. There's just lots of newer technology that a 20+ year old car doesn't have. I don't even remember how many airbags my car has, maybe 8 or nine. Usually the older cars only had two. Newer cars are basically safer, stability control, traction control, ABS and a bunch of other things vs a 20 year old.
On the transmission, I wouldn't say they're toast at 150k, probably more like the 200-300k range if you change the fluid and filter often. Assuming that whatever car you get doesn't have underlying transmission problems.