Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Originally Posted by eljefino
I'm used to being able to get a brand new stripped Elantra for $15400 or even less.
My philosophy is to buy new, or completely falling apart.
I like to assume a car is "done" at 150k, so one for sale with 75,000 should be half price or lower. Not just half of MSRP, but half of what I could get after all the rebates and haggling. Mileage beyond 150k is "free" and my reward for not just buying new. I haven't bothered to look, because of my aforementioned philosophy.
Thats a really good philosophy. I wonder though as the car prices are going only up, how long would you hold on to this philosophy, and do you stick to barebone cars only?
If I had to buy new again, I'd go for the "newspaper special"-- the end-of-its-body style leftover. It'd also have to have a tolerable drivetrain and MPG. Even a Mirage has all the features I want.
IDK if my prius AWD-e is "barebones" though I got the cheapo model. AWD had just been invented so there weren't any used ones out there, I like the 2005 version of the car, and little else had changed. I could have bought anywhere on the depreciation curve but figured that making payments would get me to the 2-year old version I was going to buy anyway.