Please help me pick out my next car (make/model)

[Anonymous]

Subaru Forester. I love mine except I will never figure out how to change the clock!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New car vs used car for a single mom who does not want a headache - anytime.

Get one that is certified pre-owned and get an extended warranty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2019 Volkswagen Tiguan
here is why, because it is SUV and it is pretty safe, and bigger for a kid as a kid grows so much more comfortable then sedan.
Because it has wonderful warranty for you not to worry about anything: :6 yr/72,000 mi basic, 6 yr/72,000 mi powertrain

And because it is really inexpensive

MSRP: From $24,295

If you negotiate it right you can get it for about 18 to 20K without much effort considering new next year model is around the corner.

MPG: Up to 22 city / 29 highway

You can easily find a car for under 22K in our area and remember that those prices are BASE for negotiations so you can negotiate way more down from this:

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchresults.action/?mdId=22265&mkId=20089&page=1&perPage=20&prMx=70000&rd=30&searchSource=SORT&sort=price-lowest&stkTypId=28880&zc=22044

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/searchresults.action?sourceContext=homePageNewCarTab_false_0&newSearchFromOverviewPage=true&inventorySearchWidgetType=AUTO&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=c28822&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity2=&zip=22044&distance=50&searchChanged=true&modelChanged=false&filtersModified=true&sortType=PRICE&sortDirection=ASC

SUV is such that once you own one you never want to look back at sedans. SUV's have so much more room, air and so much easier to get in and out.

Don't those prices include automobility bonus cash, military bonus cash, college graduate bonus cash...?

[Anonymous]

Car nut here, will keep it short.

Don't get a VW, too many reliability issues down the road (would love to have a GTI myself but won't touch a VW product), plus depreciation on VW's are huge. More repair bills (post warranty) + huge depreciation = high lifetime cost of ownership.

Newer Subaru's are not as solid as old ones, a few year ago we traded a 2012 Subaru for a 2010 Honda and the Honda was far better put together. Won't notice it initially, but over time, Subaru will give you more issues.

Get a Honda/Toyota product with 30k mileage or less, for Honda/Toyota, 30k miles is pretty much "new", even with slightly neglected maintenance over 30k miles, Honda/Toyotas will fare better than VW/Subaru products over time. Plus they'll fetch a better price when time comes to sell them. Sweet spot is if you can get a car that is about 5yrs old w/30-40k miles, w/one previous owner and all service records.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Car nut here, will keep it short.

Don't get a VW, too many reliability issues down the road (would love to have a GTI myself but won't touch a VW product), plus depreciation on VW's are huge. More repair bills (post warranty) + huge depreciation = high lifetime cost of ownership.

Newer Subaru's are not as solid as old ones, a few year ago we traded a 2012 Subaru for a 2010 Honda and the Honda was far better put together. Won't notice it initially, but over time, Subaru will give you more issues.

Get a Honda/Toyota product with 30k mileage or less, for Honda/Toyota, 30k miles is pretty much "new", even with slightly neglected maintenance over 30k miles, Honda/Toyotas will fare better than VW/Subaru products over time. Plus they'll fetch a better price when time comes to sell them. Sweet spot is if you can get a car that is about 5yrs old w/30-40k miles, w/one previous owner and all service records.

Best of luck.

Forgot to mention that w/the above (5yrs/30k miles) you'll get the car for less than half the price of new and still w/80% it remaining life, so that's fairly well spent $$$.....which leaves you with extra $$$ for other pleasures in life

[Anonymous]

Hey Car Nut-- I know people often think of Hyundai as a crappy vehicle, but is this really true? Or is it just a carry over from years ago? How does a Hyundai Elantra compare to a Honda Civic or Toyota Corrolla long term?

[Anonymous]

I own a VW and HATE HATE HATE every VW dealership I have taken my car into. I can not wait to be done with it. For anyone thinking about a VW - make sure you have a great dealership to service it - b/c you will be visiting it.

[Anonymous]

Mazda CX-5 used. Don't buy new. There is nothing special about new. I'm sick to my stomach still for buying new. My last used car lasted me 11 years with zero problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Total budget is $23k, all in.

For that budget, I'd get a new sedan with very low financing. Honda or Toyota. Not a Subaru. Expensive to fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey Car Nut-- I know people often think of Hyundai as a crappy vehicle, but is this really true? Or is it just a carry over from years ago? How does a Hyundai Elantra compare to a Honda Civic or Toyota Corrolla long term?

Car Nut here No, Hyundai's are much better than a decade ago, would pick a Hyundai product any day over a VW product. Honda/Toyota still a notch above Hyundai, but Hyundai have higher rebates on newer car and comes in at a lower cost. I think lifetime cost for Hyundai versus Honda/Toyota would be around the same assuming you get good rebates/discounts when acquiring Hyundai. Hyundai has higher depreciation, but depreciation is often measured as MSRP minus market price of used car, if you're able to negotiate a nice price on the Hyundai you can negate the (perceived) higher deprecation (than Honda/Toyota) and lifetime cost would be approx the same. How do you get a nice price on a car? If a dealer has spend 2 hour or more on trying to get your business, take their "best" price, minus $1-2k and start walking out the door, they'll almost always reduce their price immediately.

Best of luck