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As new vehicles become more and more expensive, I have to ask everyone here that has had recent experience in purchasing new cars or trucks. Are they honestly worth it?
When I got in my friends recently bought 2015 Nissan Altima 2.5 SV model, I was surprised how much he paid for the car close to $30,000 once taxes kicked in, and for the money, it felt like he got ripped off. Not because it has just about every gadget and feature you think of, or how nice it was to ride in, but knowing how much plastic is used to put this car together.
The interior materials are actually pretty good, lots of soft spots and the seats are really comfortable, but other than that, everything else in and outside of the car feels flimsy.
I guess I'm used to my old school classics, but for the price you pay for a new car, I feel like most of that money is spent on technology, labor, and engineering rather than top notch materials that is used for longevity.
So for $30,000, you have one giant toy box to drive around in. It's like nothing has a sense of solidarity, too much plastic, lightweight trunk lid and doors, and ZERO metal trim anywhere.
How well will this car hold up in 10-15 years?
The car is very quiet, and it rode really well on smooth roads, but once you start driving over rough pavement, the car starts to quiver a little bit and you can feel some of the bumps enter the cabin. It's as if the body structure isn't rigid enough to filter out bad vibrations. The shock damping is rather stiff, so that could also be the issue. But what new car isn't stiff? Pretty much all newish midsize cars ride stiff somewhat besides for the larger ones.
I just can't see why anyone would waste their money on a new car. It's much wiser to wait 2-3 years for certain models, and buy used. But that's me!
If your goal is to get the most for your money a new car likely costs too much.
A better value is to buy a 3 year old car coming off a private lease. It can be had for about 55% of its original MSRP.
In a private lease, the buyer has an incentive to not abuse the car because he'll want to turn it in and not be charged for excess wear. After 3 years there is enough reliability data to steer you away from bad choices.
Where this may not make sense is in the low end of the market. For example, a Subaru Impreza or a Toyota Corolla used may not be discounted very much. For those cars it might be better to buy new with a longer duration loan to keep the payments reasonable.
I've seen some 1-2 year old cars with 25k miles selling for nearly the same price as new. In those cases it makes better sense to buy new.
Also with Hyundai and Kia, the 10/100k powertrain warranty only applies to new cars, used models only get the 5/60k warranty. So in this case, you may save $2k by buying used, but you're losing 5 years and 40k miles worth of warranty.
The asking price on my car was ~$23k, I paid about $20,400. Asking price is always higher than they're worth. The dealer has to leave some room for haggling after all.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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No, they are not worth the asking price, and that's why most people don't pay that much. The last two I bought were a 2014 and a 2007. In those cases I paid $6,000 below sticker on one, $5,000 below on the other, which is what they were worth to me. Used may be considerably less, but also has most of the warranty period gone, and in 3 years may have 1/4 of it's useful life used up.
You misunderstand what 'solidness' and 'rigidity' bring to an automobile. The more of these features you have, the MORE shaking you will experience on rough driving surfaces. It is the ability to flex that smooths out your ride. In addition, a lot of the expense of building a vehicle today is spent on the creative use of 'crumple zones' which protect the driver and passengers at the expense of the life of the car.
What kind of car are you used to driving that makes use of copious amounts of metal trim? Metal trim on the inside becomes a weapon aimed at YOU in case of an accident, and metal trim on the outside of the cabin is a waste of weight that also has a far greater tendency to corrode or pit.
If you are comparing a 2015 auto to 'old school classics' like 1957 Chevys or 1963 Pontiac Bonnevilles, I think you will find that the modern vehicle is not only light years safer in the event of a collision, but it will achieve much better fuel economy and far greater average vehicle life in general due to improved corrosion resistance and much better engineering.
The average price of a new car today is just over $30k, and your friend bought a midsize sedan, the largest car segment for non-trucks, so I'd say he is in the ballpark. I don't know how hard he tried to work on pricing, but that's what cars cost these days. They are more reliable, better built, and will last longer today than ever before, which is why I am a strong believer in buying 3 year old cars and keeping them for 5-7 years. You save money up front and get a basically new car with break-in miles .
Leasing has made owning cars cheap, or at least look cheap. On a 2 year lease the owner pays under $5000 on a $23000 car, after you figure in factory rebates etc.
I guess I'm used to my old school classics, but for the price you pay for a new car, I feel like most of that money is spent on technology, labor, and engineering rather than top notch materials that is used for longevity.
So for $30,000, you have one giant toy box to drive around in. It's like nothing has a sense of solidarity, too much plastic, lightweight trunk lid and doors, and ZERO metal trim anywhere.
How well will this car hold up in 10-15 years?
Cars today (from the last 15-20 years depending on make and model) are built to last far longer than your metal classics. I agree, they were beautiful pieces of machinery, but lets be honest, THESE CARS WEREN'T BUILT TO LAST. "They don't build them like they used to." Nope, they build em way better.
These classics you pine for weren't even built with a 6 digit odometer, because anything over 99K was borrowed time. Nowadays, 200K is the norm if you maintain on most cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdlife619
I just can't see why anyone would waste their money on a new car. It's much wiser to wait 2-3 years for certain models, and buy used. But that's me!
Thoughts?
You are right. The depreciation on a new car is tough to stomach for some.
I didn't think about buying a used car that was privately leased out. That does seem like a much better route as the owners most likely took the best care of it.
So much to think about. New cars are definitely safer and are more reliable, this is a given, I just can't imagine why most people pay so much for them. Trucks included as they have been getting increasingly more expensive. Who in their right mind would pay $60,000 to $70,000 for a truck?? It's incredible that people do.
The monthly payments alone can be exuberant, even with a down payment. My friend can barely make it by as it is, yet he goes out and picks up a new car. I guess this is how it is for most people, they buy something they really can't afford. I am happy for him, but I think he sorta jumped into the process way too soon.
At least in the long run he won't have to worry about any repair work for the time being. Not sure about Nissan reliability, with the CVT trans, but he should be ok from what current owners say.
In my experience working on cars for so long, it's like once something major fails, it's a domino effect, and then it's one thing after another. Plus parts are extremely expensive on newish vehicles.
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