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There are other reasons for buying a new car. I was looking for features like adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, HID headlights, heated and ventilated front seats, memory setting for seat and mirrors, autodimming rear view mirror with Homelink, and navigation with backup camera, just to name a few. A lot of those features are not available on cars even a few years old.
I've never had lane departure warning but I would imagine it to be an irritant, always going off as you drive, what are people's experience with this particular feature? I like all the other features above.
I've never had lane departure warning but I would imagine it to be an irritant, always going off as you drive, what are people's experience with this particular feature? I like all the other features above.
Lane departure warning only goes off if you're driving incorrectly. If you use your freakin' turn signals, it never goes off. If you keep your nose out of your smart phone and other distractions, it never goes off.
I'm 57. I pay cash for cars. My car is 1 year old with a 7 year / 100K extended warranty. I expect to replace it out of cash flow right before I retire at age 65. Assuming I follow my current trend where I buy new and own for 7 or 8 years, I'll be about 72 when it's time to buy my next car. At that point, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to buy a self-driving car. My dad had vascular dementia by the time he got to his late-70's and my mother has severe short term memory loss at age 83. I'm optimistic that a self-driving car will buy me some age in place time.
I've never had lane departure warning but I would imagine it to be an irritant, always going off as you drive, what are people's experience with this particular feature? I like all the other features above.
Mine doesn't go off all the time. It actually keeps me more focused on staying within the lines. It isn't active below 44 mph, so it will never go off in city driving.
Older people need a reliable car. My wife buys a one-year-old car with cash every four years, and I buy a four-year-old car (because I have expensive tastes) with cash every four years. Total car cost about eight grand a year for the two of us.
back in the 1990's jd powers called it right . they said the auto industry was on a path to blow itself up because cars were lasting longer then ever and needed few repairs or even maintenance .
they predicted we will see cars gradually shift to where they can have 4-5 years of great reliability and then all bets are off .
that has been my experience , i get 4 years or so and they become a bit more unreliable .
they can get very costly to maintain too as major services run hundreds of dollars as the cars age .
for what it cost me to try to keep my older volvo on the road after a while i could have leased a new car for years .
so i tend to get rid of them by 4 years and more often then not just out of boredom would get something new every 3 years .
There are other reasons for buying a new car. I was looking for features like adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, HID headlights, heated and ventilated front seats, memory setting for seat and mirrors, autodimming rear view mirror with Homelink, and navigation with backup camera, just to name a few. A lot of those features are not available on cars even a few years old.
Our car is a 2010 model - and the entertainment/communications features are out of date . My next car - I want one with wifi . Robyn
back in the 1990's jd powers called it right . they said the auto industry was on a path to blow itself up because cars were lasting longer then ever and needed few repairs or even maintenance .
they predicted we will see cars gradually shift to where they can have 4-5 years of great reliability and then all bets are off .
that has been my experience , i get 4 years or so and they become a bit more unreliable .
they can get very costly to maintain too as major services run hundreds of dollars as the cars age .
for what it cost me to try to keep my older volvo on the road after a while i could have leased a new car for years .
so i tend to get rid of them by 4 years and more often then not just out of boredom would get something new every 3 years .
now in retirement we are going 4-5 years .
My personal experience is that a 2016 car is going to be reliable for 7 years and 100,000 miles. It would be very unusual to have any expensive repairs beyond the expected wear items like brakes and tires. A substantial fraction of car owners will see double that but I'm in the world of road salt where cars are killed by corrosion eventually. The median ownership time for new cars is now up over 6 years and reflects this reality. It's why late model used cars are so expensive. They're relatively rare. The only exception is luxury brands where over half are leased.
My 2015 has a 7/100k extended warranty. I really don't expect to collect very much on it but it's cheap mechanical insurance. After the car goes off warranty, I'll start shopping for the next one. My cars winter outdoors at a ski resort and summer on the coast. 7 or 8 years of all that salt exposure starts causing corrosion-related failures.
The only cars in my experience that are junk at 4 years are European luxury brands. Heaven help you if you have an off-warranty Bimmer or Audi or Mercedes and something goes wrong. If that's what you are driving, I can see why you unload cars at 3 or 4 years.
back in the 1990's jd powers called it right . they said the auto industry was on a path to blow itself up because cars were lasting longer then ever and needed few repairs or even maintenance .
they predicted we will see cars gradually shift to where they can have 4-5 years of great reliability and then all bets are off .
that has been my experience , i get 4 years or so and they become a bit more unreliable .
they can get very costly to maintain too as major services run hundreds of dollars as the cars age .
for what it cost me to try to keep my older volvo on the road after a while i could have leased a new car for years .
so i tend to get rid of them by 4 years and more often then not just out of boredom would get something new every 3 years .
now in retirement we are going 4-5 years .
Don't want to jinx myself - but our last 3 main vehicles were Lexuses (2 sedans and now an SUV). And they lasted pretty much with no problems for 6-10 years. We bought our current one at the end of 2009 - and it is still going strong. Our general rule of thumb is to keep the cars until they're off warranty and have their first major problem.* Then we trade them in. We used to have 2 vehicles (1 was a pickup truck or a basic utility vehicle). We downsized to 1 car in 2009 when we bought the Lexus SUV. Haven't regretted that move. We really don't need 2 vehicles and our days of hauling loads of dirt or similar in a pick up truck are over.
I don't think most retired people will only have 1 car in retirement unless they die pretty young. My father - now 97 - has had 2 since he moved here in 2006. And - even if people manage to get by with 1 car - they will need things like new tires (good ones aren't cheap). Insurance too. The costs of owning a car are more than simply the price of the car.
BTW - one thing to consider when buying cars is our physical needs as we get older. Like it's hard for some older people to get into cars where the seats are higher (like SUVs). Visibility features are important too - as some people find it harder to turn their heads around. A back up camera is essential these days IMO for everyone - but especially older people. Robyn
*My husband once developed an inordinate attachment to one of his pick up trucks and foolishly (IMO and in retrospect in his opinion) had a couple of expensive repairs done on it (including putting in a new drive train). Last time he/we will make a mistake like that.
back in the 1990's jd powers called it right . they said the auto industry was on a path to blow itself up because cars were lasting longer then ever and needed few repairs or even maintenance .
they predicted we will see cars gradually shift to where they can have 4-5 years of great reliability and then all bets are off .
that has been my experience , i get 4 years or so and they become a bit more unreliable .
More and more of them have electronic features that become obsolete - our 2010 Toyota RAV4 has a Bluetooth system that interfaced well with my circa 2010 phone. My circa 2015 phone - not so much, features that worked (like ringer volume control) on the old phone don't work with the newer phone. A friend's car of about the same year came with in-dash navigation and the maps are too old now and there is no way to update them - you might be able to go to the dealer, but you'll pay full dealer service rate for that, if it is even possible.
The little GM electric car I am leasing has onboard wifi, a bunch of apps, newer Bluetooth and I wonder, 3 years from now when the lease ends, how much of that will work with more modern apps and devices.
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. My next car - I want one with wifi 
