Originally Posted by
daniel9696
Coming from someone who manages a High End used car dealership believe me: There is nothing wrong with buying a used car. Especially a late model low mileage off-lease example.
For $26k (About the price of a BRZ) You could buy a lower mileage Infiniti G37, Acura TL, Lexus ES350, might could even find a C300 (or even 350) in that price range.
Buy one thats a Off-Lease car. Meaning someone just turned in their lease. Which they usually took pretty good care of just because they could get charged for every little imperfection when they turned it in. Also it should have a bunch of factory warranty remaining on it. All those manufactures offer a 4 year/50k warranty. (Bumper to Bumper). Powertrain (Engine/Trans) is usually 70k miles. Hell Infiniti even gives a 6 year/60k mile warranty (Even 2009's are still in!!). And you can usually buy a pretty good extended warranty through companies like Allstate pretty inexpensively.
You'd get a lot more car by going used. Especially if you find a nice 2010 or 11 with around 30k miles. It's true that some owners have been better on their cars then others but thats where the Warranty comes in. (Luxury car brands usually give A LOT better warranty then the brands you mentioned.) They'll even usually replace interior trim pieces (Woodgrain fading, Buttons getting worn, etc). Hell, BMW even does all maintence for free under 50k miles. Brakes, Rotors, Wiper Blades, everything except tires.
Modern day cars are designed with abuse in mind. They hold up pretty well. Especially Japanese brands. Look at how many older Lexus's, Infiniti's, Honda's, Toyota's, etc you see driving around. In my opinion I'd never by a VW. VW/Audi seem to be the most unreliable cars I've ever seen.
Go get a gently used low mileage luxury car for the same money your spending on a new one. If for no other reason do it for the depreciation value.
Example:
Say you buy a 2010 Lexus ES350 with 40k miles for $24k. You drive it around for a year or so enjoying the nav, and the heated/cooled seats, and all the other luxury features it have. Keep in mind Lexus is probably the most reliable brand out there and you wouldn't ever have a problem with it even if it had the piss dogged out of it (they really are that good) and even if it did it'd be covered under factory warranty (most dealerships even give you a loaner)
2 years down the road you decide your tired of it. It now has 70k miles on it. You decide to go trade it in on something else. You'd probably still get a trade in value of $18-20 grand depending on the condition you've kept it in.
On the other hand say you buy the Ford focus. 2014 brand new 0 miles on it. Say you spend about $23k on it. (Im assuming you want Leather, Back up Camera, Bluetooth, etc at the least I'd recommend getting it just for resell value.) Drive it for 2 years. It now has 30k miles on it. That car, if you traded it in, would be worth about $14 grand. Last week, at auction and listed in "Extra Clean Condition", a 2013 with 7k miles sold for 17 grand. (THATS A $6 GRAND LOSS OVER LESS THEN A YEAR!)
Much better to buy used.
If you have pretty good credit you'd get anywhere from 1.99-3.99 interest on a used car too. Not bad at all.