Saved 35k for a new car - recommendations?

CRV. It's very easy to drive. I had one that I returned this year from 3 year lease. Only did oil change and one tune up. Drove 36K on it. Bought 2018 2 months ago. If you're looking for a fun car, this may not be for you.

knowledgeable posters only wrote:

what's up guys I've been saving about 8-10k a year for a new car and its finally the time.

I wouldn't mind getting a new car but a used car within the last four years or so seems like the best bang for the buck.

Some of my considerations:

New Subaru Outback

Used Audi Q5

Used BMW X5

New Honda CR-V

Used Mercedes-Benz GLK 350

Used Jeep Wrangler

(half serious) Used Bentley Continental (2006)

if you have any opinions, discuss and back them up! willing to hear new recommendations

DO NOT buy a Benz/BMW/Audi. If you really want one, lease it. You'll lose massive cash in depreciation if you buy and God forbid the thing gets in a crash, its near worthless. If you're leasing, you just give it back at lease end and its the lease companies problem to deal with the depreciation.

I prefer the Forester among Subarus, ride height is better but ymmv.

If you are buying new and can get a 1.9 or less deal DONT pay cash. Why would you? Use their money and dole yours out only as required.

Based on friends with higher end cars (specifically the BMW and Audi, not sure on the Mercedes) the repair costs are HUGE. My husband leases a BMW for his business since he drives a lot. Loves the car. But our friend with a BMW warned us that buying just doesn't make since if you want to have the car past it's warranty. You'll be paying out the ass to get anything fixed after that. If you want a car you drive forever I'd go with a CRV. Subaru's are great but I just got rid of mine because the seats in Subarus are super uncomfortable (Sport Impreza... maybe the Outbacks are better...)

knowledgeable posters only wrote:

what's up guys I've been saving about 8-10k a year for a new car and its finally the time.

I wouldn't mind getting a new car but a used car within the last four years or so seems like the best bang for the buck.

Some of my considerations:

New Subaru Outback

Used Audi Q5

Used BMW X5

New Honda CR-V

Used Mercedes-Benz GLK 350

Used Jeep Wrangler

(half serious) Used Bentley Continental (2006)

if you have any opinions, discuss and back them up! willing to hear new recommendations

Used Subaru Outback or Impreza if you want a car that lasts.

It’s true, you know! wrote:

Miata

is

always

the

answer.

Exactly.

I have one. Best car ever.

OF COURSE a Q5 or X5 is gonna drive better and have more performance than a CRV. They're not even in the same ballpark, and they don't compete on the market. Completely different class and buyer profile. Point is, CRV is half the cost. If not, more than half.

Not sure what audi you had into the 200k range with minimal servicing. Early 2000s model audis were abhorrent and unbelievably unreliable. I wouldn't touch and audi, not even close. BMW? Yes, if i was worth a few million.

Unless you're a multi-millionaire, foreign luxury cars are a fools errand. Bad money. Cars are actually always a poor investment.

Buy a used prius. Invest the remaining $25K. That's how to get rich.

I would really hesitate dumping a solid $35k into a car.

UsedToBeKnowItAll wrote:

If I had $35k for a car, I'd buy a 2015 Honda Accord V6 EX-L with under 50k miles for about $20k. Nothing too fancy, but a nice, reliable car for a reasonable price.

This (or something similar). Popular, reliable models are less expensive to fix. I have a 2010 Honda EX-L V6 (paid $17K with 35K on it) and my wife drives a 2010 Odyssey (forget the price, maybe $33K, with 17K on it). Mine has 103K hers 180K. I told her she's halfway to a new car.

Seriously no reason not to run a Honda to 300K miles. We have spent very little on maintenance across both vehicles.

Forget the European brands, they are not as reliable and much more expensive to fix. Most people waste way too much money on cars. If yours will be essentially a commuter, spend a bit more than half what you've saved and you have a good chunk of change left for something else. The only reason we spend so much on a van was to haul 3 kids and stuff around.

Problem with Americans is we spend way too much money on cars, instead of focusing on getting net worth deep into the six figures or even seven figures before age 50-55. That $35k will go a long way into boosting net worth if invested properly.

Also, like was mentioned previously on here, if you can get 1.9% or lower APR, take it. Why spend all your money. Use the bank. Example: $15K loaned at 1.9% over three years only costs you $443 total in interest over the period. That is nothing. Take the bank's money. Invest yours.

I never understood why people would say to either lease luxury cars or buy it with warranty left. Depreciation is the biggest expense of a car. It far outweighs repair bills. So, if you’re buying one with factory warranty, you’re paying a premium and as soon as you try to sell it after warranty runs out, there will be no value left to the car.

Yea, German cars are more maintenance intense compared to japanese cars, but it’s not as bad as most people make it out to be. But, if you cannot afford maintenance, then obviously don’t buy it, but OP has the income and/or savings habit to build up $35k so I think he’ll be fine to get an European car and afford some maintenance bills.

I personally think it’s best to get a German car that’s about 5 years old. You can get a really nice x5 or q5 for really good price and they have already taken a huge depreciation hit.

Of those choices I’d say go with the BMW X5

But new, not used.

Use the $35k to lease it with zero payments.

That’s a nice, new, hassle feee ride.

Then keep saving money to do it again in three years.

No need to drive a boring car and no need to keep it long enough to deal with any major repairs.

Live

To the poster that said to invest the cash and buy with 0% interest. Generally. You can onlyhave one discount; therefore, if you take the low interest you cannot negotiate price. Cash is king and you can always negotiate better ifyou have it.

To OP I'm a big truck girl but my favorite vehicle ever was a VW Jetta TDI. It drove 1000x smoother than my jeep. Was better engineered. 42 mpg on the hwy. My ONLY complaint in ownership was that you couldn't charge your phone if the car was turned off. The leather was thick and well made. Jeep and dodge leather starts wearing in less than a year. 5 years and my vw leather was still perfect.

I've owned a lot of cars but VW was my favorite and it surprisingly was very spacious. My kids knees had more roomin the back seat than any other small car I've ever owned. I've considered buying the TDI (diesel) Touareg or Passat recently. Some are fairly well priced since they stopped selling them in the US in 2015 and there are no more new ones. I've found some with very low miles (10k or so) for under $20k

What’s up with so many people recommending cars for $10k? Have you taken a look at what kind of cars you can buy for $10k? It’s probably going to be a downgrade from what OP is driving right now. He should just keep driving whatever he’s driving now if he’s buying something for $10k.

It’s either going to be fairly new small econobox that will kill you if you ever get in a car crash.

Or, itll be a Toyota/Honda crossovers that’s approaching 100k miles.

Or, it’ll be German cars that’s around 6-8 years old. Geez, not everyone here is some broke, out of college, entry level working slaves.

Also, another advantage of buying used luxury over used mainstream cars is that more likely, the precious owner took better care of the car. It always amazes me how dirty peoples cars are. Especially if you’re looking to buy someone’s Toyota/Honda/ford/hyundai cars, most of these people don’t care about cars. It’s so filthy and dirty.

So, another reason luxury cars are better. Also, they age better. Biggest expense of cars is depreciation and transaction costs so less frequently you buy cars, you win.

Let these poor suckers buy $10k cars and always having to switch out cars bc they’re not happy with theirs and costing them money changing them out.

If OP was only able to save 8-10k per year then it took him 4 years to save 35k. I'm guessing that's a significant portion of his net worth and that money made no gains over that time. What a waste to blow it on a new car that will lose its value and novelty after a couple of months.

He could have invested that 8-10k per year in an index fund and it would have been worth 50k today with the bull market.

My wife and I saved over 60k in our taxable account in one year after maxing retirement accounts and we wouldn't waste 35k on a car.

For people recommending the RAV4, have you even test driven it? It's all cheap plastic inside and you feel every little bump on the road. Not worth the money at all. Toyota has definitely gone downhill.

These threads are never helpful to the OP.

Just a bunch of people eager to say what they do themselves or judge people’s spending and money management.

RunningRough wrote:

To the poster that said to invest the cash and buy with 0% interest. Generally. You can onlyhave one discount; therefore, if you take the low interest you cannot negotiate price. Cash is king and you can always negotiate better ifyou have it.

Not really. However you pay, its cash to the dealer. Dealers don't finance cars out of pocket.

Now, you will sometimes have to choose between a rebate and low interest loan but again that is a 3rd party thing (the manufacturer usually). Taking the low rate does not however preclude you from negotiating the price of the car with the dealer. Nor will it really impact the price you pay. You negotiate a price with the dealer based on the sticker, invoice, market, whatever. THEN apply any 3rd party incentives or rebates (again usually from the manufacturer).

If a car is 25K sticker and you negotiate lets say, a 23K purchase price, you THEN apply any factory incentives, THEN apply any credit incentives (for financing with GMAC or whatever at a market rate) OR you take the low rate and leave the credit incentive on the table.

Its all cash to the dealer. That includes coins, bills, bank checks, factory incentives, credit incentives, college grad rebates, etc, etc. They get paid the negotiated price no matter what. It could be all rolled coins from you or it could be a bank loan and 3 factory rebate checks. They don't care.

I'll be sure to tell all the dealers I deal with from here on out that you told me I could have both interest and cash incentives even though every last one of them has told me no.

Low APR financing usually cannot be combined with customer cash. And in most cases, customer cash is a better deal because you are financing a smaller loan amount. But if you want to explore all your options, the Edmunds Low APR vs. Cash Back Calculator will help you spot the better value. :from Edmunds

knowledgeable posters only wrote:

what's up guys I've been saving about 8-10k a year for a new car and its finally the time.

I wouldn't mind getting a new car but a used car within the last four years or so seems like the best bang for the buck.

Some of my considerations:

Used BMW X5

I think that you would be better off with a new BMW X1 than a used BMW X5. I have the X1 and love it and previously owned a BWM 528i which I drove for 19 years. (I am not into cars and only drive about 6000 miles per year.) By getting a new car you get the free service for several years. BMW service (at least here is northern CA) is expensive. If you needed to save several years in order to come up with $35K you probably don't have a lot of extra money to spend on service.