

Why $25,000 Is Magic for Cars - ilamont
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704905604575027202550068756.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn

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icey
I bought a Mazdaspeed3 on the recommendation of someone here last year. I was
willing to spend much more on a car, but ended up buying the MS3 because I was
amazed at how much the car had for the price. It goes fast (enough), handles
well (enough); it's fun as hell to drive, and it feels like it's really well
built. It ended up being 25k fully loaded.

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mynameishere
_Of course, there are things a driver must give up with the typical $25,000
car, including leather seats, navigation systems and eight-cylinder engines._

I can get a used Cadillac and an add-on GPS all for less than 5000 dollars. I
honestly don't know what happens to people's brains when it comes to cars. 25K
is what your average person makes per year after paying taxes. Would you
exchange a _year of your life_ for something that costs the manufacturer maybe
1000 dollars more to produce than and is functionally identical to the entry
level equivalent?

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geebee
I've gotten burned on used cars badly enough that I'm willing to buy new. I
think the best outcome is a quality used car with low mileage, but that's
actually hard to find, and there's some risk involved. The best you can do is
find a used car that _appears_ to be quality. I'm three times bitten, forever
shy on that one.

A lot of people figure that the most predictable and low cost approach is to
buy new and take good care of the car for at least a decade. There's a big
difference between a used car with low mileage that you've owned since the
start, and one that you've test driven once or twice.

The worst approach from a financial pov is to buy new and sell every few
years. But buying a lemon of a used car and running up the maintenance bills
sucks big time.

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phaedrus
When I was in college, I went through a string of used cars. So I actually did
the math: continuous minor to moderate repairs and parts cost, plus needing to
buy another used car approximately every 2 years when inevitably something
would go wrong that cost more to fix than the car was worth, divided by the
number of months this had been going on, came out to approximately $333/mo. So
I bought a new Hyundai for $10K and paid $235/mo. for it. It will be 5 years
old this March and I hope to drive it at least another 5 years after that.

