I will admit this is somewhat of a selfish topic as I am struggling to make a decision about selling or keeping a used car I own. I have two vehicles, a relatively newer model crossover which is our primary family car, and my daily driver when running errands with the baby. Our second car is an '06 Acura RSX which is a little coupe (although, it's quite practical and spacious for a coupe)

Our current situation is that my wife works less than a mile from home, and I am a stay at home dad. My wife generally walks or rides our electric scooter to work, while very rarely (extremely snowy or rainy days) we will load up and drive her down the road. The result of this is that the RSX sits unused a lot of the time, except for specific times like when she takes the baby somewhere on the weekend and I have errands to run as well, or when the crossover is otherwise occupied (oil changes, tire rotation etc)

For these reasons, we have been considering selling the RSX. Since used car prices have been spiking it would pay off all of our remaining debt on the crossover, and leave us with a few thousand in the bank. It's not a huge amount of money but it will save us a few hundred a month. We are not well-off on a single income, but we're not struggling by any means.

My hesitancy is basically two economic reasons and one personal:

1. With the tariff insanity, used car prices do seem to be spiking and I don't think (or know if) we're necessarily at the price peak. I would regret selling it and having the price jump 25% a few months later.

2. Because of the same reasons, replacing it in a year or two when I want to go back to work might end up costing us more than we made from selling it. My daughter is 18 months now and we'll probably be looking to get her into daycare by 2.5-3 years old.

3. As for the personal reason, I just really like this car. I bought it outright from the insurance payment on my first real car getting totaled, and it has gotten me through some tough times in my life. I have done a lot of work on it to make it "my" car. I love the fact that it's from the era where cars were just machines, but its still modern enough for tech upgrades, and parts for it (both OEM and third party) are basically everywhere. It's cheap to work on and barely needs work to begin with. That being said, it does need a few things done that might be outside of my skill set in the next year or so. I might be able to manage a serpentine belt replacement, but the front control arm bushings are wearing out and it seems like you need a lot of specialized tools for that replacement so I'm not sure I'm confident in doing it myself.

As for the less "me specific" portion of the conversation, I'm just curious what the smart people of Tildes think about what's going to happen in the near/mid future in the US regarding the car market, used cars, the transition to electric vehicles, and what you're thinking about in regards buying, selling, or holding vehicles in these uncertain times.

A little over a year ago I posed some questions on Tildes about used electrics.

Shortly after that topic, I went put and purchased a 2016 VW E-Golf. I think that my experiences might be useful for anyone that is considering an electric but struggles with range anxiety or just wonders how practical a car with low range would actually be. When looking at used car prices, I was shocked at how cheap a low range electric car was compared to longer range EVs. I picked mine up for $10,500 out the door.

For context, I live on the outside of a small city in the Midwest. It gets cold here. I am also in a two car household, the other being a hybrid. There are two adults and children in the house.

The Golf has a roughly 20 kWh battery. Over the year that I have driven it, I have averaged 4.5 miles per kWh. That sounds like a range of 90 miles, but that doesn't tell the whole story. On cold days when resistive heating has to be run, the mileage drops by around 30%. On a nice mild day, I can get it up to 6 mi/kWh on a trip if I am off of the highway.

I did not need to install any additional charging abilities in my garage. I have the charger plugged into a random 110V outlet in my garage. I was prepared to shell out a bit of money for an electrician if the 110 circuit didn't cut it, but over a year of use I have not actually run into a scenario where I needed to use more than the trickle charge.

I work a hybrid setup. Twice a week I need to drive into the office around 20 miles away. The office does have some electric charging stations on a 220 circuit but I have not felt the need to charge there on any occasion.

The shorter range does mean that some coordination is required between the two adults in the household. If one of us needs to travel out of town for work or something involving the kids, the other has to limit their travel. In practice for our house, this annoyance ends up being more a concern for which vehicle needs car seats than a concern for mileage. Exactly one occasion this year we have had to adjust plans to deal with having a limited range vehicle.

Overall, I really have been thoroughly happy with the low range EV choice as the primary vehicle in a two vehicle household with a backup for longer range trips.

I am going to be in the market for a vehicle soon enough. My 2003 car is starting to show its age. Unfortunately my family still requires two cars often enough that I will need to find a replacement.

I have been bouncing the idea around in my head of getting an electric car.

As it stands, my 2003 has not gone over 50 miles in a single day more than a handful of times since we got a hybrid three years ago, and I don't see that changing soon. To me, this seems like an excellent opportunity to get a used electric vehicle that might not be getting the range that it once had. A vehicle that got 150 miles on a charge off the lot that now only gets 75 miles might be a problem for the original buyer but might not be for me.

My question to the users of Tildes - have you bought an "old" (I use this term very loosely) electric car for a similar use case? Are there problems with used electrics that don't have an ICE equivalent? Are you generally happy with the decision?