Buying a car
I've found myself in the market for a vehicle, and am looking for opinions. What I currently drive is very old, and I'm unlikely to get any meaningful trade-in value for it. Normally I would simply look to repair what I consider to be a transportation appliance, but due to its age as well as the number and type of issues I've decided it's best to get rid of it. I've been interested in (and have been offered great deals on) the 2019 Nissan Rogue and 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. I drove options from Honda and Hyundai and was not thrilled. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that there is a network connection to the machine that controls my brakes, acceleration, steering, and safety system in each of these vehicles. Does anyone have any general advice, opinions, or other options I should consider?
Buy an electric car if your circumstances allow for it. They have so much fewer maintenance costs and you'll save so much in gas that you will wonder why you didn't make the switch sooner. Used Nissan Leaf models before year 2018 are also very, very cheap, and if you get a new one you may be qualified for rebates.
I would absolutely choose an electric vehicle if I didn't frequently drive long distances and lived in a different area. As of now I don't think it's feasible for me, and will probably wait for the technology to mature and be more widely adopted. Most likely my next vehicle will be electric.
Why not a plugin-hybrid? You've got the option to use gas to drive for a long distance but you can profit from electricity being the main power source
There are lots of opinions to be had on vehicles since most people have owned several during their lifetime. It is hard to find reliable data. I've used an aggregator of vehicle auction statistics to inform myself on vehicle purchases called the Long Term Quality Index. I would highly recommend perusing it to get an idea of past vehicle quality from classes and manufacturers.
I would echo @Akir's comment about electric vehicles. They will likely have higher upfront costs but a far lesser cost as time goes on, both due to no gasoline and lack of general maintenance required on the vehicle. Hybrids generally do not get this benefit as strongly as they still have all of the regular car components plus the electrical drivetrain, though they are still improved over a combustion vehicle. Just look at the Toyota Prius's excellent reliability score.
This is excellent data, thanks a ton! I've since added a 2019 Lexus UX hybrid to my list of interest, since its MSRP is similar to the other vehicles I was looking at. It's good to see that Lexus and Toyota have such high reliability. I would absolutely go for an electric vehicle, but the area I live in and long range driving I tend to do are not conducive to owning one. I will probably get one as my next vehicle.
If the UX Hybrid is in your budget range, I would give the Tesla Model 3 a serious look. This may or may not work out with your circumstance but supercharging is surprisingly quick and the cars are deceptively large inside. I'm not sure where you live, but check out Plugshare to see how common charging stations are now, and if you'd like to see how an electric vehicle would handle your long trips, check out A Better Route Planner.
It's also really easy to charge from work and/or home, and that's part of the big appeal of electric vehicles.
More excellent resources! One of the problems with the Model 3 is that I won't get the same discounts due to high demand and lack of dealers. Not to discount the other issues that currently exist in my case with electric vehicles, but the 2019 UX Hybrid is on that list because I can get a deal on it - the new model year is out, I have offers on other vehicles, etc.
I've generally found Consumer Reports and Lemon-Aid guide to be accurate as well
I've actually been looking at new cars since answering and wanted to add something I learned; if you are buying in the US, the federal rebate is as much as $7500. Your state may also offer additional incentives; in California, the total combined discount maxes at around $10000. If you can get that kind of discount, it at least puts you in the same price as your average mid-range car, and there is very little reason to stick with an ICE vehicle.
Well, unless you are in an extremely hot or cold area, or if you need towing, or if you need a van, or if you live in an apartment that is unwilling to provide a charging spot.... 😺
I actually have an electric car and would highly recommend owning one, even in a cold environment.
The Mazda MX5 is the second most fun thing I've ever driven on public roads. It was beaten only by my Mini Cooper (not those awful BMW things currently wearing the 'mini' name, a proper one)
Are the 2019 options new or used? I assume they’re new but with good deals because 2020 model year is out.
My best advice is to save yourself some money, and don’t buy a new car. You can find gently used, 1-2 year old versions of the same cars that meet your needs without the rapid decline in value as soon as you buy them. Also if you plan to change cars in a few years, look at makes/models that hold value well for resale.
That's another good point. My mom benefited from that way back in 2002 when she bought a used car that the dealership owner's wife had been driving.
Those I mentioned are new. While I'd generally agree with this, I don't believe most warranties transfer with owners? I would prefer to not have to worry about catastrophic failure of some system early in the life of the vehicle. One of the benefits of the Toyota was that it seems to hold value wery well, but I haven't checked the Nissan.
Hmm not sure. When I bought my CRV used, it was under warranty, and I was able to get an extended mileage warranty through Honda later on. That was a long time ago though, so I’m having trouble remembering the details.
ETA: I bought used from a Honda dealer, so that may have made a difference. Can’t say for sure.
I am fairly sure that warranties only transfer for most manufacturers if you purchase a slightly more expensive certified pre-owned car. That's true for Nissan, at least.
Nissan makes pretty good cars, but Toyota is kind of the gold standard. There's a reason why their warranty isn't quite as long as the competition; their cars are backed with a higher degree of quality.
In my case at least, I recently bought a 2017 used vehicle and the warranty transferred so it's worth looking into. I would highly recommend considering used cars as the post above says since you can save quite a bit of money, and especially if you choose the Toyota there will still be tons of life left in the car. If you do decide to consider a used vehicle, make sure to consult the carfax (Canada) report on it which will tell you about the maintenance, repairs etc. Maybe there's an equivalent to carfax in other countries.
I don't have much experience buying cars, but everyone I know who does uses Kelley Blue Book. So that may help you get a better sense of which vehicle you're looking at is the better deal, and figuring out if you old car actually does still have any value.
p.s. Even if your old car is not worth anything for trade-in, my old landlord used to make decent money selling old, broken down cars to scrapyards. So if you still want to get a few bucks for it, you could always look into that as well.
I'm aware of KBB, but I appreciate you pointing it out!