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Should I buy a new car?

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SeaEagle

SeaEagle

Trad Catholic
Heritage
I currently drive a mid 2000s Subaru wagon, and im nearing 150000 miles with some pricey maintenance on the horizon (rear struts, timing belt, and steering/throttle sensors).

I need my car for to get to my remote shift work job, and I'm tired of needing quick fixes done when components suddenly fail.

I have access to a cheap cash mechanic, and admittedly I've only sunk 2k in repairs over the 2 years I've had it.

I would buy a 2024 outback wilderness likely.

With the looming/current recession, am I better of waiting, or not buying new at all?
 
I certainly would not buy new if financing. That's just the reality of current interest rates. Throwing money away.

New and used prices are still inflated as well.

I recently bought a car but it was a 2014 4runner and paid cash(not an option for everyone). Figured it's the safest car to buy regarding longevity/reliability.

No one can answer as to your financial situation though. If you want that car and financially it's not an issue for you, get it. Enjoy it. It's a nice car especially for outdoor activities. But if you could barely make the monthly payments and it'd be tough to justify the expense, I'd wait or look elsewhere. Maybe look at outbacks coming off lease, can get some good deals on 2-3 yr old models.

Some will tell you no way, don't buy it but then they'll spend 10K on a Euro vacation over the summer. I try not to tell anyone how to spend their money. My 4runner is a waste for anyone who can't understand needing the size of an SUV or getting 16 MPG!
 
Save your money and keep what you have. If you have to upgrade, let someone else take the depreciation hit and buy something 7 years old. New vehicles are running over $40,000 for something decent.

Also something to consider on a new car, insurance rates may be double compared to a 7+ year old vehicle. Depending upon the state you live in, property assessment on vehicles is another factor to consider as well.
 
Something else to consider is all the fancy technology in new cars these days. If/when something breaks it'll cost significantly more for the parts and possibly will be something that you can't repair yourself and have to go to the dealer for. I'm also skeptical on the longevity of the direct injection and low-displacement turbo motors that have become the norm lately. Manufacturers claim to have addressed the oil consumption and valve carbon deposit issues on these designs, but I still suspect they won't have the 150-200k+ lifespans of traditional naturally aspirated port injection motors that were the norm until 5-10 years ago.
 
SeaEagle said:
I currently drive a mid 2000s Subaru wagon, and im nearing 150000 miles with some pricey maintenance on the horizon (rear struts, timing belt, and steering/throttle sensors).

I need my car for to get to my remote shift work job, and I'm tired of needing quick fixes done when components suddenly fail.

I have access to a cheap cash mechanic, and admittedly I've only sunk 2k in repairs over the 2 years I've had it.

I would buy a 2024 outback wilderness likely.

With the looming/current recession, am I better of waiting, or not buying new at all?
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Only you know your personal financial circumstances.
However, here is my advice:
If you can afford to buy a car and pay for it outright - do it.
If you need finance/loan to pay for the car - you probably shouldn't do it under the current economic climate.
 
I would think that when you pay a mechanic to repair your old car that money goes into the local economy more effectively than buying something new and shiny from corporate overlords.

@Muscovite, yes, as we talked about in a couple threads on RVF2.0, they have all kinds of creepy things in new cars, like "electric/electronic": steering, throttle, traction control, brakes, and navigation (gps). Are you driving the car or is it driving you, at the pleasure of corporate overlords? Things to consider.
 
Should I buy a NEW car?

Never

nope.gif


I have bought just shy of 50 cars in my life as I was a car enthusiast and also flipped them for profit. I only bought one brand new car (2002 Subaru WRX) in my life and after a few months of making the payments I realized there was nothing the car provided that justified the amount of money I spent on it. I enjoyed the car and bought another one years later but to me the car didn't do anything that a much cheaper slightly used car couldn't do.
 
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You say you're driving an old car, with high mileage, that you had for two years. This in itself was a bad financial decision. The only explanation is that you're strapped for cash.

You say you want to drive a brand new car, because you're working out in the sticks and do a lot of commuting. The only logical explanation for this is the fact your financial situation has changed for the better.

I'm going to go against the grain and say you should upgrade. Obviously if the new car is a lemon you will regret it 100%. If it's not, if it's actually a good car, the peace of mind and the satisfaction of owning new is going to outweigh any negatives.

If you're saving every penny to go live off the grid somewhere, then obviously the question isn't even worth asking.
 
Sandalwood Peak said:
You say you're driving an old car, with high mileage, that you had for two years. This in itself was a bad financial decision. The only explanation is that you're strapped for cash.

You say you want to drive a brand new car, because you're working out in the sticks and do a lot of commuting. The only logical explanation for this is the fact your financial situation has changed for the better.

I'm going to go against the grain and say you should upgrade. Obviously if the new car is a lemon you will regret it 100%. If it's not, if it's actually a good car, the peace of mind and the satisfaction of owning new is going to outweigh any negatives.

If you're saving every penny to go live off the grid somewhere, then obviously the question isn't even worth asking.
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A lot of cars with 150,000 miles have an easy 10 years left in them with regular maintenance. If it runs well, I wouldn't put off at all by that number of miles.
 
Thomas More said:
A lot of cars with 150,000 miles have an easy 10 years left in them with regular maintenance. If it runs well, I wouldn't put off at all by that number of miles.
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Yeah if you get a well maintained used Toyota, you can throw more miles on it without many issues compared to getting any number of new cars where serious issues surface at 75-100k.

I also believe most Subarus has CVTs. I would not want a higher mileage CVT.

IMO Japanese V6’s are the safest investment long term and for high mileage.
 
I'm not buying any new cars unless I pay cash for them going forward.

A car that depreciates 10 percent per year is not a good asset if your'e going to use credit financing.

I've got to get my old lady a traveling van as we outgrow the regular 8 passenger van we have now. I'll be saving up cash for that one in 2 years or so.... i'll never buy a new car again until I'm very well off.
 
I just bought a 2 year old vehicle for my wife off a lease. I didn't want to, but the other car was 16 years old, had 165,000 miles, rusting away, and started to stall on acceleration, ABS brakes had some weird grinding, power steering leaking, bad wheel bearing. I also have a new baby so I just said forget it. I got tired of having to fix it also. There are better things to spend time on.
But my other car is a 2000s Acura with 275k on it and I don't plan on letting that go any time soon.
 
SeaEagle said:
I currently drive a mid 2000s Subaru wagon, and im nearing 150000 miles with some pricey maintenance on the horizon (rear struts, timing belt, and steering/throttle sensors).

I need my car for to get to my remote shift work job, and I'm tired of needing quick fixes done when components suddenly fail.

I have access to a cheap cash mechanic, and admittedly I've only sunk 2k in repairs over the 2 years I've had it.

I would buy a 2024 outback wilderness likely.

With the looming/current recession, am I better of waiting, or not buying new at all?
Click to expand...
As somewhat of a hobbyist mechanic, I can tell you that Subaru is generally not a good choice for a basic, reliable, trouble free commuter car for someone who doesn't want to deal with doing their own repairs and maintenance work. They're not terrible cars, but there is added complexity and more things that wear out and break in them vs other more simple cars. CV axles, head gaskets, timing belts, multiple differentials, etc... it can be a lot to keep up with as the car ages and racks up miles. Even on a new or newer Subaru the maintenance schedule is more of a hassle vs most cars.

If you want something hassle free get a Toyota Camry or Corolla. Doesn't have to be new. Even a late 90s well maintained Camry or Corolla is reliable enough to be a daily driver. They were very solidly built, and much fewer things to break/wear out. If you like wagons, they even made wagon versions of both cars. The most reliable and trouble free car I ever owned was a Toyota Matrix, which is just a Corolla in wagon form. They made AWD versions, and even a "sporty" version with a Yamaha engine that revved up to 8,000 rpm and 6 speed manual that was pretty fun to drive.
 
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I appreciate the replies. It would've been more intelligent of me to state some of the issues I'm facing with this car:

- Goes into limp mode roughly once a month, meaning no throttle until I turn off and on. Likely a throttle position or steering position sensor according to codes.

- Creaky rear struts

- Oil and steering fluid leaks

The electrical gremlins and leaks worry me as they seem like indications of near future critical issues.

Anyways, the good points in this thread stand. Gives me cause to think. I would buy cash, but that would be near 100% of my savings.

Thanks everyone!
 
SeaEagle said:
I appreciate the replies. It would've been more intelligent of me to state some of the issues I'm facing with this car:

- Goes into limp mode roughly once a month, meaning no throttle until I turn off and on. Likely a throttle position or steering position sensor according to codes.

- Creaky rear struts

- Oil and steering fluid leaks

The electrical gremlins and leaks worry me as they seem like indications of near future critical issues.

Anyways, the good points in this thread stand. Gives me cause to think. I would buy cash, but that would be near 100% of my savings.

Thanks everyone!
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If you want to keep the car, all of those problems are easy fixes. Check out https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/ where you can find info on common problems and how to fix them. For parts I like rockauto.com. Best prices on parts by far, just pay attention to the shipping charges.
 
mountainaire said:
If you want to keep the car, all of those problems are easy fixes. Check out https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/ where you can find info on common problems and how to fix them. For parts I like rockauto.com. Best prices on parts by far, just pay attention to the shipping charges.
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I second that.

And there is something very fullfulling about repairing your own car.

Recently fixed a gas sensor problem, replaced brake pads and discs, oil, filters.

The money you spend on a repair man, you can spend on tools and still save money, and learn a thing or 2 on cars.
Forums are awesome. I had it a few times, that i thought I had a very hard problem that turned out to be a cheap simple fix.

Don't know on your oil leaks though, I wouldn't be comfortable taking out an engine / transmission box myself.
 
Buying a new car is a fool's game with interest rates as they are - the last two cars I purchased (2013 & 2020) I had interest rates of 0% and 2.3% respectively. Paying interest on a depreciating asset is, well, not intelligent.

Those cars were also lightly used (both 3 years old at time of purchase) and purchased for half of what they would have been new.
 
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