New Cars > Used Cars

[rumatt]

Click bait title aside, I had a realization today. My car purchase satisfaction correlates 100% with whether the car was new or used.

New cars: 100% successful
Used cars: 0% successful


The new cars I've bought I've liked it a lot and wanted to keep it a long time..


E46
Colorado


Used cars that I've purchased (or acquired) didn't stick around long


1985 Dodge Aries K (inherited from my Grandmother) :lol:
1993 Honda Accord (inherited from dad. Drove for a while but only because I couldn't afford anything else)
E30 325i
E90 BMW 325xiT
Porsche Cayman R


OK the inherited cars don't really count because they weren't choices I made.

The rest: probably pure randomness due to small sample size? Or maybe I make less informed choices on used vehicles because "I can sell it and not lose money"? :dunno:

Either way I found it interesting. Let's just hope my 3rd new car purchase doesn't break this trend. :ack:

[Nick M3]

Luckily, I'm pretty happy with your E30.

[equ]

This is generally true for me as well and Cara observed it years ago.

2000 A4 bought new, kept 4.5 years.

2004 330Ci leased new, kept 16 months then transferred out.

2006 Porsche Cayman S, bought new kept 5 years.

2010 Audi A4 2.0T, bought new, kept 4 years.

2014 Audi S4, bought new, traded at 19 months.

The only used purchase I have kept at new car length was the e46 m3, at 5 years. Most are far shorter, but it would take forever for me to do the stats.

[Josh (PA)]

I've only bought one new car in my life... the '01 325i. It came with the shit steering and the Bosch Aux Fan that burned out weekly. I traded it on an '00 328i and have been buying used ever since. Most have been what I expected. The 1er is the only car I've ever owned that I truly think I'll keep forever.

[John V]

I've never bought a new car (I did buy one of my five motorcycles new). Marisa has never bought anything other than new cars.

Generally the cars I'm interested in, I couldn't afford new. Our differing strategies have generally worked out pretty well for both of us.

[Theo]

Generally the cars I'm interested in, I couldn't afford new.

I generally agree with this. Out of the 16 or so cars I’ve owned only 4 have been new. My 05 M3 Comp being the last. None of the new ones lasted past 3y.

[dan]

I've only bought 2 used cars ever. The 325iT in 2004 and the 135 in 2015

[clyde]

11 new cars
10 used cars
8 hand me downs (5 new, 3 used when they first came into family)

It's hard to apply the successful/unsuccessful tag to the hand-me-downs, so I won't try.

All new car purchases were successful, although some were foolish.

Three of the used car purchases were unsuccessful, but two were when I was kid and didn't know what I was doing and the third was buying a project car as an adult that I never got to doing anything with before unloading it.

I guess I've been pretty good at selecting cars that scratch the itch I need to scratch at the time?

[FC]

U 1990 190E 2.6: 5 years 60k miles. :)
N 2003 ZHP: 6 years 60k miles. :D
N 2005 Saabaru: 2 years 20k miles. :)
N 2006 V70R: 4 years 30k miles. :)
U 2007 Boxster S: 1.5 years 6k miles. :D
U 2007 MCS: 4 years 20k miles. :)
U 2007 997TT: 3 years 10k miles. :D
N 2011 328iT M-Sport: 2+ years 18k miles. :)
N 2013 LR4: 5 years 33k miles. :D
N 2015 eGolf: 2.5 years 20k miles. :)
U 2011 Miata: 2 years 5k miles. :D
N 2018 M3: 3 months 1.5k miles. :D

[John V]

I'm hesitant to buy new cars because I like being able to keep a car for 2-3 years and then move onto the next thing. Buying new cars makes that tough due to the depreciation hit. I've considered leasing but I tend to put too many miles on my cars to make that work.

[dan]

I've only bought 2 used cars ever. The 325iT in 2004 and the 135 in 2015

I should also add that I'll probably never buy a new car again.



Unless I win this $1.6B tomorrow

[3LOU5]

1980 Toyota Corolla SR-5 Liftback - bought it used from my sister with 80k miles (?), kept it about 5 years

1988 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab 2WD - bought new, kept it about 12 years

1987 Honda Accord LXi Hatchback - bought it used from my sister with about 60k miles, kept it about 4 years

2002 BMW 325i - bought new, still have it

2000 Honda Odyssey - bought CPO with 50k miles, drove it to the ground with 205k miles

1994 Chevrolet K1500 Silverado Sportside Z71 - my "beater' which I bought used with 150k miles, still have it after 10 years, only put about 3k miles a year because I only use it to tow my boat and on days with significant snowfall.

2016 Toyota Sienna SE - bought CPO with 25k miles, still have it

I've had 4 bikes in my lifetime, 2 I bought new, 2 used.

[Alan]

Matt you brought up an interesting topic, almost all of my used cars I kept for a short period of time (you could count the time in months not years) with the exception of the 997 ( 1 1/2 yrs) the 650i (don’t remember how long) and the R8 (almost 4 years).


No used car ever felt like it was truly *my* car except for the R8, I always felt I had to buy new to get that feeling.