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Old 10-19-2018, 01:04 PM   #1
rumatt
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New Cars > Used Cars

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)
  • 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"?

Either way I found it interesting. Let's just hope my 3rd new car purchase doesn't break this trend.
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Old 10-19-2018, 03:31 PM   #2
Nick M3
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Luckily, I'm pretty happy with your E30.
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Old 10-19-2018, 05:21 PM   #3
equ
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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.
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:47 PM   #4
Josh (PA)
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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.
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Old 10-19-2018, 09:58 PM   #5
John V
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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.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:37 AM   #6
Theo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John V View Post
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.
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:02 PM   #7
dan
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I've only bought 2 used cars ever. The 325iT in 2004 and the 135 in 2015
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Old 10-22-2018, 01:15 PM   #8
clyde
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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?
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Old 10-22-2018, 01:44 PM   #9
FC
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U 1990 190E 2.6: 5 years 60k miles.
N 2003 ZHP: 6 years 60k miles.
N 2005 Saabaru: 2 years 20k miles.
N 2006 V70R: 4 years 30k miles.
U 2007 Boxster S: 1.5 years 6k miles.
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U 2011 Miata: 2 years 5k miles.
N 2018 M3: 3 months 1.5k miles.
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Old 10-22-2018, 01:56 PM   #10
John V
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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.
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