Mid Week Match-Up: A New Car
Everybody knows that guy or gal. The person who rolls his eyes when you tell him how much money he’ll save by buying a 5 year old car. That person always buys something new, often the cheapest economy car he can find and ignores your sound advice about owning a fleet of old Saabs. When your Viggen is getting its weekly dash rewiring, you drive the Sonett unless its raining, then you drive the 99– you say…and then your friend buys something from the first dealer he stumbles into on his way home from work. Lets help him out this week with a Mid Week Match-Up for the guy who needs something new.
My choice would be to head to the nearest BMW Mini dealer. Everybody in the automotive industry will tell you that OEM’s make huge margins on options, so stick to the basics and you can get a deal. The 2014 Mini Cooper you see was configured on miniusa.com as a basic model with only three options — black hood stripes ($100), dynamic damper control ($500 — this is money well spent, with the touch of a button you go from Nurburgring to Woodward Ave damper settings) and black driving lamps (at $637 this is a splurge, but hey, you only live twice). Total MSRP is $22,050 and this little hatchback uses a BMW B38 1.5 liter inline-3 cylinder engine with a single turbocharger to develop 136 horsepower and 162 ft-lbs of torque. 60mph is dispatched in a reasonable 7.3 seconds — not fast, but not slow either.
In the past I would have demanded the Cooper S, but available turbocharger in the basic 2014 Mini Cooper makes the $4k savings worthwhile. Budget a few hundred dollars for an aftermarket performance chip and the gap to the S model speeds will be closed up anyway.
What new car would you recommend for fancy Fritz? Comments below.
i've bought *one* new car, never again
– bald-faced lying dealers, especially on financing – it's insulting
– officious maintenance requirements to keep the warranty valid
– nickle-and-dime cost cutting by manufacturers
– stupid combo option packages – for a center console in a van i need to buy the roof rack upgrade?
– frequent recalls due to 3rd party parts failures
– ridiculous electronic doodadery
– depreciation, depreciation, depreciation
what new car should you buy? no idea – look at consumer reports
2014 Ford Focus (or Fiesta) ST – base price is fair and the financing reasonable in my neck of the woods.
2015 VW GTI – $12k more and not so great financing.
I second that emotion on the FiST or the FoST.
If the Elio makes it into production, that will be the first new car I buy. Why? $6800 bucks up front and 84 MPGs. Also, it is pretty close to the car I always hoped they would build. What is the point in propelling an extra 4000 pounds of metal down the street when you need to go to work or buy some milk by yourself? I know everyone is going to say it is unsafe. The tiny cabin fills with airbags in the event of an accident. And there are better ways of making a car safe than adding tons more metal to it. How about the tube cage in any race car? People will also say it looks ugly and wierd. I don't care and I love to piss off people who judge others based on the car they drive.
Click here to check out that Elio – neato!
I think I would rather have the T.25 designed by Gordon Murray, but it will probably never be approved for sale in the U.S. sadly…
I hope they are able to make a go of it.
What is this word "new" you speak of?
Now, I don't recommend that everyone buy a fleet of old Saabs. But you do have to be financially illiterate ore really really wealthy to buy a new car. If you want new-car reliability, safety and efficiency, then buy a three year old car with 20k miles. It will look new, it will feel new, if you want it can be the current model. And you save yourself that massive chunk of depreciation that happens over those first two years.
Depreciation is by far the biggest cost of owning a new or newer vehicle. It easily outstrips the cost of fuel.
Hey, I know where you can buy a fleet of old Saabs…
Dear God. Thank you for creating new car buyers so that there is a steady supply of gently used, low priced vehicles for me to choose from whenever I need a car that is *New* to me. May these unwise people proliferate and continue to heedlessly purchase new vehicles so one day I may own a Subaru BRZ, Toyota FJ or Jeep Wrangler Unlimited at low, low prices. Amen.
good point – if the post had asked: What new car would you buy for yourself as soon the worst of the 2- or 3-year initial depreciation sloughs off into the nigh-insatiable, hell-gaping, soul-devouring, slime-gullet of the international industrial/financial ur-beast and the price gets to around $20k-ish? – that's a different ballgame – yeah, BRZ, Mazda something, GTI – i'd look at a Mini – Alfas are coming, right?
While I agree that buying a new car is pretty much a poor financial decision, there are some people (I'm sure everybody knows them) who thinks that buying new is the only way to go. They have some allergic reaction to buying a used car and think that the new car will save them money in the long run. Those people will often ask me (a known car guy) what they should buy — and I often don't have a good answer for them because I'm so focused on cars that are at least 5 years old.
The one time I purchased a new car it was an emotional decision (done by a much younger college grad version of myself…Vince ver0.9beta) and a decision that I regretted a few years later as I looked at the depreciation. Never again.
But…for those people who do it again…and again…what should they get?
we could cut a deal! – they buy *exactly* what we want, we offer to beat the lease buyback price or split the diff on depreciation (not 50:50 mind you 😉 or some other measure that makes it a good deal for both parties – then we stay on top of them re maintenance, tires, their bad driving habits, teach them how to shift properly – 3 years later we buy it off em!
Clearly there is no shortage of compelling new cars that would appeal to the "other" (cue scary music…).
I think the Minis & Fiats have enough style, engineering & performance to be enjoyable in the present and notable in the future. The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited is a fine chunk of American Metal with notable aesthetics, performance (as long as it's a manual) and functionality. The Ford Transit is a vehicle that punches above its weight, delivers on its promise and has an ugly/beautiful aesthetic that will likely see some legs in the future (can you say "Indy Rock Van"?). The Volvo C30 is nice to look at, safe as a padded cell and notable both for it's style and, now that it is no longer being made, it's scarcity. And, for plain old weird/awesome/boring/cool, there is always Subaru and whatever it is they are doing with the WRX.
Ultimately though, if someone asks me my opinion on a new car, I'm far from the best source. I just tell them to get the smallest engine, manual shift and say yes to the extended warranty.
=IF(financially ballin', M235i, Fiat Abarth). I got my Abarth for $17k.
If they're in the market for a new car, they're obviously not "one of us" [mostly broke enthusiasts] and thus consider cars like we consider dishwashers.
On the off chance that they're a car guy/gal and still inexplicably interested in a new car, then I'd recommend a Mazda3 hatch / Focus hatch. Reason: If they're shooting for low $20k range, they're obviously just as broke as the rest of us and probably need their "car" to double as an SUV/Pickup/bedroom/people mover, likely all in the same weekend. Plus, being broke, they'll need something reliable once the warranty runs out and with a large dealer network in case something does go tango uniform on them while they're on the road.
Tango Uniform, what does that mean? (Spits coffee onto lap when I figured it out ) nice one
I mentioned on the Honda post that I have a late model Civic Si. After trying to find a deal on a used one or RSX typeS for about 9 months I gave up. Keep in mind this was also before I knew about DT. I heard they were getting a new engine. So I bought a 2012 for just over 20k. Yes, I'm familiar with all the gripes and downfalls of later model civic si's, but the increased torque band of the new engine is great. You no longer have to until 6000 RPM to scream MY VTEC JUST KICKED IN YO! Had the car three years its paid for and I will probably never sell it.
This was before the new focus/fiesta ST's came out. I like them, but they are more cash. For the frugal enthusiast that wants a new car the civic si is the only way to go.
Although perfectly happy with my gently used, and paid off, '09 128i, I think if I needed a new car I'd first head to the Honda dealer and look at the Fit. Fun to drive, decent interior space, Honda reliability and resale value, how can you lose? And the EX model with manual transmission starts at about $17,500.
As with most of y'all, one ever new car here ('91 SE-R) and have never found the joys of being first to fart in the driver's seat (well, aside from the lot boys…) to outweigh the crush of immediate depreciation. Also I make a decent living but there's no way I could afford any of the cars I find compelling fresh off the showroom floor. I don't know how families living at or near median income can ever afford new cars but they do seem to be everywhere…yikes! If someone just absolutely had to have new though Mini isn't a bad choice but I'd be sending them to test drive Fit/Fiesta/Focus for a commuter/grocery getter/soccer shuffler, else a Tahoe if they also need to tow a boat/camper at the weekend but the HOA only allows in-garage parking.
What would I buy new? If the guy is in CA like me, a Fiat 500 E. With the gov't incentives being offered, the discount on utilities, and the lack of oil changes or other significant maintenance, you're effectively getting the car for free. I think Fiat even throws in a few rental car days every year to sweeten the deal. Use the money you save to buy a fleet of Saabs.
Definitely the Honda Fit on the cheap. I'd argue the cheaper Mazda2 is more fun, but it definitely feels much, much cheaper than the Honda, which finally has a 6-speed and some necessary hp. For the enthusiast it's gotta be a FoST (FiST is wonderful but too small for do-everything DD) or a GTI. Just drive both and you'll decide quickly. The Mini? Eh, overpriced. Back when they were all about handling and lightness, I got it. But now it's a pudgy, googly-eyed pastiche that still rides poorly on anything but the smoothest roads.
Of course, I recently went for something that undercut all of these, an '11 Saab 9-3 2.OT 6-speed. Definitely sluggish before the chip, and nowhere near its competition when new. But it's hard to argue with the luxury interior at $15K and just 9K miles, with warranty.