A Great Time to Buy Used… But Not Because They’re Cheap

American Spectator ^ | May 24, 2017

[Lorianne]

But it

[cicero2k]

Even little things like getting keys copied are a pain in the new cars, and expensive.

[caver]

Good article! These cars with all of their bells and whistles will cost you the equivalent of a home mortgage to fix when something breaks.

It seems to me that an opportunity exists for a manufacturer to produce a very simple car with no extras. They would sell tons of them. A lot of people would buy them.

[Yosemitest]

Buy a car that has NO COMPUTERS !
Trust me, your maintenance cost will be a lot cheaper.

[MSF BU]

I’m seriously thinking of bringing up an older Liberty from Texas

[AnotherUnixGeek]

None of these things materially improves the performance — or even the economy — of the vehicle in a way that’s meaningful to the owner.

They will, however, add to the maintenance cost and reduce the robustness of the cars. The turbos in particular make me nervous - one more expensive component to use oil and break down. I got a new car with a 6 cylinder turbo-charged engine last year - it's the first car I've ever leased, and the maintenance headaches to come are one big reason why.

[grania]

This article reinforces what I did this year. I traded in a four-year old car with a lot of electronic stuff. I chose a most basic 2017 Kia Rio. Automatic transmission, heat, airconditioning, radio....that’s it. Roll-down windows, old fashioned keys, nothing fancy. It has less blind spots than most new cars, and nothing that controls driving for me. I like stepping back, a lot. I figured that getting this car now will get me more years until I have to get a car with all the stuff that hasn’t made driving more fun.

[yarddog]

I used to work with a guy who was moderately wealthy.

One thing he did was own a lot of rental houses. Some work but financially a lot of benefits. He also told me that he would never buy a new car.

[WMarshal]

I suspect that the cost of manufacturing, thanks to additive manufacturing and robots will make the cost of replacement parts to a reasonable level.

[Eisenhower Republican]

"becoming economically unfixable"

These vehicles not only break down more often, they're more expensive to repair. Past a certain point, it's hard to justify trying to keep them on the road. There are plenty of cars out there that could run another 50,000-100,000 miles but the repair costs are getting too high to justify patching them up over and over.

Becoming a huge problem with vehicles made in the last 10-15 years. Small gains in fuel economy at a huge loss to life span and overall energy consumption - not to mention landfill space.

[Gen.Blather]

“It seems to me that an opportunity exists for a manufacturer to produce a very simple car with no extras.”

The point is, the government has prevented car companies from selling simpler designs. Last I looked, GM had over two hundred days of unsold car inventory. Chrysler had around 150 and Ford had about 100. That is because the cars are too small and very uncomfortable. This is by mandate. For example, there are no bench seats because the government decreed that your feet would always be directly in front of you. Hence the designers designed a well for them, which is torture on a long drive. But your feet will be safer because they are in front of you if you are in a wreck.

What is selling are trucks and SUV’s because they are bigger and more comfortable. But this is wrecking the fleet averages the manufacturers will have to make good by year’s end. Meaning, they MUST continue to build cars that nobody wants in order to build and sell the bigger vehicles people do want.

Will Trump stop this mandate madness?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

This is precisely why I just drove 2.5 hours to buy a low-mileage 2014 Ford Expedition. That was the last year they had a V8 with a 6-speed. Lo-miles V8s are getting hard to find. There’s nothing like the inherently balanced design of a V8 for smooth, high torque power without expensive gewgaws.

[ichabod1]

I drove my truck all the way through osama so I guess I can drive it through Trump if necessary. Maybe he’ll get rid of some of the regs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It seems to me that an opportunity exists for a manufacturer to produce a very simple car with no extras.

Apparently you didn't read the part of the article that says the feral government will not allow that.

[marktwain]

Buy a car that has NO COMPUTERS !
Trust me, your maintenance cost will be a lot cheaper.

---

Those cars are becoming quite rare.

I do not know of any new models. They have likely not been made or imported for years.

[MosesKnows]

would never buy a new car

If never is the right word then anything further would be pointless.

However, my experience is that there is little difference in the cost of ownership between new or late model used if one maintains the car longer than 9 years.

[CitizenSailorChief]

I bought a “new” 2007 Town car yesterday. Big rear wheel drive V-8. They don’t make em like that anymore.

[chrisser]

It seems to me that an opportunity exists for a manufacturer to produce a very simple car with no extras.

You could probably do it in low volume.

There's a small manufacturer exemption, basically designed for kit cars. Don't have to go through all the hoops as long as you don't sell a lot.

I don't know about the EPA requirements. Typically you have to meet emissions for the model year of the engine, and if the engine was emission-regulated, you have to basically take the whole engine, management and pollution control systems and transplant them intact into the donor.

It's a small window of opportunity, but it's a window.

From what I've gathered, the rules are more lax if you wanted to build a car yourself as an individual. I've often thought this could be exploited as an "open source" project. Get a lot of heads together to develop something, but then all the participants build the thing on their own to exploit the loopholes. Could even potentially have small manufacturers build subassemblies. Rules vary by state. It's a potential means around the regulations.

Of course, that doesn't address insurance...

[PAR35]

>>>The turbos in particular make me nervous<<<

It’s not the turbos themselves that worry me - they are likely to last a fair amount of time. It’s the heat buildup in the engine from the turbos that are going to cause the expense.

[yarddog]

I think used is almost always the way to go but I did do well on one new pickup.

In 1985 I bought a new short wheelbase Chevy pickup with 3 speed manual and a 305 V8. I drove it for 3 years and traded it in at Dodge City Toyota for a few dollars more than I paid for it.

A couple of things helped me. First of all, I bought it in Norfolk, VA which was a very competitive auto market. The cheapest car prices I have seen. Also it was a left over model from the previous year. The model I got just happened to be exactly what some people want in a used pickup. A basic pickup with a V8.