I've gone both ways. Used you take the chance of buying someone elses problem, New you can get exactly what you want, knowing some PO hasn't screwed it up doing things the wrong way. At a price. But with an actual warranty.

Most of the vehicles I've owned have been used. I have bought THREE brand new cars in my life. I'm 53 and have owned over 20 so far. Most I've loved..a few I had a love/hate relationship with (one of them a 1968 Fiat 500L)....a few I wish I had never sold ( a 1970 Triumph GT6+) a couple were absolute nightmares from the day I drove them home (one a 1954 Willys CJ5)

I've been burned a couple times buying used. And each time...the prices were low enough the possibility was clearly there. And those were always in the Pre- Carfax days. And in hind sight, I let my emotions cloud my judgement of what was actually sitting in front of me. Meaning...there were issues that were not hidden I failed to see, or was ignoring.

Buying used....bring along a friend, a more knowledgible one to look with you, they can be the voice of reason.....before paying for an independent mechanical evaluation before putting down your hard earned money.

 

My first 4 cars were low mieage 2 -3 yr. old rides. After that it's been new ones. I some reliability issues with all of used ones and one of the new ones also. I knew who owned the used ones, so I knew how well they were maintained. When I started buying new, the warranties were still 12 mos./12K miles, so thatvwasn't a factor. After all of these years, miles, and cars. I've come to the conclusion that long term reliability is primarily going to rest on how well the particular car was designed, engineered, and built. Thank goodness we have all these internet resources at our disposil to research our potential purchase.

 

bought 92 in 92, still own
bought 98 in 04, still own
bought 96 in 05, totalled in 12
bought 98 in 06, still own
bought 14 in 14, diesel cruze

i figure out what my needs are, then buy what fills those needs

I've come to the conclusion that long term reliability is primarily going to rest on how well the particular car was designed, engineered, and built. Thank goodness we have all these internet resources at our disposal to research our potential purchase.

truth

i go a lil older so ALL the issues get ironed out/replaced....100,000 mile plus cars go cheap, and i get another 100,000 miles out of with very lil or no repairs.

ppl seem to think a 10yr old car with 50,000 miles is worth thousands more than same age car with 100,000 plus miles...the one with more miles is likely to have more consumables (alt, ps pump, starter, hoses etc) replaced....and theyre cheaper

 

A brand new car depreciates in the neighborhood of 40% in the first two years. Modern cars with normal use have plenty of life left after that time. Let someone else pay the depreciation.

 

A friend wanting to buy a Subaru Outback had a long wait to buy a new one, but said his dealer had a used one with 27K miles on it for 300 bucks less. I did find a 2008 he could buy for $7,300 with a 120K miles on it, so really don't know where his dealer is coming from.

Was thinking about buying it for myself, could use AWD, but knew I would had to kick in an extra $1,700 just for parts that would cost over $10,000 if you had to pay to get this done.

My $4,700.00 on my GM card was worthless on any used vehicle, even with only 1K miles on it, so was far cheaper to buy a new one. Seems like my dealers are getting in a bunch of rentals, with a lot more miles on them. Would have cost me at least $2,000 more.

But if I waited another two weeks, could have received an extra GM card bonus for 500 bucks. Called them on this, said only good at the time of the sell. But could use it to buy another Cruze.

Guess it all depends and what they want for a worthless extended warranty, that would definitely offset the price of buying a new vehicle.

Replacement parts today are completely outrageous, not only in automotive, but in everything. If just the timer, motor, and heating element go out in an electric dryer, cheaper to buy a brand new one. Could write a book on this, but just trying to give one example.

 

I bought my new 14 Cruze in December. Went in to look at a used 14 with 30k miles. After running the numbers, using rebates and my employee GM discount, cost about $2100 more to buy new. 12 miles vs. 30K miles for $2100? Choice was easy.