I'm not sure I'll ever buy new again--no matter the brand. They lure people into a false sense of security with warranties, but then everything is a fight to get it fixed.

I just can't see paying a six year note on a $40K or $50K car, only to have stuff break anyway and it's a 50/50 shot it won't get covered. And if it does, it takes a week to get an appointment and another week to get fixed.

I'll take my $7000 car with 100K miles on it, and my $4000 car with 240K miles on it. At least I expect things to break on them now and then. And when they do, I can usually have them fixed in the driveway in a day or two with a little help from the FSM or YouTube. While I'm fixing one, I drive the other. And if it is too serious to repair, I scrap it and get a new one. There are some really nice used cars out there if you can find one that is well taken care of.

The average depreciation on new cars is around 50% at 3 years. That is all I need to know. The warranty and other issues brought up in this thread are just icing on the 'no new cars for my household' cake. I work too hard for my money to 'invest' it that way.

"Is" or "was"? The used car market has been going crazy in recent times. I was looking for a used pickup and realized I could buy new for not much more than a 2 or 3 year old truck with 40,000 miles is selling for now.
I was talking to a buddy of mine yesterday who has a 2000 Ram 4x2 CTD he paid $27,000 for in 2003 with 16000 miles. He said from what he can tell, he could sell it for around that now with 110,000 miles!
Either wait for sanity to return someday or buy new seemed to be the choice I was faced with.

The current price rise in used cars is an aberration caused by very unusual market conditions that will soon enough revert back to normal. The 50% in three years has not applied the last year, but will return soon enough as this Covid thing winds down.

Now, trucks and large SUVs are another matter entirely. They are out-of-sight and have been for some time. With new ones listing at $50,000 and more, the used ones are just as outrageous. And ones that are in good condition whose miles are not out of sight, are hard to find. Supply and demand. There are simply more buyers than there are desirable vehicles.

Yeah, not to mention half the used trucks for sale around here have been hack-jobbed by some d*bag with the 4" lift kit, blacked-out fake beadlock wheels with low profile tires, a back window full of decals, and who knows what kind of half-a** mods. And they want you to pay extra for that mess.

No way I would touch one of those with a 10-foot pole. Factory stock only. The bad driveshaft angles alone will cause you heartache--as most of those lift jobs were done the "cheap" way, not the "right" way.