MarkGS

Owning a car is a necessity. Buying a new car is always a luxury.

What everyone says about doing research before making an informed purchase is spot on. I actually think the dealerships appreciate a well informed consumer as it usually makes the negotiation process quicker and with fewer hassles. At least that has been my impression......

CJITTY

In this modern age of internet and endless access to data, I often find that I know way more about a car than the salespeople do and school them on features it has lol

stas2007

Buying a new car is not all that bad, but it depends a lot on which brand,
Example if you buy a german car-personally I would only lease one, but here is example of buying a new 5 series, assuming you purchase a model thats not in first year production date:
base price is 50k add some options(ex. they give sports package free)- negotiate you can get new one for 48k.
drive the car for 4 years 40-k and get rid of this (prob can trade in for 25-30)
the second owner buys it used with 40k for about 30,000$
keeps it for 4-5 years up until 100k miles
He will put in about 10-15,000$ on repairing car plus endless BS from dealerships and lots of wasted time, everybody who had a BMW or Benz should agree with me here.
He pretty much spent 5000$ less as new car buyer but on a pre-owned car
With Japanese cars its different system but with German cars it pretty much like all this.

Pretty crazy how Germans are loosing, I mean dam new Acura ZDX costs almost same as new Porsche Cayenne....

daryll40

You guys are mixing a few issues here. First of all, there's the "new vs slightly used" issue. Then there is the "smart vs dumb" issue. On the first, my wife's RX330 I bot used at the end of a 3 year lease. In the first year of our ownership, I had to buy tires and brakes. I also paid for an extended warranty and there was juice built into the CPO price that I paid. All in all I probably saved a few bucks versus new, over the long term. But I probably won't do that again. I think I would have been better off negotiating HARD on a new RX350 (with the new bodystyle, too). At this point I would have a 3 year old 2010 RX350 instead of a 6 year old 2006 RX330.

The second issue is, well, just good shopping. Frankly I have a relative in Florida who buys a new Lexus every 2-3 years and the dealer always makes out like a bandit. But he's almost 80 years old and doesn't have the patience to futz with getting TINT and pin stripes installed aftermarket. So the dealer wins. He doesn't really care if he pays a few grand too much. I would and do.

Bottom line is that for most popular Honda or Toyota products (including Lexus and Acura), your best bet is probably to negotiate hard on a new vehicle. They hold their values so well that the 2-3 year old car is no bargain. But don't be a fool. Make sure that you really negotiate hard. (Oh and if you do buy used, there is an even greater chance that you'll get squeezed for extra juice as used car prices are harder to compare apples to apples).