When to buy a car.

[greg vess]

Yep.. does toyota even make lawnmowers or pressure washers?

I never seen one. I believe it's the Honda factory car engines they are building and pumping gobbs of Horse Power out of. Certain ones are very Sought after in the performance community. They will never be a GM LSX in raw torque and HP but in those little rice burners they make quite a combo.

 

[Outlier]

As a counter point to the others, I have a positive opinion of the B7 Passat. At the time I purchased mine almost two years ago, it was roughly $5-7k cheaper than the equivalent Accord or Camry. The only two non-maintenance items I have had trouble with is the stop-start switch and the radio. Both common issues across the VW/Audi line in my experience. Worth mentioning is mine is a diesel that had all the emissions equipment replaced as part of the "Dieselgate" debacle. Warranty on all that is good for another 2-3 years and is where the bulk of any expensive issues would arise. The gassers didn't have such issues.

 

[Stampede]

I'd wait... Go to a dealership on a cold day in the winter.

Shop all brands and models and see what else you like and get good reliability scores.

 

[Mr. Goodbar]

Lots of great info. Time is definitely on my side. Just have to remind my wife and daughter we aren’t in a hurry.
Going to research the VW. Daughter is currently driving an 08 beetle that my sister bought new. I think it’s around 145k and not had real issues.
I work in a shop as well and we don’t see a lot of VW’s because there simply aren’t a lot of them in our area.
My wife had a Camry and I have a tundra. The fact I see so many Toyota’s with such high mileage is why we have them. Of course my wife’s Camry is a 19. At 14000 the fuel pump had to be replaced. At 26000 the Bridgestone tires began separating. Guess everything can fail.
Going to keep my eyes open and my mind open as well

Soft rubber and lower tread on new cars, makes them ride smoother so you'll buy the car, it's a deal between car manufacturers and tire companies, go buy the same exact tire and it'll be different. Our 2019 camry tires are going out at 22k

 

[eightnsand]

Carvana, buy a car as you sit naked in your own yurt. Tell them I sent you. You’ll get $500 off list price.

 

[roundhouse]

As someone who has worked at a shop that specialized in foreign car repair, VW is not anything I would ever own. They may be for some,but I’d suggest a Toyota or a Honda.
Your experience and opinion may vary

Came here to say exactly this.

Mrs Roundhouse has owned a VW for the last 17 years. And I’d hate to be having to pay a mechanic $100/hr to fix it every time some the info went wrong or broke .
If you do get a Vw , get the manual , the Vw automatics are not famous for lasting.

and teach your kids how to drive a Manual if you ever get a chance . Who knows, they may like it .

 

[streetroc]

I work in the automotive industry doing various types of contracting and consulting work for multiple different dealerships all over the state. If it is at all possible for you to wait, do not buy a car right now. I have never seen prices this high or dealers less willing to negotiate. As others have said, it comes down to a shortage of new cars which is mostly due to the chips. I think that this summer is going to be the high water mark though. They are slowly starting to catch up but that really depends on whether or not China invades Taiwan where all the chips come from. Many manufacturers have thousands of brand new 2021 vehicles sitting in storage waiting for the chips to be installed so they can be shipped to the dealers. I expect that many of these cars won't hit the lots until early next year and then they will be heavily discounted because they are one model year old. That will cause prices of all cars to crash. I want to buy a full size truck for myself but I'm going to wait until next spring.

As for reliability, in my experience they are all about the same if you maintain them correctly however the maintenance costs vary wildly depending on the brand. I've seen Ferraris with 150k miles and no problems but it's going to cost a lot to keep them that way and they won't be nearly as forgiving of abuse and neglect like a Honda or a Toyota will be. My daily driver is a 22yr old Toyota with almost 400k on it and it's never had any major repairs.

 

[Gunanddoglover]

Hold off buying a car as long as possible. A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with the owner of the dealership I work at about new car buyers. The used car market will have a surplus of vehicles. It's a matter of when not if cars start getting repo'd and turned in because the buyers can not longer afford the mortgage like payments.

 

[Gunanddoglover]

I work in the automotive industry doing various types of contracting and consulting work for multiple different dealerships all over the state. If it is at all possible for you to wait, do not buy a car right now. I have never seen prices this high or dealers less willing to negotiate. As others have said, it comes down to a shortage of new cars which is mostly due to the chips. I think that this summer is going to be the high water mark though. They are slowly starting to catch up but that really depends on whether or not China invades Taiwan where all the chips come from. Many manufacturers have thousands of brand new 2021 vehicles sitting in storage waiting for the chips to be installed so they can be shipped to the dealers. I expect that many of these cars won't hit the lots until early next year and then they will be heavily discounted because they are one model year old. That will cause prices of all cars to crash. I want to buy a full size truck for myself but I'm going to wait until next spring.

As for reliability, in my experience they are all about the same if you maintain them correctly however the maintenance costs vary wildly depending on the brand. I've seen Ferraris with 150k miles and no problems but it's going to cost a lot to keep them that way and they won't be nearly as forgiving of abuse and neglect like a Honda or a Toyota will be. My daily driver is a 22yr old Toyota with almost 400k on it and it's never had any major repairs.

Man that's the truth. You can add 5-10k to the sticker price on most new vehicles.

 

[streetroc]

Man that's the truth. You can add 5-10k to the sticker price on most new vehicles.

Lately I've seen dealers putting $3-4000 "market adjustment fees" on the addendum next to the window sticker. Even on sub $30k Kia's and Hyundai's. If you absolutely have to have it right now you can add about 10% to the sticker price.