Edited because I mistakenly thought your comment was on my newer article about reliable luxury cars:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and expertise Pete. I completely agree that if you can do your own maintenance, the math changes drastically. I stated that explicitly in my newer piece above.
I also agree that the pandemic is changing a lot of the pricing considerations, as I describe in another piece on the unprecedented incentives being offered:
I’m sure that, as you alluded, this puts pressure on used car prices too.
The one thing I’d disagree with is your characterization of the article as an automobile sponsored sales ad. I picked one model each from three non-luxury makes in the US News and World Report list I referenced.
My piece was intended to explore how the full cost of ownership of cost-efficient non-luxury cars purchased new and kept long-term compares to the cost for the same vehicles purchased new, for those of us who aren’t professional or even amateur mechanics. The follow-up article linked to above does the same for reliable luxury cars.
If there’s some other car you prefer, it may well have similar results if you do the same analysis. However, I’m sure there will be exceptions.
If you want to buy the cheapest thing on wheels, can do your own repair work, and don’t mind spending lots of time doing those repairs, I’m sure buying an old clunker would be a much better choice for you. However, that would mean you’re not the target audience of this article.
