New (or used) car suggestions requested.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hi, this one breaks down to 2 sepperate issues.

1 - Lets say a car is needed due to the destruction of your current car. And you need a car NOW, actually you need one yesterday, what’s the best way of gettign one w/o being royally ripped off. Should one rent a car to allow car shopping time, buy a clunker ‘station’ car, or walk to the nearest dealer and elplane the situation and beg him to sell you a car?

2 - Assuming your car is not destroyed before you buy a new(er) one. What’s the best plan if you drive about 40K miles / yr. I have come up w/ 3 plans, but don’t really know if one is better then the other. All are based on a max of 200k miles before the car must be retired:

  • Plan 1 - Buy new, hold for 5 years and then dump.
  • Plan 2 - Buy new, Hold for 2 years and sell at 80K miles, replace
  • Plan 3 - Buy used, low miles and high years, make up for lost time.

Other suggestions are welcome.

If it matters am thinking along the lines of the Suberu Outback or equivilent, MPG supercedes performance but A(4)WD is a must.

2

If you go into a dealership and tell the salesman that you are in dire straits and need a car immediately, you will get taken to the cleaners. Never show desperation in a transaction like that.

My advice: Rent a small car for a couple of days. Spend the time researching some old threads on car buying here on the SDMB. Go to www.edmunds.com and read some car reviews. Decide exactly what you need, and how much you are willing to spend.

Don’t set foot into a dealership until you have your needs and wants firmly established, and know the limitations and advantages of the cars you are looking at.