Hi all, I hope you're well and pardon if this discussion has been done to death.
I'm a news reporter, and I'm moving from New York, where I've lived blissfully car-free for 9 years. But I'm moving back to Texas, where I used to live, to do some reporting for a few years and I need a car to go get around the state. Generally speaking, I bike everywhere, but I need to do trips of between two and 8 hours across the state, one to three times a month. Additionally, this car would need to do a 3K mile round-trip to Va, where the family is, twice a year. There's some work reimbursement for mileage within the state, but I'm buying the car personally.
I've read the Mustache blog posts about cars. I get the logic of buying an used one, but I'm not entirely convinced, so I want to throw this question to the community. I want a dependable car that won't break down. I also would like dependable outlets for my devices (phone, computer) because I need them for work. That points me toward a newer car. I've read repeatedly that a car's value drops precipitously once it leaves the lot, but I'm not seeing that statement hold up when I look at the prices for used cars for dealerships (It's a little bit more generous on CL, but not very).
So here's my situation. I'm seeing Ford Fiestas, if you account for all the incentives, etc., go for around $12K. (Maybe closer to $13K if you factor in these mysterious 'dealer costs' that I've never dealt with, but I'm including taxes.) I can buy that cash. The other models I'd like and I'm looking at would be a Mazda 3, Honda Fit, hatchbacks in that vein -- but I'm seeing them for more like $10K for a 2012 model with 40K+ miles. I see the used Fiestas for $10K at the 2012 and 2013 level, which seems silly if I can get the new one for the price quoted. My question, then, is -- should I go for the new car, which I suspect would be more dependable, or try to find and older model of some other very dependable car and take my chances? And is there something I'm missing?
Many thanks to all for their input.