The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: ThePhilosopher on November 25, 2017, 05:32:58 PM
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In the next few months, I plan to purchase a used car. My current car is a lease, and due to economical reasons, I believe that having a used car could result is more savings.
In my used car, I'm searching for the following traits:
- Economical gas mileage
- Safe
- Reliable
I'm not overly concerned with cosmetics or features unless it contributes to safety.
1) Is it more economical to purchase a higher priced used vehicle (3-5 years old, <75,000k miles, ~12k) or something older with higher mileage (7+ years, >100,000, and less than 8k)?
2) Any recommendations on specific vehicles or models?
I've been looking into the Generation 3 Prius (2012+). I like the car and idea of better MPG, but their appears to be a premium price for this vehicle. Being as this is my first car purchase, any general advice is welcome.
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I have two Priuses-- a 2012 and a 2003. Both bought used. I love them both. They are excellent cars.
The 2012 I bought with 55k miles on it for about $15k. It now has a 158k miles on it.
The 2003 I bought with 155k miles on it for about $4k.
From this experience, I would advise you get an older Prius with reasonable miles on it. I'm hoping our cars make it to 300k miles like some of the stories, but we'll see. Either way, our 2012 Prius now has MORE miles on it than the 2003 had at time of purchase. That leads me to feel confident that while the 2003 car is old, it should be good for many more miles.