buying a new (used) car

[moneybags]

I'll run some numbers on this later today, but I'm sure some of you have already figured it out. We're thinking of replacing DH's car. Originally, we had planned to keep it another year, but with the gas prices.... So I have 2 things to figure out:

1. What car will get me the best mileage? I will consider the Prius, but also need to see what non-hybrids are good for this.

2. Is it cheaper to still wait another year, or should we buy now? Reasons to buy now include gas cost and probably $500-$1000 in maintanence/repairs to the current junker (gets 20 mpg at best). He commutes about 13,000 miles/year. If we had a great mileage car, we'd drive it most weekends and some roadtrips instead of our mini van, probably another 7,000/year.

We are interested in used cars.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Prius are hard to find used. And they haven't been around long enough to get a discount for buying used.

Cheap civic or corolla have usually decent gas mileage. But again it's not much of a discount buying 1-2 years old. Gotta look at 5 years or older.

[garilon]

why is your mpg so low? Maybe you could get that fixed and it would last another couple of years? How old is your car? How easy is it to get parts? Are you going to a garage that you can trust not to rip you off? Do you have a friend who would help you fix it up cheaper - All questions to think about before you buy another car?

[MonkeyMama]

A lot of the manufacturers are offering subcompact cars that get close to 40mpg. I would probably go that route unless you needed a bigger car. (We have 2 kids and it's fine - we deal).

The Prius is even better, yes. But the cost is hard to justify. It's newer technology and they haven't really been depreciating much (I am not sure now, but for a while they were appreciating). Likewise, going used with a Prius is overall not a good buy. If you buy new they offer pretty good warranties on the battery and such. Not sure if this is transferable or not - or what warranties they offer on used models. We've discussed the whole Prius thing but I don't think the cost is really worth it.

My husband loves subcompacts and has an older Ford Escort that gets almost 40mpg. I am jealous that there is now the Toyota Matrix and YAris out now. Very affordable and so totally what we would have gotten if they existed 6 years ago. A lot of car manufacturers are getting in on that with gas prices of late.

Likewise, my dh told me he didn't want one of those (next car purchase) because they are hatchbacks. Um, you could always get a trunk option. Just FYI. I am pretty loyal to Toyota so have noticed those 2 models. There are many other out there that are similar.