Tired of this car

[beinstein2005]

Sometimes buying a brand new car gives you that peace of mind where you don't have to worry about breaking down on the road. I used to drive a beat up old honda accord, until it continued to overheat. I got tired of spending my paycheck fixing the car. I went out and bought myself a brand new toyota corolla(this was in 2004). It only had 3 miles on it. I still have the car today, granted I've ran that thing to the ground with 150k miles in it now. However, it has never broken down on me and I've never had to spend money on it besides routine maintenance costs. You'd be suprised at how smooth the car still drives even at 150k miles. I look back and buying it brand new was a great LONG TERM investment because I still have probably another 50k miles in the car.

[disneysteve]

Sometimes buying a brand new car gives you that peace of mind where you don't have to worry about breaking down on the road.

That isn't true at all. As noted above, sometimes new cars, especially new models or newly redesigned models, suffer from the most mechanical problems.

I look back and buying it brand new was a great LONG TERM investment because I still have probably another 50k miles in the car.

A. A car is not an investment. An investment is something you buy with hopes of making a profit. Cars are depreciating assets.
B. It would have been an ever better deal had you bought a 2 or 3 year old low mileage car. Your average annual cost of ownership would have been lower since the steepest depreciation in value would have already occurred at someone else's expense.

[snafu]

Suggest you drop by library and look at Lemon-Air [Phil Edmunds] and Consumer Report to review their findings. Which cars/models had the least recalls, least serious fixes. Toyota parts are difficult to get these days due to Tsunami. Check where the particular car you are interested in was made USA or Canada?

[Frugal]

I know. We have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am (owned outright, no loans) that is having some problems lately. Minor, but the expenses add up if you don't do routine maintenance. The other car we have (mine) is older, and requires 0 repairs. It is a 1991.