The last time I looked into it, getting a loan for a used car meant a significantly higher interest rate, higher payments, and higher total amount paid than the same amount on a new car loan. That could mean 3-4k less to spend in the used car market, so now you're looking at an older car with more miles. If you're the sort who just wants basic transportation with a promise* of new car reliability/new car cost of ownership predictability/no gambling on the previous owner's maintenance and driving habits, a bottom-of-the-barrel new car can make sense. It can also make sense for some types of corporate fleet.Teamwork wrote:And then if you couldn't splurge an extra 3-4k- 10-12k on the used market could get you something pretty decent.
There's also new car smell...but maybe I'm the only one who loves those toxic fumes that much. Then again, I'm a guy who has spent the last 6 years driving an ugly beat-up antique, so I guess it's not THAT important to me.
*: Of course, that's not to say that the promise is always delivered by Mitsubishi or even Nissan, but a new Versa should be a pretty decently safe purchase as far as that's concerned.