Buying a car in this market

America: Where you need to be 6’7 or use a stepstool to add windshield wiper fluid to your truck.

 

Oh I offered. Just not accepted.

 

I rented a stick-shift car in Ireland. It did take a couple minutes to get used to shifting with my left hand. And I drove on the wrong side of the road only twice.

 

EVs are complicating the problem of putting the fire out.

EV batteries could complicate recovery of burning cargo ship with thousands of cars

 

My mother, all 5-foot-3 of her, bought a Tahoe about a year ago ... should be the same dimensions as what you posted above. It wouldn't be easy for me to get that thing properly cleaned up with the help of a stepladder and I'm quite a bit taller with much longer arms.

 

I've posted this here before, but on a trip to a wedding in Ohio last summer I wound up renting whatever the biggest Toyota SUV is and getting into the driver's seat was like mounting a horse.

 

I have a 2018 Tundra pickup. Found it last May with 5,800 miles on it, a lease by an older couple who didn't drive it too often and then the virus hit. When their lease ended they returned it. We got lucky finding it.

I've been in trucks since I was a toddler. Dad had them, friends had them, I've had them. This Tundra has a step-side assist that is quite helpful. Otherwise, I'm going to wear out the edge of the driver's seat sliding my fat ass over it to schooch in.

I don't have a need for these new, giant trucks like in the photo above, but I don't care who gets one. If someone wants to drive an ugly-ass truck, knock yourself out.

 

My only issue is when people start to try to make political points about the price of gas and drive an $80,000 truck that gets 18 mph.

If you can afford the truck, you better be able to afford the gas.

 

Anybody ever use a broker to buy a car? Greg Fitzsimmons mentioned using one to buy his Prius a few years ago. It seemed like it was part convenience, but also the guy knew the market and could get deals because he was buying a lot of cars. The price and availability of the car must be a huge factor.
I'm asking because I was thinking about buying a car and I can't make sense of differences between model, year, and mileage. Is it worth x thousands of dollars for a year newer car with x thousand fewer miles?

Any thoughts on Genesis?

 

If you hate the car buying process and aren’t counting every penny, a broker isn’t a bad idea at all.

Genesis get great reviews on Car and Driver, but terrible reviews for dealer support/service from people I know.

 

Midpack scores at Consumer Reports in the luxury segment. Average to below average reliability depending on the model.

 

I don't think you necessarily need a broker to answer that question, if you do a little homework.
Like I and a few others have said, some of it depends on your situation. If you drive a lot or have a long commute, then it's probably worth the extra money to get a newer car with fewer miles and more time left on the warranty. If you don't drive a lot, then you can save some money by buying used. I like buying new cars for myself because I have a long commute. But when my wife needed to replace her car a few years ago it was a no-brainer to get her a used one, since she had to drive less than 10 miles to work and didn't drive a lot of other places.

You also should educate yourself on recent updates to the model you're looking at. The Mazda 3, for example, was redesigned in 2019. I had a 2018 and then a 2021, and there's a noticeable difference between the two cars in terms of features and styling. But the 2018 also was the highest form of the previous design, so they theoretically had all of the bugs worked out and it might be more reliable than a redesigned 2019 or 2020 where they're still figuring out some stuff. So it might be worth it to get a slightly used car at the end of one design cycle than a brand new one at the beginning of it.