Good & Bad Value For Money Cars?

Question

The price range for a new or used car is immense. Which cars do you think are overpriced? Which are breakdown hazards? Which are reliable investments? And how does buying say a brand new Fiat compare in VFM terms with buying a five year old Mercedes?

Answer 1

The best way to determine fair market value is by finding its Blue Book Value. I find most cars for sale today are over priced (except perhaps new) and most sellers / buyers accept haggling as a bargaining tool, but I don't.
When buying or selling, I find the Blue Book Value of the car in question and when selling I price it at that value and sell it for the whole amount, and when buying I will only buy a car that is set very close to said value and then pay the whole amount, all haggling and fear and bs is thus eliminated.
Buying / Selling cars via Blue book is not without bs, one trades the nonsense involved above for another type of bs, namely research, time and patience, so it is a matter of which you tolerate best (haggling vs. buying / selling savvy).
You can find the blue book here: http://www.kbb.com/
The blue book value takes into consideration most if not all factors such as recall issues etc, now either the car you are buying is priced right or it is not, and most are not, these I don't even consider. As a rule, since buying a car is a high dollar investment, it can take 3-4 and even 6-12 months for me to find the right one (used), I just keep window shopping and looking, keep doing that and in short, you're looking for the needle in the haystack.

As for high dollar cars such as a Mercedes / bmw / etc, best I can tell you is these cars don't stand out in VFM terms until long after their prime. These cars are built while observing standards and specs superior to today's cars, but only in the long run of a period of time of at least 10-15 years do these cars pay off, because they run as good with 200,000 miles on them after 15 years as most run of the mill ones do fresh off the lot, on a side by side comparison.
For example, my 1988 bmw 325 today still runs laps around most bs cars, thou it's by far not the fastest car on the road anymore, it sure keeps up decent, while it still has cruise control and a/c and all that stuff, it also takes a fair amount of tinkering and DIY and know how to keep them in shape, it's a trade off, you're still not getting something for nothing unfortunately, and I always run premium fuel and synthetic oils.
So, they cost more and last longer, in a nutshell.

Answer 2

If you check the surveys e.g. Top Gear, you'll see that Mercedes, VW, Audi etc don't actually do any better in general than anyone else, & they cost a bomb to run & fix when they break down.
The most troublesome cars I've ever owned (out of about 30) were a BMW, a VW, & an Audi. I've had Fiats that needed a little petrol & not much else in 3 years, & my current Alfa 156 is 5 years old and has never given me any bother.
In terms of value, the best deals are mainstream 'fleet' cars e.g. Vectras, Mondeos etc under a year old. Often they're half the original price.
Very few cars, other than wisely-bought classics are actually investments, the best you can hope is that they won't ruin your wallet & you can have some FUN in it when the mood takes you!

Answer 3

In a recent report on car depreciation two of the five worst cars were Fiats each losing over 54% in the first year. The best at retaining value was the BMW 3 series although many people (me included) think they are overpriced. Steer clear of anything French cheap to buy but expensive to service and maintain and love the hard shoulder. Depending on mileage I would always go for a second hand car. The dealers are full of 12 month old low mileage cars which are far cheaper than buying new.

Answer 4

Prices vary because cars vary, greatly. There are bargains and not so good bargains. Generally speaking, buying a nerw car is a pretty good deal. There are protections like warranties and lemon laws, etc. Used cars are generally someone else's headache that they just want to unload, but the price is generally more in line with the actual, or percieved actual value of the car. One major thing to watch out for in luxury cars especially is too good a deal. A Mecedes, for instance that is bargained priced is going to be a bust on the road. Just look around. What cars are still on the road where you live? The older, still running well cars are the ones to go after in a used vehicle. For new cars, avoid the trendy newcomers and stick with the proven makes and models.

Answer 5

This is a very hard question to answer ,for you could bye a brand new car and have a lot of trouble with the car and then it will not be VFM .

Answer 6

Honda Jazz or Mini are vastly over priced in the used market when compared to similar Polo, The best value car in my opinion is the VW Bora, it is higher class than the Gold better looking and a lot cheaper. You may also want to consider the Octavia but they are (surprisingly) more expensive than the Bora. Another good value vehicle is the Vauxhall Omega, big cars, good lookign and very cheap.

Answer 7

Stay away from the Mercedes because for what you pay the reliability is all but non-existant. Jaquar is a very unreliable "money" car as well. You're better off sticking with an Audi, if you're looking for a reliable luxury car. My opinion, but hey what do I know, I'm an American who drives a pontiac.

Answer 8

Two things that affect a used car's value is the brand and market supply. Brand value is quite subjective, often it pays to go for a car that is in oversupply, like a Mondeo. The attraction of new cars is the warranty, but you've got the depreciation to live with too.

I could go on all day..

Answer 9

first, the new fiat wont last five years! and my mates merc has 260 thou on the clock and looks like new... my volvo is 20 years old... and has NO rust and still does 40mpg... the only thing replaced in the engine had been a cracked injector line... the rest is all original, as is the merc.

quality lasts, cheap mass produced junk doesnt last, because its not designed to... a ford has a 10 year lifespan, as do most jap cars, italian cars and frog wagons... merc, audi volvo and beemers last... look on ebay and see what sells for what...

and any mass produced car built since 1990 is a junker... low grade steel, cheap components, and shoddy build quality

Answer 10

go for the Fiat it would probably last longer than the merc and if it don't the money you would save you could buy a new fiat every 3 years for 12 year or 1 merc which would fall apart after 8 years they ain't built like they used to