People fighting over new cars while older used cars languish on the market

I hear you. It is odd. I'm thinking it has to do with pricing being high on everything now.

Back then you could buy a new economy car for around $13K. I think it was around 2006-7 when regular unleaded spiked to close to $4/gal in my area. I traded my 2005 Chevy Trailblazer for a new 2007 Cobalt around that time. I got the new Cobalt for something like $12100+ tax. With trade equity, it was around $6K.
There was a point where a brand new dealer, i believe in Florida, during the recession, had a special on Kias. It was the very cheapest kia offered and you could get Two cars for $10,000. This was the best deal in the USA during the darkest part of the recession.

Now some people drop $60k on a 50k stickered Telluride. Kia / car market has come a long way.
 
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There was a point where a brand new dealer, i believe in Florida, during the recession, had a special on Kias. It was the very cheapest kia offered and you could get Two cars for $10,000. This was the best deal in the USA during the darkest part of the recession.

Now some people drop $60k on a 50k stickered Telluride. Kia / car market has come a long way.

I remember similar. I think it was a "free" Daewoo from a Nissan dealer near me that also sold Daewoo at the time.

I'm concerned about the whole thing. At 51, the most I ever spent on a vehicle was the $27K I spent for the 2019 Ram 1500 in my sig. I have no intentions of spending more than the mid 20K range on my daily-drivers in the future as well. I'll still have choices, but good choices in the rust belt will take more time and homework.
 
That car was a dog, great platform but missing a decent engine until VR6 came around.
Maybe as delivered but with a pulley and some porting of the G-lader they absolutely scream. The VR6 was too nose heavy and upset the balance of the car. The 16V in Europe was the best version (of course)

I had a G60-swapped Cabriolet. G-lader ported and pullied to the max - made 22psi and would spin tires ****ing into third.
 
Over the past 30 days, I helped my daughter and son buy used cars. There are plenty of used cars under $5k-$6k but in my mind aren't worth the money. Some have above average wear to the seats, arm rests, headliner, electronics not working. Others have dents (bigger than a dollar bill), faded paint and smell like an ashtray. Yet they want top dollar for the car. It took a while but found a 2010 Camry and 2005 Pilot with very clean interiors, 1 owner, and well maintained. I figured I overpaid about a $1000 compared to a normal market but the kids are happy and I feel good about the cars they chose.
 
Absurdity continues. $132k for used escalade.
 

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Absurdity continues. $132k for used escalade.
Seller is in Utah. New domicile of a large mass of very wealthy people (use to be a smaller mass of wealthy people).

Money is no concern for the Californians, New Yorkers, and Texans moving to Utah. If they want it- they will buy it, price is not so much of a concern.
 
Absurdity continues. $132k for used escalade.
Isn't that just asking price? I priced out a new one, depending on options anywhere from 100-110k or more. Even in non inflationary times, you'd also see used cars listed at about list price for a new car and you knew you could get discounts on the new car. The buyer of that one is probably someone who crashed their car and has an insurance payment paying the market value for a replacement.
 
There's a certain level of modernity that people want when they're laying down a certain level of money

Like side airbags and stability control, your really looking MY2007+ for something with those two features standard

Bluetooth is nice, but like a backup camera can be reasonably added to something older

Due to pandemic, some of the used stuff has gone into beyond obscene markup, to the point where people (myself included) would rather fuss with new car games (even current limitations) because at least I'll be rewarded with a fixed cost and a certain amount of implied reliability

It is just an opinion, and while I could easily afford a new car, I'd rather save until I really want to, or really need to

My daily Camry is getting old, but I've done enough things to it where it doesn't feel so outdated and burdensome to use day in and day out
A very well reasoned reply.

Far too many individualized variables to really make heads or tails.
 
There was a point where a brand new dealer, i believe in Florida, during the recession, had a special on Kias. It was the very cheapest kia offered and you could get Two cars for $10,000. This was the best deal in the USA during the darkest part of the recession.

Now some people drop $60k on a 50k stickered Telluride. Kia / car market has come a long way.
To be fair - they are making some of the best looking vehicles on the road.
 
And that’s for an SUV where someone already farted in the driver’s seat.
Yes, used, and on the road to massive depreciation. I was looking at some 2011-2012 escalades, around 80k miles for $25-30k, ultimately bought a 2005 with 111k for less than $7k. The depreciation is real on these.
 
The way I see it is a high quality medium mileage (say 60k-100k) mid size would cost at least 10k, below 10k you are going to take some risk and below 5k you are expecting to do some fixing here and there.

Repair these days ain't cheap either, nor are downtime for people who need to go to work onsite in a reliable schedule. Will you risk losing a few shifts for 5k? After a couple simple repair that 5k savings can be only 2-3k left. With lost income you are coming out ahead buying a reliable car for more money.

I do agree it is not a good time to buy any vehicle, new or used, but sometimes you have to pick the devil you know.
 
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Did someone say absurd? I habitually shop around, mainly because I enjoy it, not necessarily because I'm looking. As you can see, it can be good for a laugh.

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That is a collector car, you are not going to see a typical 2 door 1989 with 80k miles for 28k every day. Supra Twin Turbo from the mid 90s are also fetching major cash, have been for at least 2 decades.
 
The way I see it is a high quality medium mileage (say 60k-100k) mid size would cost at least 10k, below 10k you are going to take some risk and below 5k you are expecting to do some fixing here and there.

Repair these days ain't cheap either, nor are downtime for people who need to go to work onsite in a reliable schedule. Will you risk losing a few shifts for 5k? After a couple simple repair that 5k savings can be only 2-3k left. With lost income you are coming out ahead buying a reliable car for more money.

I do agree it is not a good time to buy any vehicle, new or used, but sometimes you have to pick the devil you know.
High quality Honda Accord 80-100k and $10k gets you a 2008ish model right now. Very dated and makes the upper 20k new alternative seem great.

My 05 escalade deal required looking at, and walking away from, several other vehicles. Then i put a whole weekend into reconditioning. These are skills many do not possess. Needless to say i am pleased to have earned a nice used vehicle for less than 1/10th of the new alternative.
 
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Check this out...

And I don't know if it's the angle of their pictures or the trim package, but it looks like a bloated Ford Flex or something. In all fairness other ones I've seen in pictures looked a lot better.
 
I have a friend whose Kia Sportage blew the engine last week at 240,000 miles. He needed another car quickly and wanted another Sportage. The local dealer had three on the lot. Here’s the price, take it or leave it. He did however get the Kia Loyalty discount and 0% financing. He was reasonably happy with it.
Did he even price out a new or rebuilt engine?
 
I have a friend whose Kia Sportage blew the engine last week at 240,000 miles. He needed another car quickly and wanted another Sportage. The local dealer had three on the lot. Here’s the price, take it or leave it. He did however get the Kia Loyalty discount and 0% financing. He was reasonably happy with it.

Kia and Hyundai remans are ridiculously cheap from the dealer compared to other makes. I would have fixed it if the rest of the car was solid.
 
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