I’ve been car shopping lately. My ’93 Eclipse is pushing 200,000 miles and though I love the vehicle, people have been suggesting that it may not last forever.
My search was hastened by a breakdown last month. The idle control motor failed during a battery change. The guy at Sears who replaced the battery swears it was a simple coincidence that the idle control motor failed at the exact same moment that he worked on my vehicle. A thousand dollars later, I’m back in business. But it grates on me for two reasons: first, I think the tech broke it, and second, the car is only worth a thousand bucks to begin with.
Anyway, car shopping reminds me of how much I hate car shopping. Nothing like being conned by slick salesmen who conveniently ignore the fact that anyone can find out exactly what dealer costs are on a car — including incentives and rebates from the factory.  I’ve already invested way too much effort for an asset that depreciates every day you own it.
Thus far, the candidates include:
- a (used) Infiniti G35 Coupe
- a Hyundai Tiburon V6 (don’t laugh — it’s a nice car!)
- a V6 Ford Mustang
- a Honda Accord V6 Coupe
I like all four, so it’ll just come down to which one has the fewest drawbacks. The Infiniti is expensive, the Hyundai has no resale value, the Mustang has a poor reliability record, and the Accord is sold by a company whose salesmen I despise to the point that I swore I’d never buy from them.
They do make a nice vehicle, though.
Speaking of the Accord, someone pointed me to this $6 million advertisement for that car. Well worth watching. Hard to believe it only took them 606 takes.
Go with the Accord. You will have far, FAR less trouble over the years and the resale value simply can’t be beat. It’s nice once you’ve paid off your car to have it actually be worth something. 🙂
There are bad car salesman at every dealership so don’t let a bad experience dissuade you from any particular make.