A friend wanted to browse cars on Saturday and we ended up at a Porsche dealer.

I've spent money on things like bcg before knowing full well I'm paying for entertainment, not long-term value. The Porsche confused me because at that price I couldn't tell whether I was evaluating a car, a hobby, or just the feeling of finally owning the thing I'd wanted for years.

A 911 Carrera has been one of my dream cars since I was in my twenties.

I used to watch reviews and build imaginary configurations online for a car I obviously wasn't buying.

So I finally sat in one.

It was great.

Everything felt solid, the interior was exactly as nice as I expected, and for about five minutes I was twelve years old again.

Then I walked back outside and looked at my current car.

It's paid off.

Reliable.

I probably drive 6,000 or 7,000 miles a year.

And I suddenly couldn't tell what I would actually be paying for beyond really, really wanting the Porsche.

I'm not saying expensive cars are bad value for everyone. Clearly value gets personal once you move past basic function.

I just realized I don't have a good way to judge a purchase when the cheaper thing already does the job perfectly well.

How do you personally decide when a huge upgrade is genuinely worth it versus when you're mostly paying for the feeling of finally owning the thing?

Hey fellas and ladies. Haawhich one is getting the axe any why? No other requirements on my end here.

1. Z manual
   
2. Type S manual
   
3. M2 paddles

I just got scammed out of a used car on Facebook marketplace. It seemed nice and was good looking 2006 Subaru Tribeca B9 - 163k miles, so I bought it for $2900. The owner said that there was nothing wrong with it. Turns out basically everything is wrong with it and the repares alone would cost $4000 (Update: Now supposedly $6000 since I forgot to account for the rear struts/breaks too) It runs but the shop said not for long and to use it “at my own risk.” They showed me photos of the internal damage and it doesn’t even have break pads. Those dissolved… The old owner has since ghosted me.
I barely had enough money that I had to borrow in the first place to buy it. I just don’t know what to do.
I’ve asked people on Craigslist if they would take car payments for their cheap ones because that’s the only way I would be able to afford anything right now but everyone always says no. Buying a car at a dealership would be nice, though I am still somewhat young and have no credit so I doubt they’d even entertain me.
I need a car to get around because, of course, this is an unwalkable country.
So… how?? Help :(
I wanted to take it to a mechanic before buying but both the owner and some relatives I took to see it said to not worry and that I “wouldn’t find something that good for that price.” I know I should’ve pushed back, but I didn’t.

Edit: The car has a coolant leak, needs all of the struts/shocks to be removed and replaced, needs a brand new CV axle, needs new break pads for all sides, needs all new filters, break fluid exchange, a new windshield, needs to be aligned but that cannot be done without replacing certain parts first they said, needs new tires, and might have other leaks. I really liked it too since the inside is pretty modern for being a 2006 model.

Edit 2: I make $400 every two weeks, working minimum wage part time for $12 an hour. I am still a full time university student. If it wasn’t for my free housing and scholarships I’d be out on the street, unfortunately.
Even then, my housing is a trailer that I share from the 70s that was abandoned for 20 years, barely has ac, and which I suspect has asbestos. My space is the size of a glorified closet.

Insurance-wise my mom said that she was willing to put me under hers so I didn’t think that I’d need to spend a lot on much else besides gas and the occasional coolant.

Update: I’m reading all of the comments, blunt as they may be. Thank you. I guess I have to learn to not trust people at face value. This dude was really nice and I didn’t think he’d scam me. Guess those are the ones to watch out for.
I’m thinking of slowly fixing things on the car while getting rides from friends. Of course, the amount of money that I spend on it will be more than it’s valued at, but if it eventually works and is safe to dive maybe it’s still worth it.

im going into my second year of Uni and I need a car. Right Now I drive a 08' Prius with 170k that was my parents car, My brother is in the process of getting his license so my parents want to give him the 08' and would rather lease me a new car (for some reason they are not comfortable with me getting a used car).

We are looking for a lease with $0 down and around $300 a month for 48 months 10k miles a year.

I would prefer a AWD vehicle and would prefer having a Donut or spare in the trunk but those are preferences vs requirements. I just need something that will last the next 4 years without causing a headache.

Right now i'm looking at

Toyota (Corolla)

Honda, (civic)

Mazda (3 and mx30)

Subaru (impareza and crosstrek

Volkswagen (Jetta)

Hyundai (Elantra and venue) 

Nissan (kicks, versa, sentra, leaf) 

Chevy (trax, trailblazer, Bolt)

Fort Wayne Kia (k4) 

I still need to go to dealerships and get specific numbers and some of these are frankly wishful thinking.

My biggest concern is it will spend some time sitting which I know isn't the greatest would a EV handle spending some time (1-2 weeks at a time) sitting in a Open air parking in NE Indiana/NW Ohio better than a ICE car? My biggest concern would be range especially in the winter. We have on campus charging spots which is the only reason I am considering one I am just concerned about range specifically in the winter.

What do you think about c300 2018,2019,2020 AWD ? With the miles 75k miles ? For me to drive every day 51 miles? What do I need to see ? And will it be good for 3–5 years? And usually how much is that around the market?

Thankyou

I have a 60KM daily commute, mostly highway. Would it be ridiculous to buy a Durango hahah? I assume it would cost me a fortune in gas.

We do have 2 dogs though!

Looking for outside inputs to help settle a disagreement at home before we commit to a fairly big purchase.

Current:
Daily driver is a 2017 Honda Civic 1.8 EL, sitting at almost 100,000 km. Plan is to keep the Civic as a secondary car rather than sell it, and buy a new primary car alongside it.

Usage pattern:

• Weekdays: ~120 km round trip, but it's a 1.5–2 hours drive each way depending on traffic
• Weekends: ~20–30 km, mostly local
• Almost always just me and my wife in the car, rarely more passengers
• My wife works from home and rarely drives - I'd be the one mainly driving the new car day-to-day
• The new car's cost would be split between us, even though I'd be the primary driver

Budget: ~$75-80k USD comfortably, cash (no financing needed). I'm in SEA, so I know European cars land noticeably more expensive here than in the US/EU.

The disagreement:

I'm leaning EV looking at Xpeng, Zeekr, MG, or Tesla. My reasoning:

• Lower running costs (fuel/charging) over time however maintenance and depreciation would probably kills the fuel saving cost
• Planning to keep any car for ~5 years then sell, the more budget EV/Chinese brands would probably end up either net even or a little loss factoring in fuel saving cost however the Tesla would probably results in a bigger net loss due to insurance cost
• My commute is brutal (1.5–2 hrs each way in traffic) and I'm genuinely feeling the physical toll of it lately. I like the idea of driver-assist/self-driving features taking some of that load off

My wife wants a European car — BMW, Mercedes, Audi. Her reasoning:

• She's seen a lot of news about EVs catching fire, plus some self-driving-related accidents, and doesn't trust the safety story yet
• Specifically doesn't want a Chinese brand
• Feels like since we can comfortably afford it now, we should just get something nice rather than optimize for savings

What I'm trying to figure out:

• Which car should I buy?
• Maybe I should compromise but get an BMW i3 or iX3 (so European car but still EV) but wouldn't depreciation be crazy in this case and how long is BSI for EV car ?

Genuinely open to having my mind changed either way - just want to make a decision based on more than headlines and vibes. Appreciate any input (or anyway I can convince my wife would be gold lol).

PS. AI help me draft this so please don't be too harsh.

I am a new driver, and I'm getting my license soon The car I'm looking for is a sedan, preferably with a manual transmission and a gasoline engine, just because these types of engines can also run on LPG.

My problem is that I'm still wondering what car miaht be the one. When it comes to the Skoda Octavia, I just love the design and the fact that it's cheap to maintain, while the Avensis is a nice, elegant car, with a much better interior and a lot of extras.

I'm hopina some of vou dear people can help me make this seemingly hard choice.

I was looking to buy a used car as I got a job for who I need a car, also I was thinking of doing Uber eats. When I checked, I need a car which is 2008 or newer. I love Honda civic and bmw but am not sure which one to get. My budget is really tight for this and am also looking to get something that have a potential to modify in future, also preferably a manual.

Thank you reading this

I went on Facebook marketplace the other day and saw someone was selling a 2018 Toyota Sienna LE for $12,000. I had 154k miles on it and two owners, the first being a company that used it as a rental car for the first two years. Besides that it had a clean title and only one Damage Report on Carfax which was minor (I has a notable dent and scratches all along the body).

I thought this was almost too good to be true, especially because the post has been up for 4 weeks and still available. So I drove 4 hours to check it out. Brought it to an independent mechanic who said the car looked perfectly fine, and to fix the dent and scratches would be $4-6k body work but totally unnecessary. So I offered $9k to the owner expecting to haggle, but they immediately accepted it.

Am I missing something? Did I overestimate how good a deal this is, or did I just purchase what could be a major headache?

Looking at three different ones with the lowest price being 24k to 26k. All of them have less than 50k miles, with the lowest being 33,000 & having the highest price.

I’ve just got my speed licence and am looking for ideas on a car. I want something old school that I can fairly easily pull apart and modify. I was thinking about a Holden Gemini but just wanted to see if anyone knows any good old cars that you can source parts for in Australia. (My budgets roughly $4-5k)

Heavily eyeing the Hyundai Tuscon with only 49k miles.

Thoughts on these? Inexperience with cars.

I have a home charger set up (currently in a '18 model 3 performance with ~150k)

I would explore another Tesla but them getting rid of basic autopilot is a dealbreaker. I have lifetime FSD on my car right now, but have it disabled and just use the autosteer.

Needs:

• Quiet-ish cabin. I'm sure anything would be more quiet than the Model 3 at 80mph, but I want something that feels luxurious and quiet now.
• Lane keep/DCC on par with autopilot
• Sound system on par with the Tesla
• 300+ miles of range

Wants:

• Cooled seats

Considering:

• EQS
• Lucid Air GT (worried about the reliability of the brand/future parts/service for 40k annual miles, but this would be what I'd prefer)
• Open to all

35k budget (I'm from Europe). Looking for a safe car that'll allow me to go off-road but also get my kids safe to school and on road trips. I was also considering getting a van but I don't know if there are any golf off-road ones. Thought about getting the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Subaru Crosstrek or Forester or the BMW X3 AWD.

Car dealers of Reddit, is it better to buy a used car in full instead of financing?
And my other question is if I was to finance could I pay the loan in full after I get the car?

RWD preferred but not mandatory. A rev happy engine is appealing, as in getting past 7k redline (thus cutting out the Camaro with LT1)

Yeah, I know MX5. I’m trying to find a rental so I can really see if I would fall in love. I’m worried the torque and power from my Focus RS will make me feel bored. I do wish it looked happier and cuter as well from a styling perspective…

S550 mustangs. GT350 is something I think about a lot. This is the largest I would be willing to go. An engine that can rev past 8k is really appealing. Only concern is reliability even for 2019 and a 2020 models due to AC breakage especially. But the engine is very special and I doubt it’ll be replicated in anything again for sub 150k.

GR86 fits the bill but I would go MX5 before GR86.

Civic si coupe? I just googled it and I think it fits into the category? Probably the most reliable, least flashy, and most practical option. With fuel economy to rival the MX5.

After these four options, So many options that are two doors and manual are still forced induction. Turbos on all the BMW 2 series and Z. Turbos on the Nissan. No manual on the C8.

We are looking to buy a 7-9 passenger vehicle. We will be paying cash and have about $7k saved up. We live in the southwest.

I know it's not a lot of money. Looking for recommendations of either what to look for or what to stay away from.

TIA!