Older cars keep their shine as drivers pinch pennies

[RedylC94]

Originally Posted by bethomas463

In the early 90a manufacturers started to have to meet new EPA paint requirements and it took them a few years to get it right ...

Yes, specifically they had to meet limits on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) entering the atmosphere as the paint dried.

[phoebeisis]

So they couldn't use large amounts of organic solvents in the spray?
It certainly made a difference for about 4-5 years-early 90's until about 1995 or so.
My 1998 has nearly perfect paint- even sharp edged dents don't lose paint-and the places where rocks have scraped off the paint- it doesn't rust.

It is plenty wet in NOLA-of course we don't salt roads-I suspect the midwest and NE still produce rustbuckets-
In 2003 I bought bought a 2001 year old Prizm from NJ- every steel fastener and all the aluminum had grunge on them-just 2 years! The intact painted steel was PERFECT!
Anodizing/plating of nuts bolts and aluminum was worthless! Paint was great!

I was surprised that plating anodizing(or whatever they do to bolts nuts screws and aluminum) was worthless against salt-and this was on surfaces that weren't "injured"

Charlie

[frv]

We've just bought an 18 month old Honda Jazz (Fit) in the UK for 32% off list price. Honda's hold their value really well as do 'premium' German cars. Ford, Chevrolet and French and Italian cars plummet in our used market.

Used cars seem to dropping really fast from list price in the UK compared to the US at the moment.

It seems to vary widely by make/model:

A Mitsubishi Colt lost 45.9% of it's value from new in just 1 year.
The Audi Q5 only lost 10.7% of it's value.

The numbers are skewed however by some manufacturers offering big discounts to shift new cars.

[phoebeisis]

Mitsubishi still makes a Colt?
In about 1980 Dodge or maybe Plymouth offered a Colt-which was a Mitsubishi- it was a great little car with a dual range transmission- 4 speed became 8 speed!

In the USA older German cars aren't considered as reliable as Japanese,Korean or even GM Ford-and they are horrendously expensive to repair.
Once a BMW is 14 years old- it sells for maybe 5% of new. A 1998 any model BMW is $4000 or so- barely more than a Civic or Corolla

Obviously it is a different story on low year low mile high end German cars sold by dealers with extended factory warrantys.But, once those German cars are out of warranty-they become poison in the USA.

It has crossed my mind to buy an older BMW just to see how nice it is.

[Jay]

I'm in the same category of hanging on to an aging car. My Acura RSX is still very reliable after 10 years and 145,000mi. I was going to buy a Prius c this year but availability of the car is low and dealers are gouging, and I don't like the NiMH batteries. So I wait. I wait for Toyota to release a FT-bh type hybrid or for somebody else to step up and provide better quality batteries.

[WriConsult]

Originally Posted by Jay

I'm in the same category of hanging on to an aging car. My Acura RSX is still very reliable after 10 years and 145,000mi. I was going to buy a Prius c this year but availability of the car is low and dealers are gouging, and I don't like the NiMH batteries. So I wait. I wait for Toyota to release a FT-bh type hybrid or for somebody else to step up and provide better quality batteries.

What's wrong with the Prius c's NiMH batteries? It's Honda that has the problems. Toyota has a better supplier, and pack failures have been exceedingly rare.

[08EscapeHybrid]

I don't think its even the quality of the pack, its the battery management software that Honda puts in the cars. Toyota, Ford, and Hyundai aren't having anywhere near the problems that Honda is having.

[Bennett]

Originally Posted by WriConsult

Ha! I wish. Unless it's a gas hog, you're not going to get a 3yo/30k mile car for 65% of the new price these days. More like 80% for most FE cars, and often 90-95% for Priuses. .

Mine was an 08 (3-4yr old) HCH with 29k miles for 16.5k. It may have been a lease or someone bought it expecting it as a nice city runner and got disappointed. It was listed for a couple days, I test drove it, then "slept on it" and the next day it was gone! A week later it showed up on the listings again - turned out someone had test driven it at another dealer - I had it sent back right away and bought it.

You're not wrong about many of the other cars tho - I'm seeing several hybrid models selling for near or at (!) MSRP when they're used cars. That's frankly insane and you have to be a very uninformed shopper to take the bait. I guess someone is tho...

[Jay]

Originally Posted by WriConsult

What's wrong with the Prius c's NiMH batteries?...

They aren't lithium-ion.

I don't want Toyota's mostly obsolete battery technology that has about 1/3 the energy density of A123's lithium ion pouch cell (for example). Battery technology is fast moving and I wouldn't buy NiMHs for the same reason I wouldn't buy a new computer with a 10 year old uP.

[herm]

dont forget about bricking with lithium.. not as much of an issue with fresh nimh cells.