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user-inactivated  ·  3532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The last car you'll ever buy may already be in your driveway

So, I found out that www.kbb.com here has a price to own calculator. I'm using their calc for all of this to keep the methodology the same.

My car has a five year cost of ownership of 35,000. This includes 15K in depreciation, which from what I am seeing in the current used market is high for the Crosstrek. The Chevy Sonic Hatchback, a much worse car IMO, that is 8K less than mine has roughly the same cost of ownership over five years assuming the same down payment and interest rate. I got the fancy option package on the Sonic to help with the depreciation, but that still comes in at 17K!

So now I have an interesting question, but no answer. Assuming that I am stuck for various reasons with a car that retails new for roughly 25K, the cost of ownership comes out to about the same. Are you better off getting a "new" used car every 5-6 years, or a new one that you can baby for 10?

Interesting question I need to think on a bit more.