Average age of American cars hits 11 years old
Per the Detroit Free Press:
http://www.freep.com/article/2013080...verag-age-polk
Spoiler
Personally, I'm driving a nine-year old car now because nothing new is worth trading up for, but the S is pretty special. |
Cars in the last decade are certainly better than previous generations so if you are tight on funds you keep driving it. Expanding sales are coming after low penetration since 2009 and an expanding population of drivers.
I had my last two family cars each last over ten years before reliability concerns pushed me into a new car. My S2000 is almost 14 years old and will continue as my car. Just the marketplace realities if this period. |
Autoblog had a poll for that article, and over 50% of the readers that replied said their cars were either: 0-3 years old or 4-6 years old, haha.
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My S is 8 years old, my other cars seem to get swapped out almost yearly.
8 years for the S is the longest I've owned any car, doesn't mean it's the best car I've owned or most reliable but I like keeping it around. |
Stagnant wages + inflation mean people will drive their cars longer. The price of used cars is at the point that I'm surprised so many people buy used vs. new. Perhaps it's due to them being unable to get financing? A 5 yr old honda civic that sold for ~$17k OTD new is selling for ~$12k+ these days. :scratch: Why anyone would buy a used one over a new one makes little sense to me. Buying a cheap/decent beater car can't really be found easily for a few thousand bucks like years ago.
I agree many 90's yr model cars were very well built (especially hondas), but the new vs. used argument strongly favors new IMO (not considering luxury cars). |
No surprise.
The wealthy is 2% of all people - so that leaves 98% as the rest - that is a LARGE percentage of people, with a ton of them not able to keep up with inflation and rising costs of new cars over the years. |
I usually prefer buying nicely cared for used cars, though I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new BRZ if the engine was more robust and if Subaru honored their warranty commitments. I've thought about selling my M3 at times, but it's hard to justify doing so when I think of what I could buy new for what it's worth. It's super reliable and trouble free, so none of the BMW stereotypes have applied so far.
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Originally Posted by SlowTeg
(Post 22714295)
Stagnant wages + inflation mean people will drive their cars longer. The price of used cars is at the point that I'm surprised so many people buy used vs. new. Perhaps it's due to them being unable to get financing? A 5 yr old honda civic that sold for ~$17k OTD new is selling for ~$12k+ these days. :scratch: Why anyone would buy a used one over a new one makes little sense to me. Buying a cheap/decent beater car can't really be found easily for a few thousand bucks like years ago.
I agree many 90's yr model cars were very well built (especially hondas), but the new vs. used argument strongly favors new IMO (not considering luxury cars). In any rate, just shows that people are pinching where they can, hey if they can save a few grand and toyotas run FOREVER right? 100K, save a few grand, deal! I remember looking for my gf's tC the second time around, if we didnt find the exact one for that price that day, we would've bought new. |
I'm not helping anytime soon. One of my cars, the R500 I specifically went looking for when Mercedes took the R-Class out of production. I wanted a loaded V8 example which meant 06/07 since the V8 was discontinued after that. I found a loaded 07 with very low mileage as a Mercedes CPO car. Bought it. Planning on keeping it for 10 years. It suits our needs perfectly. Much better than a truckish SUV. It only sees maybe 6,000 miles per year.
The SLK55 is another example of going for a certain model year. I wanted the McClaren pointy nose of the R171 generation. And I wanted the monster brake package with 6 piston fixed calipers up front and 4 piston fixed calipers in the rear with slotted, drilled, and ventilated rotors on all corners. That was only offered in 05/06. Hence I picked up a loaded 06 with 29,000 miles and love it. The folding hardtop and manumatic fit my needs perfectly once again. The car only sees about 8,000 miles per year. It's another 10 year car for me. My wife's Infiniti G35x is an 08 that we bought new. It once again suits my wife really well and sees maybe 8,000 miles per year. We'll probably keep that for the long term as well. For me, cars have become so good in terms of performance, reliability, and durability that new models don't really offer a lot of real world value. There's just not that much to entice me to buy a new car. It would likely be something subjective rather than any real qualitative difference that would get me to jump. And the latest generation of touch controls and voice command systems will not be that thing. |
Originally Posted by Saki GT
(Post 22714166)
Per the Detroit Free Press:
http://www.freep.com/article/2013080...verag-age-polk
Spoiler
Personally, I'm driving a nine-year old car now because nothing new is worth trading up for, but the S is pretty special. I'm happy. |
new car purchases are pretty high right now too....so apparently everyone in america needs like 3-4 running cars.
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my S is 9 years old, and is the youngest car ive ever owned so to speak. i just cant justify buying a 'new' car. as for the comment made about no cheap beaters, i havent paid more than 1000usd for any of the last 4 used cars ive purchased.
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Originally Posted by s2kpdx01
(Post 22714650)
new car purchases are pretty high right now too....so apparently everyone in america needs like 3-4 running cars.
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Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k
(Post 22714244)
Autoblog had a poll for that article, and over 50% of the readers that replied said their cars were either: 0-3 years old or 4-6 years old, haha.
There's a strong argument to be made that cars are better than ever. The horsepower wars have pushed even run of the mill sedans towards 300hp territory. Quality is at an all time high. Practically anything made in the last decade has the capability to stay on the road for 150-200k miles if it receives basic maintenance. My S2000 is perfectly average - 11 years old. |
My S is 11 years old and it will be my DD at least for another 4-5 years. Its paid for, rock solid at 127K miles, and still looks good to boot. Honestly I would like to keep it forever if possible.
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Originally Posted by jeffbrig
(Post 22715217)
Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k' timestamp='1375995433' post='22714244
Autoblog had a poll for that article, and over 50% of the readers that replied said their cars were either: 0-3 years old or 4-6 years old, haha.
There's a strong argument to be made that cars are better than ever. The horsepower wars have pushed even run of the mill sedans towards 300hp territory. Quality is at an all time high. Practically anything made in the last decade has the capability to stay on the road for 150-200k miles if it receives basic maintenance. My S2000 is perfectly average - 11 years old. No that's the point, I found that really funny. :tipwink: |
My only car right now is my 13 year old S2000 but I have a 2014 car on order.
Somebody else, maybe it was NYT, said that only 25% of Americans can afford to buy a new car. Since it now takes about $30,000 to buy a run of the mill family sedan that does not surprise me, I saw a Dodge Ram Pickup listed at over $50k with all the bells and whistles. Cars also don't rust like they used to and just about anything will get 150,000 miles fairly trouble free. So I guess it does not surprise me but I think it is a huge reflection of the recent economy. You had a stretch where even people who could afford to get them were afraid their job could disappear so they did not go buy, an GM and the like have dropped the policy of anyone with a $5 an hour job who walks in the door and wants a new Grand Am leaves the lot with a new car and a sub-prime loan. |
Very few cars are really built to be keepsake's and used car market has been very strong for the last decade. Seems bit at odds.
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My car is 10 years old. I can feasibly afford to buy any new car I want (within reason) but I just can't pull the trigger. I'm too cheap and my car still runs just fine. Some days I hope it blows up so I can not feel guilty about spending money on a new car.
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Originally Posted by vader1
(Post 22715342)
My only car right now is my 13 year old S2000 but I have a 2014 car on order.
Somebody else, maybe it was NYT, said that only 25% of Americans can afford to buy a new car. Since it now takes about $30,000 to buy a run of the mill family sedan that does not surprise me, I saw a Dodge Ram Pickup listed at over $50k with all the bells and whistles. Cars also don't rust like they used to and just about anything will get 150,000 miles fairly trouble free. So I guess it does not surprise me but I think it is a huge reflection of the recent economy. You had a stretch where even people who could afford to get them were afraid their job could disappear so they did not go buy, an GM and the like have dropped the policy of anyone with a $5 an hour job who walks in the door and wants a new Grand Am leaves the lot with a new car and a sub-prime loan. |
Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k
(Post 22719762)
Originally Posted by vader1' timestamp='1376057889' post='22715342
My only car right now is my 13 year old S2000 but I have a 2014 car on order.
Somebody else, maybe it was NYT, said that only 25% of Americans can afford to buy a new car. Since it now takes about $30,000 to buy a run of the mill family sedan that does not surprise me, I saw a Dodge Ram Pickup listed at over $50k with all the bells and whistles. Cars also don't rust like they used to and just about anything will get 150,000 miles fairly trouble free. So I guess it does not surprise me but I think it is a huge reflection of the recent economy. You had a stretch where even people who could afford to get them were afraid their job could disappear so they did not go buy, an GM and the like have dropped the policy of anyone with a $5 an hour job who walks in the door and wants a new Grand Am leaves the lot with a new car and a sub-prime loan. If you want the strippo, fine, I've have had a couple, but they do not sell in big numbers. But if you don't believe it for a second here is an article for you: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...201017601.html Honda's AVERAGE transaction price is $27,000 and that includes averaging in every Fit and Civic they sell at much less than that. When I worked at a dealer back when the earth cooled, we ordered a few strippos every year for each model, and sold dozens if not hundreds of models that were heavy on options. Sunroofs, leather, automatics, fancy wheels, better stereos, heated seats, etc are not in the $20,000 model you are referring to. Here is from the second paragraph of the article: "Manufacturers continue to benefit from consumers' insatiable appetite for highly contented new vehicles, as shown by average transaction prices exceeding $31,000 in March," said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar. |
Originally Posted by ZDMS2K
(Post 22714921)
as for the comment made about no cheap beaters, i havent paid more than 1000usd for any of the last 4 used cars ive purchased.
And yes, you can get cars for under market value, but that's hardly a fair comparison. I bought the civic for $2500 what 7 yrs ago and all it needed was a wheel bearing and tires. I was just lucky and got a steal. |
A new car is a luxury for most of the population and as money gets tighter, it's a luxury that more and more people are passing on.
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Originally Posted by SlowTeg
(Post 22714295)
A 5 yr old honda civic that sold for ~$17k OTD new is selling for ~$12k+ these days. :scratch: Why anyone would buy a used one over a new one makes little sense to me. Buying a cheap/decent beater car can't really be found easily for a few thousand bucks like years ago.
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Originally Posted by deepbluejh
(Post 22721877)
Not real sure about that. I just bought a 6 year old Acura TL for $11k that listed for $38k new. How some run of the mill civic of the same age could be worth roughly the same is pretty mind-boggling.
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http://www.roadandtrack.com/features...t-cars-of-2002
Road & Track's best cars of 2002. The S2000 made the cut. |
Originally Posted by Presto123
(Post 22722371)
http://www.roadandtrack.com/features...t-cars-of-2002
Road & Track's best cars of 2002. The S2000 made the cut. Not that it shouldn't be on the list, but we are all a bit biased here :D |
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