There are many factors which govern the vehicle you should go for. If you are with a tight budget and going for a used car and looking for a daily driver it would be best to go for some reliable fuel efficient car like Civic or Corolla. They are also one of the most inexpensive cars to own. If you live in a place where ice is common on the road you might like to go with ABS. If you want to tow a trailer you might like to go with a car with a more powerful engine like the V6 or V8 engine.
Top cars for women cater to specific requirements for women. If you are having a large family you might want to go for a more spacious cars. Hence the most important thing is to figure out the exact requirements you have with your car. After this you would need to fix a budget and your maintenance and fuel efficiency expectancy from the vehicle. Depending on this you can look at a new or used car for the model that fits your requirement.
Following are the areas you might like to consider before you purchase a car:
1. Safety: There is no car which can be labeled perfectly safe and crash proof however you can look for different models to see which are good.
Ideal place to look up are: NHTSA and SAFERCAR
2. Reliability: Again there is no car which will give you zero problem no matter how you drive. Every car has its limitations and will work only if proper care is taken. You can increase the life of a car by going for scheduled maintenance. However there are some cars which outstand in this department over other cars.
You can look for them here: J.D. Power and Associates
3. Fuel Economy: This is one of the most important factors considering the recent jolt which people got a few years back when the oil prices went to $150/barrel. Even with the current $80/barrel they are quite high and can go high any time. The best way is to take care of the fuel efficiency from the beginning and should be one of the chief factors while choosing your vehicle. Also following some basic fuel saving tips helps a lot. If going with a used car these are some of the best fuel efficient cars.
You can look for the Fuel Economy and annual fuel cost.
4. Environment Impact: If you want to have greener vehicles and want to look for their impact on environment you can visit this site: Green Vehicles
5. Depreciation: This is one of the most important things to consider while purchasing a car. Within 5 years a car depreciates up to 50% or more of its original cost. So if you are going to purchase a car only for a few years and then trade in the effects of depreciation might vary considerably.
Ex:- If you buy a new SUV for $35K and within 5 years trade it with another car you will find the car to be worth only around $12K. Hence within 5 years the car has lost a value of $35K - $12K = $23K or around $4,300 a year.
However if you buy a small car for $18K and trade in within 5 years you would get around $8,500 for the car. Hence the car has lost only $18,000 - $8,500=$9,500 in 5 years or $1,800 a year.
This clearly suggests the benefit of thinking about your exact plan and then making your decision. If you plan to trade with another vehicle it might be even better to go with a used car with good retail value. So even if you purchase such a car for $8,000 after 5 years you might still get a good $4,000 when selling if the car is well maintained. Also if you plan to sell soon it is better to avoid these high depreciation cars.
6. Insurance cost: This is an added expense and you should have this as one of the factors in the choice of your vehicle. Certain models attract higher rates. Also insurance cost varies with mileage,model,driver experience and several other factors. Choosing the right insurance company is very important. If you are getting a low value car it might be better to drop off comprehensive or collision coverage. If having a car of $1500 - $3000 it might be better to go for another car than for heavier repairs. You can follow these basic steps to reduce the insurance cost of your car.
7. Transmission: Cars having Automatic transmission are much easier to drive than cars with manual transmission. However the other side is that they are expensive and if you are getting a used vehicle it might have earlier issues. It is also quite expensive to repair. So you need to decide this wisely. For those who are experienced driver they would suggest that a manual transmission is much better as it gives the real experience of the car however it might be a bit bothersome for a beginner especially in city traffic.
8. Number of Cylinder: If you are going for fuel economy it would be better to go for four cylinder however if you want more power it is better to go with a V6 or V8 engine. The V6 or V8 engine would be good if you want to tow a trailer or heavier things. However for general city traffic four cylinder is quite adequate.
9. ABS: ABS or Anti-lock Braking System is good on icy roads where if you brake hard the wheels stop rotating completely causing a loss of steering capacity. ABS helps you to have the control over that steering so the car does not completely skid thus reducing the chance of accidents.
Finally it is always better not to have a sole criteria of price judging your decision. Also one should prevent some major car buying mistakes. One of the guys I new bought a used car for $1500 and was happy with the price however soon trouble started and he had to spend another $500 on brakes/suspension another couple of hundred for emission test and soon the overall cost ran to $4000 within a few weeks of purchase. Even after this there was no surety when the next expense would be required. Hence it is better to have the quality of the car with other parameters for taking the final decision. Finally while purchasing if you think that anything is not good it is always better to get it checked by a mechanic as it might save you huge amount of time and cash afterwards.
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