Which car should I buy?
I hear this question on many of the answers boards that I work with. It's usually from young first-time car buyers who have not decided on a car yet, and don't yet have the experience to know the difference between car makes and models.
Unfortunately, it's not always easy to help someone make a decision on which car they should buy, especially when they don't provide much information about what they think is important in a car (safety, cost, reliability, performance, etc.), or their budget, or what they will use the car for.
If someone gave me absolutely no information about themselves or what they wanted in a car, I would suggest a Honda Civic, which is the universal choice of first-car buyers in the U.S... The Civic is reliable, safe, has high quality, is cheap to operate, relatively cheap to insure, has good performance, looks good, and has high resale value. It just doesn't get much better.
However, the Civic won't be the right answer if you need a large sedan, an SUV, a truck, or a minivan. Or if you simply don't like the Civic.
How to decide which car to buy
Decide on the type of vehicle you want, the things that are most important to you -- price, small 2-door coupe, big 4-door sedan, powerful engine, good gas mileage, safe, good reliability, high resale value, luxury features, how much cargo capacity, how many passengers, and comfort.
When you have made a list of the things that you are looking for in a car, you'll find your search becomes easier. Web sites such as UsedCars.com and AutoTrader.com allow you to search for cars that have the features, cost, and other characteristics that you want.
Use our article, Choosing the Best Car for You, to help you decide on the right car for you.
You should understand that all cars are not alike. For example, Japanese cars tend to be more reliable and maintain higher resale values than American cars. Small 2-door sporty cars tend to cost more to insure than larger 4-door sedans. Luxury cars cost more to insure, maintain, and repair. Large SUVs are generally safer than small cars. Lower priced cars come with less standard safety equipment. Convertibles have less value in Michigan and North Dakota than in Florida and California.
Do your homework
When you've narrowed down your choices to a small number of car makes/models/years, research those cars using the mostly-free resources available to you on the Internet. Use web sites such as Edmunds.com, Cars.com, Automotive.com, and others to learn about your cars. One of the best is ConsumerReports.org which provides results of owner surveys on both new and used cars, and makes recommendations on which cars are best, and which cars are worst. There's a fee but it's will worth the cost.
Also use web sites such as Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com) and NADA (www.nadaguides.com) to research prices on the the cars you are interested in. Don't pay more than the market value of the car, based on it's age, conation, and mileage.
Then look for sellers of your car online and offline to find the best car for the best price. Our article, How to Find Cheap Cars, may help you. If you look online, watch out for common seller scams.
When you have found the car you want, make sure you understand how the purchase process works. Our article, Car Buying and Financing, may be helpful to you.