I hate it when there is something wrong with my car. I am generally fairly calm when there is a problem, but I almost just go into a panic mode when a red light lights up on my car, so I tend to swap out for a new car when the lease up.
My wife bought a used car through Carvanna. It’s a “no-dicker” process, and she really liked it.
Having a new car is great, but our last few cars have been purchased used. Yes, we’ve had to make some repairs, sometimes high-dollar repairs, but they are nothing in comparison to the savings we’re realized by buying used. And of course the car tags are much cheaper on an eight-year-old luxury car, as in maybe $50-a-year versus $1,200 or more for a new car.
I just bought a vehicle 2 weeks ago. I did everything online and purchased one owned by an older woman who worked at a dealership. The vehicle had 9K miles. It was delivered to me. Everything was done remotely, and I had it inspected prior to purchase (and did some internet sleuthing on every party and business involved).
I knew what I wanted and had been analyzing them in cars.com and edmunds for a long time. I test drove local vehicles. Price out any vehicle you are considering purchasing on Edmunds. com on “What’s my car worth”? Very helpful information.
It worked out well for me.
I LOVE researching cars. Love it. I do it for friends. But I love cars, so put me in the weird group. Purchasing them is not as much fun, though. I loathe haggling, and I keep notes so if a salesman tells me one thing and then that changes, that’s it, I’m out. I typically use truecar.com and I used to use USAA pricing guarantees when it was still a good program and USAA was still a decent company (neither is true anymore).
If you go Certified Pre Owned, make sure the CPO is through the manufacturer (not third party), and that the warranty is done through and serviced by the manufacturer. That makes a huge difference.
From what I’ve read of the OP, she doesn’t really care what kind of car she gets beyond a few needs, so I wouldn’t be much help, I don’t think. I don’t like chevys, generally. If you’re looking at a Spark probably better to get a Leaf (although I like neither of those vehicles).
There are some killer deals on VW’s right now because of their issues with their software engineers fajiggering the gas economy readouts. There’s a diesel version of the VW Golf that gets amazing gas mileage and come in a manual transmission. Get the warranty and maintenance package so if it give you trouble you just drop it off at the dealer and they give you a free loaner until it’s fixed.
Friend of mine who has a similar meh feeling about cars has driven a Honda Fit for quite a while and is very satisfied with it. It doesn’t give her trouble, ever.
I won’t go near any VW diesels until this whole mess is sorted out. Those cars potentially will have a resale value of zero if VW cannot make them EPA compliant. Then the only recourse is to have VW buy it back at who knows what price.
I thought the Deisel Golf was not allowed to be sold in the U.S. At this point in time.
I don’t like shopping for cars…but I do like finding the best price for one. We had good luck at Carite. It’s also a fixed price place that sells primarily three year old Toyotas, Hondas and some Hyundai and Nissan models. They are not located everywhere.
We got both of ou kids 3 year old Camry LE cars with less than 30,000 miles on them for $15,500 including all the registration, taxes and fees. In both cases we also upgraded the tires to Michelins. Cars are fully serviced, cleaned and buffed.
Currently leaning toward a new car with a longer payment period. Did a couple of test drives yesterday and the salespeople didn’t bite, or even nag me, so that was cool. Trying to narrow it down some to Consumer Reports subcompact list, and I’d prefer a hatchback, which is leading me to Nissan Versa Note, Kia Rio/Forte, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent/Elantra.
CR isn’t fond of US cars it seems, very few made their top list.
Got a call from a family member today saying he can get me the Hyundai Circle (friends/family) discount if I want to go that way, which is intriguing.
More test driving to do this week, target purchase date is end of month. 
Ah, looks like that’s right, they’re only selling the electric and gas versions of the golf. Too bad, I like diesels.
The only reasons the VW diesels got the great mileage was because they cheated their emissions.
^^It’s a shame they couldn’t have adopted the urea-based clean diesel system that Mercedes uses. We get incredible fuel mileage on our 2012 MB. We can drive all the way to Disney World on one tank and have plenty left over (about a 7 hour drive). If I remember correctly H averages about 38-40 mpg street driving/stop and go rush hour traffic…
A friend just bought a Volt (a bigger version of the spark) and is getting a kick out of not having to put gas in it. I confess to drooling over the Tesla that has the doors that open upwards, but I don’t see that in our future with two kids going to college soon.
OP, avoid the Yaris. It’s a total piece of crap that really has had a lot of issues over the years. The parts are just junk.
The buyback price and additional compensation has been announced.
http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/crb/vwmdl/proposed-settlement
Existing used ones can be bought/sold. However, those considering buying or selling should read the settlement carefully to see how the sale of the car could affect the settlement.
@NoVADad99 So what if VW can’t make them EPA compliant. All a compliant car does it get worse gas mileage. If I had one there is no way I would allow them to “fix” it.
You have no choice about ‘not fixing it’ as it will fail the emissions test if you want to drive it. Yes, an emission compliant VW diesel will have worse mileage since they were cheating by defeating the emission controls to get that fuel mileage.
For those that want the Tesla, it was a great experience buying it. As others have noted: no haggling, no bargaining. Hardest part was choosing the color. Have had it about two months. Absolutely love it. Not having to put gas in it has been better than I even expected. Of course, we’re older and all our kids are out of college and comfortably on their own so we can splurge now. We also keep our cars forever. Most extravagant thing (by far) we’ve ever done but so far thrilled with it.
@3bm103 which tesla did you buy?
Appreciate the advice.
The Spark I am considering is not electric, despite the name. Just a small hatchback.
Tesla X. Needed a car that seats 7. Our original reason for buying a new car.
@NoVADad99 is correct, if you own one of the offending cars you don’t have much of a choice. The VW settlement is either you can, if EPA approves a fix, have the car made compliant (basically what any recall does), or you can sell the car back to VW (if you leased it, you can terminate the lease without any penalty, and I believe can get back any lease payments after September, 2015. Otherwise the car will technically be illegal to drive. I suspect that state DOT inspections will look for these cars and unless there has been a fix applied, will fail them (or they may force them to do tailpipe emissions, which cannot be gamed) and someone may find a letter from the state or epa telling them the car is not legal to drive.
Something like this happened back in the 1980’s, there was a firm in NJ that was licensed to bring exotic cars not normally brought to the US to US spec (this was before Europe mandated catalytic converters, plus things like safety glass, headlight height and other issues). The company was caught cheating on certifying the pollution controls were within US spec, and the owners of the cars the firm converted were basically forced to keep them off road, could not sell them, until they had them redone and certified by a recognized facility that they were within spec, some people spent, between the car and the work to make it spec, like 600 grand or more, and basically were up a creek without a paddle, since the company doing the work went bust.
Excellent! Terrific car.
Actually, the Volt is rather different from the Spark.
The Spark can be had either as an ordinary gasoline powered car, or a short range electric car. Note that the electric version has some very cheap leases available.
The Volt is intended to be used as a short range electric car, but with the capability of using its gasoline engine as a generator for trips beyond the electric-only range.
The upcoming Bolt is a long range electric car.