u/Clear_Two_7283

Am I crazy, or does the old “always buy used” advice not fit the current market as well as it used to?

Maybe I’m just overthinking this, but I feel like the math changed a lot over the last few years.

Higher interest rates.
Used prices are still elevated across many segments.
People are commuting again.
Gas prices back up.
Insurance is getting expensive.
And repair costs feel way scarier when everything else is inflated too.

I started noticing it by comparing things like:
new hybrid RAV4/CR-Vs vs older luxury SUVs
Broncos vs used 4Runners
EVs vs older gas SUVs

Not saying new cars suddenly became the smarter financial move. Just feels like the old “always buy used” advice isn’t automatically true in every situation anymore.

Curious if other people have been feeling this too while shopping lately.

Comparing total ownership cost completely changed how I think about buying cars

I went down a ridiculous rabbit hole recently trying to figure out which car to buy.

At first I was looking at monthly payments like most people do, but then I started factoring in depreciation, insurance, financing, fuel, maintenance, etc. just to see what different cars actually cost over a few years.

What surprised me most was that gas usually wasn’t even the biggest difference.

Depreciation and insurance were brutal on some vehicles.

I compared a BMW X3 against a Mazda CX-50 Hybrid and the BMW ended up being something like ~$14k more expensive over 3 years once everything was included.

The weird part is I still wanted the BMW.

But translating that difference into actual life stuff — vacations, house projects, investing a few hundred bucks a month instead — completely changed how I looked at the decision.

It made me realize people usually aren’t just choosing between two cars.

They’re choosing between two financial futures that happen to look like cars.

Curious if anyone else has gone through this while car shopping.