Discussions

Providing you have the money saved up would it be better buying brand new at a dealership or buying a few years older and still low mileage? I'm looking for a winter reliable vehicle like Rav4 or Jeep or Chevy Colorado. Thanks

Everyone you'll ask will have differing opinions, me personally, I always question why someone would trade in a trouble free low mileage vehicle so I assume all used vehicle are lemons that someone dumped.  
 
That's definitely not realistic as there are lots of reasons someone would opt to get rid of a reliable vehicle but that's how my mind works.  
 
My last 2 vehicles have been brand new, sure depreciation sucks, but only really a factor if you plan on selling it within its useable lifespan, I run up the km's fast so by the time I'm ready to sell, its not worth much anyways.

I would never buy another new vehicle and have the means to. If you search around you can find great used ones with low kms and you can let someone else pay $10K+ in deprecation. At one time the guy was me but then I wised up. But it is really dependent on you, if you want new and have to have new then get new. Otherwise I would buy used just do your homework. Just as many new "lemons" as there are used so don't let that concern you.

New makes sense if you want warranty, run a lot of miles, or maybe payment driven, otherwise buy used! Better deals privately when you find well cared for vehicles.  
 
2015+ - RAV4, CRV, Subarus, VW Tiguan, Mazda cx3/5, 2.0 escapes, are decently reliable and work well. The Japanese stuff generally holds up the best. Kia/Hyundai some models have that motor problem. Don’t buy anything with a CVT. Small trucks are great but the mpg difference isn’t that big from a half ton and trucks (and suv) are retaining value well these days. Colorado 3.6 is a good platform, Tacoma more reliable but used prices are up there. Good luck!

I just bought a used vehicle, just under a year old. It was a rental unit, low mileage and very well maintained. Saved at least $15000 off new. Decided to go import this time due to ongoing issues with domestic SUVs.

I bought my last truck at 1 year old with 28000 kms. I got it for 14k below sticker price of when it was new. So the guy (it was actually a business/commercial truck) who had it before me basically paid 50 cents a km for the truck for the year they had it.  
Peace of mind for one year of warranty is not worth 14K plus taxes and fees. I'll stick with slightly used. I did have one warranty claim on it, but even if it didn't have warranty, I would still be way ahead of the game financially.

Only new for me any more. I drove used for many years and got tired of paying repair bills. To be honest, I can no longer afford repairs on the newer used vehicles, and the old vehicles which are cheaper to repair are now just too old to bother with. So, I now want full warranty. I always wonder why someone trades in a 1 or 2 year old vehicle with next to nothing on it in terms of mileage. Bad on gas? Too many issues? Or life changed and they just couldn't afford to keep it? No way of knowing, so not for me.

And then you could also break down the used market differences between very low mileage and warranty nearly up mileage.  
 
If you buy with less than 40,000 km that gives you a good window to catch things before the warranty expires, I could see myself possibly going that route but never just before or after warranty was up, I would be too paranoid.

There might be differences between the new one and one even a couple years old. Like the rav4 for example has bad seatbelt overlap in the back seat, I think in 2018 and older, and actually prohibits you from using all 3 seats in the back at the same time (this is in one of the manual supplements, or Nissan will confirm if contacted - head office, not a sales person). But the problem is fixed in the new ones.

I bought a new truck. And paid 20k less then sticker. There is a huge markup on vehicles. People need to quit paying it. Offer a price and walk away if they won’t meet it. Dealership phoned me back a good month after and said they would take offer.