Quote:
Originally Posted by Bald Guy
Maybe pick up a new Camry so you have peace of mind and you don't have to worry about using it as much as you need to. Some folks will laugh at this but it's just an opinion.
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I agree with this approach! First, some background: when I was younger and more naive, I thought I'd be able to keep a car forever if I didn't drive it much and treated it to Mike Miller-level preventative maintenance. Turns out, cars age-out -- even if they are rarely driven and treated to OCD-levels of preventative maintenance! And yes, you can keep most European cars going well into the 200K range, but to me, they are a PITA once they cross the 100K threshold as I'm the guy who wants to do all maintenance and repairs himself because I take satisfaction in that, plus I have a low level of trust in most shops or dealers.
My "back up" car (we call it our "city car") is actually the car I drive the most right now, a new '25 VW GTI which replaced a '18 GTI that we owned since new. The GTI fits into small parking spots in the city, it seats 4 (though I wouldn't call the back seat comfortable for adults, but it's OK for short trips), it has a ton of cargo room (esp with the rear seats folded down), it has great visibility, and most importantly it's still fun to drive with good performance and tech! With discounts, you can get into one for $33K OTD, although I got the mid-level version which is more like $39K. I'm trying to get my wife to drive it instead of her '23 X5, saving the X5 for things like road trips and times when we have 4 adults in the car. My garage queen is a '22 Cayman GTS, which I do drive as much as possible when I know it's just me and parking isn't an issue. So I totally get where the OP is coming from!