Wandl

I'll start with 2:

Jalopnik: The most expensive car you'll ever own is a cheap european car. Also have heard it from roadfrog on this forum from his experience with his 7-series and X5 I think.

Friend: Drive a 4-6 year old model of the car you are considering, it will help you understand what the car will feel like after a couple of years. If you still like it, buy it. Great advice I still give out to friends today. A while back, I remember driving a 2 year old Malibu that drove horrible, yet the 8-month old CPO Malibu I was considering (I know...I know...) drove great. Avoided that mess...

Look forward to yours!

mmarshall

So......just what about the 7 Series and X5 is cheap? You are talking about products than run anywhere from 55K to well over 100K.

"A while back" is definitely NOT today's Malibus. They have shed their rental-car status for good.

The best advice I ever got is at least some of the same advice I give to others. Step One, do NOT sign on the dotted line for more vehicle than you can afford. Skip more than one or two payments, and the Repo agent will be waiting. Step Two, do NOT make excuses (especially lame excuses) for why you can't follow Step One. Step 3, look at what has happened to too many others for NOT following either Step One or Step Two. That should do the trick.

JDR76

For me, the best advice is:

Don't be afraid to walk away.

chikoo

Best advice I give to myself - Listen to my gut, and don't get distracted by the people on the fence jeering or cheering you.

Toys4RJill

Yeah right.....http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...et-malibu-ltz/

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

makes zero sense to me. for one thing a car 4-6 years old is often a completely different car to the current model. for another, manufacturers do improve vehicles from year to year (and during the year) often without announcing the changes. buying the last year of a given model (before a complete new model is introduced) is typically the way to get the best, most reliable one. having said that, 3 of the vehicles i've bought new (1 lexus, 1 acura, 1 ford) have been first years of those models and no issues with any of them.



added...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i read the article - the author doesn't hate the last gen malibu he rented. he praised some aspects of it. regardless, it's now obsolete, replaced by the great looking new 2017.

Toys4RJill

Lol. I know. The last gen Malibu was good and so is the new one. But they are still used in rental fleets. A lot people picture the Malibu as a rental vehicle.

Toys4RJill

I get what he was trying to say. Perhaps a few years old. But most cars hold up well under the 4-5 year period. So not sure what test driving the car will really do. Cars are designed to wear and tear. Not everyone wants to keep their car 4-5 year or even more than that.

mmarshall

LOL. Come on, Jill. This appears to be a bait. You know exactly what I was trying to say. The last three generations of Malibu (and, before its discontinuation, its Saturn Aura twin) were rental cars that didn't look or drive like rental cars.

Toys4RJill

Fair enough, but I don't remember the 3rd last generation....I do remember the Malibu Maxx that my dad wanted to buy for my mom in 2004. She did not even make it into the showroom and she nixed that bad idea from the parking lot....she bought a 4Runner instead.

mmarshall

The local auto-writer for the Washington Post (Warren Brown), in response to advice/questions, used to really push the Malibu Maxx.....he loved it. But I disagreed with him...and I agree with you that it was one of the old, low-quality, rental-grade vehicles from GM, though its hatchback design did give it better utility than the sedan. But the next-generation Malibu after that changed radically.....and every one since has been definitely more than just rental-grade.

Toys4RJill

We have been hearing this for the last 10 years with GM products. They are better, and better, and better. Yet the still can't top Honda or Toyota and still suffer from reliability concerns.

JDR76

Anyway...back to car buying advice...

I would also add that it's important to set your budget before you go in, and stick to it. It's easy to get into the "it's just a little more per month" mentality, and to get wooed by unnecessary features that drive up the vehicle cost.

mmarshall

Well, I never pushed the Malibu Maxx, or other versions of that-generation Malibu. In fact, at the time, I advised potential buyers to avoid it and look at Japanese-designed mid-sized sedans instead. Today, however, there is much less of a quality difference between the domestic-badged sedans and those from Asian manufacturers....in some cases, none at all.