Buying a used luxury car?

[khm]

Buying another Outback or the Ascent would be practical, for sure...but soooooo boring. My father has a 2015 ish one, and it's basically the same as mine with a screen.

My husband would prefer that I didn't have that part of me that values impractical status things too.

Then definitely do not get another! Seriously there are a ton of great options out there nowadays. Shop around til something makes you giddy. We rent a ton of cars at work and everyone has their own tastes. What one person loves the next one hates. Cars are a a big purchase. Find one that you love! New used or whatever. :-)

[KpbS]

Lexus is a great brand of car. I suggest you test drive a bunch of different models of Lexus and figure out what you like best. Seriously, great cars.

[HannaAddict]

Thanks, guys!

My mom has a GLK. She loves it but she’s retired and it definitely would be too small for me.

I mentioned diesels because I’m interested in the gas mileage. With a primarily highway commute, hybrids don’t seen to offer much advantage, but diesel does. Seems like there are enough diesel stations around.

I mentioned Land Rover because I’ve always had a thing for them but always figured they were out of reach.

I do know a good German mechanic, not too sure about LR. The dealer is not too far away though.

The Land Rover Discovery has terrible reviews for reliability and maintenance. So warranty or not, you may be needing another ride while it sits in the shop. Worst car my dad owned was a beautiful Range Rover. The big daddy version is also terrible as a daily driver. Our friends who LOVE them and spent lots of money keeping them running, finally threw in the towel and moved on. I love what the Range Rover looks like but wouldn’t get one based on their track record and the Discovery has a worse record. Have you driven one? They are pretty clunky to drive, poor turning radius, and more. There are better choices. A Mercedes diesel M class would be a fine daily drive, they get better reviews for reliability than the bigger Mercedes GL diesel. Or the BMW X5. You could get a great deal on an Audi diesel and just know your mileage with be good but not insanely good as they advertised. A couple of families from school bought deeply discounted almost new Audi Q7’s after the diesel scandal. We loved our diesels and they got phenomenal mileage on the highway.


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[HannaAddict]

I will throw my hat in the ring for a gently loved Lexus RX. We love them so much that both DH and I each have one. It’s a great commuter or family car, nice visibility, good on gas - despite needing premium, easy to drive (not near as zippy fun as BMW but it will get you places in comfort), and will look and wear well for years to come.

We are up to 4 Lexus now, the other two were great too - no complaints, and at this point refuse to purchase anything else going forward. Biggest reason for this decision is that time is priceless, and having a reliable car is worth more than the zippiness (we first hand know the repair pains as we’ve also owned between us at some point or the other me at BMW 3 series, and in DH bachelor days Audi and Porsche). The Lexus dealership experience is hands down excellent and since I’ve literally not done anything to my 2012 besides tires, brakes, scheduled maintenance in the past 7 years, I rarely have to go in to the dealer. When I do, they happily provide a loaner for anything more than an oil change and are organized, prompt and low stress.

(We had a regrettable interlude with a new 2015 Toyota Highlander before we traded it for the second preowned RX and I can say that while Toyota and Lexus are the same parent company - that the fit, finish and ride of the hard product and 2 stars better level of service just do not compare. I was at the point with extra visits to the Toyota dealership on my car with < 20k miles for minor but annoying things that I asked our Lexus service advisor if he would service my Toyota at their shop instead. Labor rates were pretty much the same FYI - $126 hr for Toyota vs $130hr at Lexus. And they would give me a loaner. The RX trunk space is plenty big, and within a couple inches length wise to the Highlander when the absolute joke of a third row was folded down. The Highlander was slightly better on gas.

During this time of offloading the Highlander, we also looked at a few Porsche Cayennes for fun, OMG the drive and ride was amazing, but then we asked for service records for a couple of them that were 1-2 years old and the salesperson she brought literally 10-13 page printouts on each for work that was mostly not under warranty for whatever odd reason aka $$$. We hightailed it out. I don’t care how it drives, I refuse to waste my time and energy on unreliable vehicles and brands no matter what it looks like or how it zips. There’s a reason the RX comprises 6 out of every 10 cars that Lexus sells. It does the job in style and with zero drama.)

I would totally look at and strongly consider a used Lexus!


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[Melbel]

We purchased a one year old Infiniti sedan with low miles and a huge savings over new. Infiniti is the luxury brand for Nissan, so similar to Lexus or Acura. We drove a couple hours for the best value. My husband's Audi was a demo which also saved thousands of dollars with a longer warranty than new. I have been driving my Infniti SUV for 10 years and am still happy. My husband previously drove the Lexus RX300 and we handed it down to DS after 10+ years. The luxury brands depreciate more steeply early on, but hold value better than standard brands in the long run from what I have seen.

[basil]

Thanks for the feedback on the Discovery...that's too bad. I haven't driven it (or anything) yet, trying to narrow down my options more than "every 3 row crossover made". I know that Lexus vehicles are well made but having trouble with their recent styling. And the 3 row version of the RX just came out so would need to wait a bit to get a used version (which is OK). Really like the XC90 but also doesn't seem reliable in reviews. Acura MDX has a sport hybrid model to check on, I guess. MB and Audi have gotten out of diesel and the older ones will be older than I want by the time I want to buy, I think.

But DH actually likes the idea of a Lexus because of what everyone here mentioned...so maybe I'll try to see if I can make the styling grow on me.

[AnnieW625]

Buying another Outback or the Ascent would be practical, for sure...but soooooo boring. My father has a 2015 ish one, and it's basically the same as mine with a screen.

My husband would prefer that I didn't have that part of me that values impractical status things too.

Oh believe me I really wanted a BMW and as shallow as this sounds I like being that person that parks a luxury car and gets out with confidence....I love cars in general though and have wanted a bmw since I was a small child (my favorite matchbox car was an orange 200.2), but the upkeep costs would kill me because they can be expensive repair especially at 150k miles+. I thought I had the best of both worlds with my VW Passat. While it wasn’t luxury I had more than one person early on ask me about my diesel and say I was lucky to have the car I had. I also would’ve bought a cpo Audi A6 version in a diesel vs. the Volkswagen had it been out in 2013 when I bought the VW (and would still be driving it because the 6 cylinder diesel was not initially recalled).

I also seriously considered the Volvo XC70 wagon (now discontinued), but again couldn’t get the price down enough and SH wasn’t sold on the styling. We also really ended up considering the Mazda CX-5 as well but the Subaru felt just a little bit nicer.

DH is also looking at the Ascent as well, but keep in mind the 2019 model is the first year of this car so if you can I would wait a year. First year models in general have more issues than even the second model year of the car. Thankfully we won’t be in the car market again until at least 2020.

ETA: the Land Rover Discovery is a completely new vehicle and body style for 2017, and has been slightly update and completely replaced the LR4. The old Discovery became the LR2/LR4 series. There probably aren’t too many long term road tests available yet on the Discovery. DH’s aunt leased a new 2018 Discovery Sport and loves it. She is retired though and not a high mileage driver.

1st generation Land Rover Discovery:



2nd generation Discovery that became the Land Rover LR3/LR4:


Last generation LR4:


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