Which Car Is Right For Me

What Car Should I Buy

Let’s start off by asking you how much money you are looking to spend on your new car:

• My credit cards have no limits
• Family comes first so my limit goes as high as $50,000
• Since it will be used for work too, let’s keep it around $45,000
• No more than $25,000

After finding a car, how many people are you looking to transport on a regular basis?

• My all-American family of four
• Me, myself, and I
• Just the two of us!
• Mostly me but I will be carrying a heavy payload all the time

Which bonus feature is something you would love to have for your new car?

• Android Auto or Apple CarPlay
• 360-degree surround-view cameras
• Fully-decked-out audio system with subwoofer

After getting your car, where do you plan on spending most of your time?

• Cruising the coast to show off my engine
• Bringing the kids to school and then off to work
• Hauling cargo from job site to job site
• Running to Whole Foods, shopping for a new outfit, then heading out to pick up my date

Of the following cars, which one do you find to be the most appealing?

• Chevrolet Silverado

Pick your favorite film from the following four choices:

• Harry and The Hendersons
• Dukes of Hazard

Safety is a crucial component for buying a new car. Which safety feature is the most important to you?

• Adaptive cruise control
• Automatic emergency braking with blind-spot monitoring and lane assist
• Side impact beams

After purchasing your new vehicle, what is the furthest you plan on driving the car without considering the price per gallon of gasoline?

What Is My Budget

The first step is to determine what you can afford. If you start car shopping without checking your budget, youre likely to end up with a vehicle that puts an undue strain on your finances. In the worst case scenario, you could even end up missing payments or facing repossession.

Instead of overspending, do the math to see what vehicle expenses you can sustain. In addition to having a down payment saved, consider how much room you have to take on these recurring expenses:

• Maintenance

If possible, try saving up the full monthly expenses for a few months before you make your car purchase. This will give you a chance to see whats truly affordable and, as an added benefit, can help you save more for your down payment.

Once you determine your budget, shop around for the best auto loan. Although many dealerships offer financing, youll often get better rates and terms through other lenders. You can fill out a single form with LendingTree and receive up to five auto loan offers to help you begin your search.

How Much Power Do I Need

In our road tests, we always cite 0-to-60-mph times, but the fact is that very few people ever actually use full throttle. Around Ann Arbor, we see more drivers who fear full throttle than those who ever use it. Truck buyers who tow and haul heavy loads need lots of power, but the average car buyer doesnt need any more than is necessary to keep him or her comfortable on a test drive. The buying practice of getting the bigger engine but never using more than half-throttle is like building a four-story house but leaving the top two floors vacant. All else being equal, larger engines use more fuel.

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Porschetaycan 4s Cross Turismo

MSRP

$93,700 – $187,600

Edmunds Tested RangeEdmunds’ real-world range test measures the distance an electric vehicle can travel on a full charge.More info

250 mi

Edmunds Rating

8.3 out of 10

The Cross Turismo is the wagon-like version of Taycan. It provides more cargo room and passenger space with no perceptible trade-off in the driving experience. With the Cross Turismo, you can get incredible comfort and effortless driving one moment and then, with the twist of a knob, world-beating performance the next.

Used Cars For Sale Near Me

Visit today and shop from some of the best used cars to buy on the market. You can opt for a fuel-efficient Honda, Volkswagen or Nissan sedan to save on gas, or turn to our Jeep SUVs for sale near Defiance to get a vehicle that’s built for adventure. We also have a range of used cars families love, including Chrysler vans, Mazda crossovers and Toyota SUVs. Plus, with luxury vehicles from brands like Cadillac, Lexus and Lincoln, getting luxury for less is easy at our local car dealers. Have your heart set on a used truck instead? Ohio Ford truck fans appreciate our well-rounded collection of F-150 trims and Super Duty® models. Or, claim a used Chevy Silverado price or Ram 1500 financing rate that falls within your budget.

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What Car Should I Buy: Faq

How do I decide which car is right for me?

Before you start shopping, start by determining what you can afford and then make a list of your top priorities for your vehicle. This list should be driven by your main uses for the vehicle, including how many passengers youll typically have and what conditions youll drive in on a regular basis.

What is the most reliable car brand?

There are many reliable car brands to choose from, and some brands excel at producing specific vehicle types. To find reliable makes, try researching car reviews and safety ratings from reputable companies like KBB, Edmunds, J.D. Power, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .

What should I do with my old car?

If you no longer need your old vehicle, there are a few ways to go about selling. Selling privately by listing the car online or advertising the sale locally can result in getting the best price, however youll have to create a vehicle listing, put in some work to find serious buyers and complete a bill of sale and title transfer.

Alternatively, you could accept a lower price for the vehicle in return for the convenience of selling directly to a dealership or doing a trade-in. Just make sure you research the cars value before accepting an offer.

What To Look For In A Test Drive

A car might seem to have all the features you want, but the true test takes place when you are in the driver’s seat. You should test-drive the car the way you would drive it during your everyday life.

If you commute, try driving the car in both stop-and-go traffic and at highway speeds. If you trek to the mountains, see if you can find some nearby steep hills to climb. Drive over bumps, take tight corners, and test the brakes in a safe location.

Get in and out of the car several times and be sure to sit in the back seat, especially if you plan on carrying passengers. Check out the cargo space. If you plan on using children’s car seats, bring yours along to test for fit and ease of installation. Take pictures of the cars so you can reference them later.

While you are evaluating the car, don’t be distracted. Take your time looking everything over. A good salesperson will respect your need to experience the car and will let you focus on the driving experience.

Turn off the stereo so you can listen to the sound of the engine. You can evaluate the sound system when you return to the dealership. If the conversation does turn to questions about whether you’d like to talk about purchasing or leasing, you can say that you’re still in the test-drive stage.

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How To Choose The Right Car

When it comes to buying the right car, you might want to consider:

• whether you want a new, used, or leased car
• your budget
• fuel efficiency, and
• what terrain youll drive on.

Like shoe shopping, the style, feel, brand, and space within a car are all things you might consider. But unless youre doing your shoe shopping on Fifth Avenue, a new pair of boots probably wont cost you up to tens of thousands of dollars. So, budgeting may play a slightly more important role in car shopping.

Our car-buying cheat sheet could make choosing the right car a little easier and make sure to try the Which car should I buy quiz?

What Kind Of Car Do I Need

Forget the number of models available, the number of body styles alone can be overwhelming: coupes, sedans, station wagons, pickup trucks, SUVs. How do you decide what you need?

Coupe/Convertible: If you want a car that makes a statement about you, coupes and convertibles are typically the most expressive designs, but restricted access to the back seat seriously limits their practicality.

Sedan: If there are kids in the picture or in the near-future plan, four doors are a likely requirement. Even if children are small enough to ride comfortably in the back seat of a coupe with any regularity, consider the difficulty of constantly climbing into and out of the back seat to tend to a child before committing to just two doors.

Hatchback: If you add another doorbringing the total to fiveyoure looking at hatchbacks and station wagons, which offer SUV-like space without the dynamic and fuel-economy compromises of heavier vehicles. These cars are pariahs in the U.S. market, but many buyers are starting to reconsider, as fluctuating fuel prices and increasing environmental awareness may have them thinking twice about crossovers and SUVs. As manufacturers get increasingly creative and design ever more stylish hatchbackstheir roofs are sleeker than wagonsthe market is warming to the segment.

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Work Out What’s Essential

If youve got a rough idea of the size and shape of car that youre after, think carefully about what you use it for. If you have small children, a crossover SUV is a good bet, as the raised ride height makes getting kids and their seats into the car much easier. If youre keen on DIY, carrying capacity may be important but look out for cars that have easy-to-fold rear seats that lie flat when dropped. This is something well always point out in our reviews.

If you need your car to have certain features, such as sat-nav, parking sensors or leather seats, try to go for a trim level that includes them all together, as this is usually better value than adding items individually as options. Specifying a new cars options can be a tricky business use our guide to car options for some help.

Each Carbuyer review contains details of every version of a car that you can buy, including engine choices and trim levels. It also includes technical information such as power and performance figures, as well as fuel economy and CO2 emissions data. We also list useful information about boot space, road tax bands and each trims standard equipment, so whether you prioritise performance, economy, technology or a combination of all three, our in-depth reviews will give you all the information you need at your fingertips.

Hyundaiioniq 5 Limited Awd

MSRP

$39,950 – $55,000

Edmunds Tested RangeEdmunds’ real-world range test measures the distance an electric vehicle can travel on a full charge.More info

270 mi

Edmunds Rating

8.3 out of 10

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 springs out of the gate with retro-themed styling and the latest in electric vehicle design. It’s also comfortable, practical and generously equipped. While it can’t quite match the range of the equivalent Tesla Model Y or Ford Mustang Mach-E models, there’s still plenty to love about this all-new all-electric SUV.

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Do I Want A New Or Used Car

Buying a brand new car has its perks. When you fork over the extra cash for a new vehicle, youll have the peace of mind that comes with driving a car with no prior history. Plus, youll likely get more coverage under a new manufacturers warranty.

But buying a used vehicle doesnt have to mean settling for second best. Between certified pre-owned vehicles, vehicle history reports and mechanics inspections, you can get into a previously owned car thats been extensively well-vetted. Plus, buying used versus new can mean avoiding the typically significant loss of value that new car owners experience as soon as they drive off the lot.

Decide If You Want To Lease Or Buy

Leasing and buying each have pros and cons, and how you feel about these may help guide your decision on which route to take.

For example, a lease requires little or no money down and offers lower monthly payments. But when the lease ends, you have no car and will need to go shopping again. On the other hand, buying a car is more expensive initially, and the monthly payments are higher. But when you pay off the loan, you will own a car that you can drive for as long as it runs.

Here are a few more factors to consider when deciding between leasing and buying:

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What Is The Best Car For My Needs

Instead of letting a salesperson, a 0% APR promotion or a flashy car commercial dictate what you buy, take a moment to pinpoint your unique priorities.

Before starting your search, you can use this list to help you figure out what you want, what you and your passengers need and how to find the right features that fit your budget for your next vehicle. A young professional with a long commute may prioritize fuel efficiency and comfort, while a large family may be looking for a roomy interior, plenty of seating and top-of-the-line safety features.

The Questions Are Beneficial

Buyers questions are mostly simple. They might only ask, how to decide what car should I get? or what SUV should I buy?

But such queries are not useful. QuizExpo test aims to ask essential questions. The goal is to reveal your needs and desires. Thats how you can find out what car you should buy.

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What Are The Running Costs

Its tempting to stretch yourself as far as you can when setting a budget for a new car, and monthly repayments can be tantalisingly low even for upmarket models. Be sure to bear in mind, however, that running costs are easily dismissed at the buying stage, and excessive fuel consumption or insurance premiums could leave you resenting your car.

With brand new cars, the first years VED payment is included in the cars price, and then youll pay a flat rate from the second year onwards. The current rates are £165 a year for a petrol or diesel car and £155 a year for mild-hybrids, hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Electric and hydrogen cars cost nothing in tax. Cars registered before April 2017 were subject to a different tax structure, which took CO2 emissions and engine size into account – so you may pay much less or much more, depending on the car.

As of 2017, an additional surcharge for every car costing more than £40,000 was introduced. The surcharge is currently £335, which needs to be paid every year for the first five years after first registration. After the five year period ends, annual road tax returns to the flat rates mentioned above. Zero-emission cars are exempt from this extra surcharge, so even the most expensive EVs are free to tax.

If youre a company-car driver, CO2 emissions will also affect how much Benefit-in-Kind tax you pay, so be sure to take this into consideration too.

What Our Ratings Mean

• 0-1.0: This is the rarest group of all because a really bad new car is really, really hard to find these days. We recommend that you pass on any vehicle receiving a rating between 0 and 1.
• 2.0: Cars landing in this set are also rare. Only true love and limitless passion should allow you to give in to temptation for one of these vehicles.
• 3.0: Is the vehicle youre looking at in this range? Wed bet that if you look a little harder, youll find a better vehicle at a similar price to fulfill your needs.
• 4.0: This is the area where the rubber meets the recommendations. The 3-4 range is full of good cars and some great ones. Starting here, its OK to listen to your heart.
• 5.0: These scores represent the cream of the crop, with 5.0 representing, well, near perfection. Any car you choose in this group will treat you very well over time.

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Petrol Diesel Hybrid Or Electric

The next thing to consider is what fuels your car. While some cars are only available with a petrol engine, such as the Skoda Fabia, most manufacturers offer both petrol and diesel engines. Mild-hybrid, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric models are becoming increasingly common and can be an excellent choice, particularly if you do a lot of driving around town.

As a rule of thumb, if you cover fewer than 12,000 miles a year, a diesel engine may not be suitable. Diesel cars cost more to buy than their petrol counterparts, and youll need to cover quite a lot of miles to make up the difference in fuel savings. Conversely, most petrol-hybrid and plug-in hybrid models offer lower running costs than their petrol-only counterparts, but are more expensive to buy than a conventional petrol or diesel model.

You should also consider the type of journeys youll be doing in the car. If you mainly do short trips, a diesel is probably not for you, as diesel engines need to be run at speed regularly to burn off soot that collects in the Diesel Particulate Filter . If you dont give a diesel engine the chance to do this from time to time, you could find yourself with a blocked DPF and a big repair bill. Our dedicated guide to choosing between petrol and diesel has more information. If you want better economy and lower emissions, then a diesel with mild-hybrid assistance could be a good choice.