<prompt> Human: Many people constantly say how buying a new car is lighting money on fire. Buying a 3-4 yr old used car is considered conventional wisdom. Theres even lots of common sayings like, You lose 10 of of the value of your new car as soon as you drive it off the lot.Im here to say, its not nearly as bad of a deal as people claim it is. I ran some numbers for comparing a 2015 vs 2011 Camry in my area:2015 Camry LE - Fair purchase price: 20,700. After taxes, fees its 22,8002011 Camry LE - Fair purchase price: 13,400. After taxes, fees its 14,300Youre probably thinking, wow 8500, thats great savings to get a car thats only 4 years older! Well, lets look at it over the life of the vehicle. Lets assume an average Camry lasts until the car is 13 years old.2015 Camry LE 22,80013 1,754yr2011 Camry LE 14,3009 1,589yr I divide by 9, because the car is already 4 years oldThe difference is 165yr over the life of the car. Not really all that much. Thats ONLY on the purchase price. During years 1-4, maintenancerepair costs are the absolute lowest, especially since new cars typically have a nice warranty on them as well. Furthermore, you get about an extra 3mpg on the newer car which saves a little extra money. For personal reasons, I hate buyingnegotiatingresearching cars. If I only have to do it once every 13 years instead of once every 9 years, thats a huge bonus to me. Where I thinking buying used makes sense is once you get into the luxury spectrum of cars. If youre going to be shelling out 30-35k for a new car, it probably starts to make more sense to look seriously at the used alternatives. But for a cheap, reliable base model, I think new is the way to go. Another reason you might consider spending less up front is if you can only get high interest loans on cars.Theres a reason cars depreciate so quickly over the first 4 years. Its because they just went through around 13 of their life and the bestcheapest to maintainmost reliable years of their life. Its not because new car buyers are simply suckers.  <response>: Everyone in this thread Oh yea spending 20k on a new car is a bad deal except that time I bought one! 