<prompt> Human: I currently am in a family of three, 30 years old, one child toddler with plans for a second. My wife drives our 2013 Chevy Equinox that I bought a year old, but brand new no miles. I drive the same 2005 Ford Focus that my wife drove in college. It is getting up in age and has about 125k on it.I have a good job, I make 110k a year in Ohio, and my wife works part time making probably 25k. I have around 70k in liquid savings account, as well as a 401kRoth IRA. No debts besides car payment 1.25 and 4.75 mortgage at 130k left. I dont have high requirements for a car, but I think the Focus is starting to go. If I plan on buying a car and driving it till it goes into the ground much like the current Focus, why is it beneficial to go used over new? Especially if I dont finance much of it. When we purchased our Equinox, buying used with 15k miles was saving me only about 1800. To me 1800 seems worth the 15k less miles. If someone could explain the financial sense to me, I would buy used, but I dont seem to understand.  <response>: First I would say that your focus probably has quite a bit of life left in it as most cars from the past decade or 2 will go 200k miles or more without a major breakdown. That said, it is totally understandable to want something a little newer and nicer than a 10 year old focus. I agree with your assessment that a newer used car is not worth it especially if it is bought from a dealer. Sometimes you can find a good deal from a private party but dealer incentives usually make new cars more attractive. If you buy used, look for something about 3-4 years old that has been well cared for, again I dont think there are any good deals to be had on used cars from dealers so look private party. I havent been shopping for a car in a while but maybe check out VW. Their recent scandal should translate into them having more cars than they can sell which might mean you can get a great deal on one.. who knows! 