Googie (IRL)

Ok I want to buy a new car but i am sick of loosing money on cars. I only put about 4k miles on a car a year so i am looking at buying something that won't loose a lot of money. Am I dreaming or is this possible? I saw a 98 skyline for sale for $39k. It has 33k miles on it and looks good. Would this be a good buy considering the new one is coming out? Will it hold its value over the next 4 years or so? What else do i have to consider when buying grey market car.
Can anyone suggest any other cars to fit my needs? Should i go for an old muscle car or would that be a pain in the ass as a DD?

erliuic

Um, there are some cars that hold their values better than others but ultimately, you're SOL. There was an article in Forbes not too long ago analyzing car depreciation. From what I remember, Porsches and specific BMWs (ie 330ci) hold their value best at high 50% after 4 years. I imagine Lexus would do well given their quality and reliability but I don't remember them on the list.

REVHIR

Dont matter what car you buy it will always make you think a few years later on how much money you lost. Just get something you can fall in love with and keep it. Thats the way I think. Unless its an Enzo or something along the lines of an antique which I think climb up in price after years go by.

The Gasman

mkiv supra tt stick shift.

REVHIR

holy crap thats a lot of stars s2000raj.

::edit:: Get an S800 and restore it. Im sure that will hold value.

Penforhire

I'm thinking any car holding its value near $40K or rising in value will be ugly to DD.

If you don't mind paying for gas, tires, and a constant trickle of maintenance then at that price I'd say check out the BMW 850 CSi. I could be wrong but I think it has hit bottom on price. I imagine you could also get a really nice condition Porsche 944 S2 or Turbo for that sort of money.

wills2k106

The older Porsches wouldn't lose much in depreciation but you would lose out on repair costs, they are nearly 20 years old. Mark IV Supra mentioned above, NSX, M5, 911....

Googie (IRL)

What about 99-00 porsche 911 or a low milage 928S4?
Anyone have any thoughts on the skyline I mentioned above?

NYGPW

the skyline would hold its value because of its rarity in the states as long as its a gtr you are fine the new gtr shouldn't effect imported skyline sales besides the R34s selling for over $100k other then that go supra, older 911 or nsx as everybody else stated.

Slamnasty

Very few options for a car that will hold around $40k. If you really want to go new, then Lexus is as good as it gets. If you got a loaded IS350 or ES350 and only drove it 4000 miles a year, you probably wouldn't lose too much on it. But this is relatively speaking of course. If you bought either and drove them gingerly for 4k a year and wanted to sell the car after five years, in 2012 an IS350 with 20000 miles will probably be worth $27k....? I really don't see it being possible to buy new and have the value remain mostly unchanged.

The only way you're gonna hold the price you pay is to go highly desirable and used. This means a Porsche or very specific BMW in 9 out of 10 cases. Supras will hold value, but the image IMO is garbage with all the riced out tuner cars out there. The NSX should hold well too, especially if you can find one of the 02-05 ones near that price. A Lexus SC (classy as a DD) holds its value quite well; Even the current generation SC, which came out for the 02MY, goes for mid 30s used today. But this is about all for Japanese cars.

For European cars, the 911 will probably be the most abundant option for you. You won't find any turbos in that range of course, but you'll find some nice 993s and 996s, and perhaps even a Cabrio. As others also said, pristine 944s and 928/68s can be had in this range and seem to be holding strong. For BMWs the 850CSi is the ticket, although they are maintenance hounds and they bottomed out around the $20k level. They will be cheap to pick up, but I'm not sure how they'll appreciate. The E39 M5 is doing pretty well too, as are E46 M3s, even if every third person has one now. If you went Mercedes, the SL is about the only way to go. It's their most storied model, and even 25 year-old ones go for $40k if perfect. Precious few Ferraris can be had in that range, but you're looking at cars like the 400/412, the 308/328, and Mondial. And of course, maintenance is of paramount concern with any of these.

There really are plenty of options, but none of them will be new cars.