Choosing a first car

Choosing Your First Car: Priorities

Around 16 million people buy a car each day, so it is not surprising if you are thinking about buying your first car. In my opinion, the most important step of buying a car is determining your priorities.  In this post, I shall tell you which car models might meet you priorities and which might not.

 

Reliability

Reliability is the measurement of how often the car will experience a problem. If you want a car with good reliability, look for Japanese car companies such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru, or Nissan (though some Nissan products have been showing bad reliability). American car brands have lower reliability in general. This is because in America, the car companies buy parts from auto part suppliers for the cheapest price. If they can't get what they want, they select another auto part supplier. In Japan, car manufacturers like Toyota are using the Kai Zen philosophy, (Japanese meaning continuous improvement)and buy parts from a specific manufacturer, and work with that manufacturer to make it better. For this reason, Japanese cars have a better reliability overall. German and Korean car brands have average reliability. Beware: Cars of good reliability may not have the features that you want.

 

Comfort

Comfort and reliability rarely come together in a car for a good price. Usually, you need to sacrifice one of these features. If you want your first car to be comfortable yet reasonably priced, you will want to choose either a Korean car brand, or a Volkswagen. More likely, American brands are the best for comfort. This is because American cars are significantly larger than cars from other countries. The reason for this is that gasoline prices are cheaper in America than any other country, so American companies can sacrifice some mpg's when making a big car. Beware: comfort doesn't mean reliability.

Value For Price

The first thing you need to know for this priority is that if you want good value for price, you will have to get a used car. In an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond show how used old luxury sedans of BMW and Mercedes are better than the cheapest car in the U.K., for the same price. A benefit of used cars is that you won't have to sacrifice another priority for good value for price. The reason used cars have good value for price is used car prices tend to go down fast.

 

 

Fuel Efficiency

Suppose you travel a lot, or live in the city. Nevertheless, you need a car that will take you where you need to go. If this is your number one priority and will sacrifice some conveniences for it, buy a hybrid. In case you don't know what a hybrid is, it is a car with both an electric and gasoline motor. The electric motor works at lower speeds and prevents wasting fuel at traffic lights and short stops.

But, as I said, you will have to sacrifice some things. Because of the electric motor, luggage room can become cramped or smaller than a usual car. Additional cons are slow acceleration and/or numb dull steering. You can now buy very fuel efficient gasoline cars or diesels, but they will still waste fuel when you stop at a light. Since there are so many competitors in the fuel efficient car market, any car brand will do.

 

Fun/ Driving Feel

Though this might seem at first to go with comfort, it actually doesn't. Comfort means good seating, roominess, and so forth. Driving feel is self explanatory; how it feels to drive. For this priority, the country of origin of the car manufacturer doesn't matter. Rather, the car brand matters. Ford, Volkswagen and Mazda have a reputation of making fun to drive cars. Specific cars include the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen GTI, and Mazda Miata. If you want to have a fun to drive car, you might have to sacrifice space, comfort, and/or reliability.

 

 

Conclusion

The most important thing about car buying is your priorities. Get this sorted out, and you can narrow down your options easier.  Priorities are important because searching in another direction might lead you to buy a bad car. Hopefully, with the help of this post, you can find a car that will be able to fit all your needs.