in the the next month or so I'll be in the market for a new car, but I started to think instead of a brand new basic car like a honda accord maybe I should look into getting something a little nicer like a certified used infinity or BMW. what do you guys think? opinions on cars, advice on purchasing, any input I know you guys never steared me wrong in the past... I'm sure alot of you have done this... thanks!

call east brunswick sportsman. One of the owners is a factory certified bmw tech.

Everyone is gunna have thier own opinion on this but I feel a good low mileage, slightly used car is a good deal. Figure, a new car drops value the minute you sign and drive it off the lot. You can find almost the same thing with 5000-15000 miles on it for a pretty good savings.

 

Now as far as brand well that comes down to your preference. With your two opinions you gave I prefer BMW over Infiniti. AutoLenders is a good off lease company to deal with.

 

Good luck!

 

-Scott

I am also going to be looking for a new car soon. I have had luxury cars (2 audi's) and economy cars (honda accord, honda prelude, and a mazda 3 hatchback) and I can say that once you go luxury it is difficult to go back to an economy car. That being said, the more expensive cars not only cost more off the bat but also more to fix, and are generally not worth it imo unless you don't care about spending the money.

 

I had an Audi A6 that I sold before I bought my current car (mazda 3 hatch) and I was paying almost $4k a year to maintain the Audi, whereas after almost 5 years of owning the Mazda I have only paid for oil changes and tires. That being said, the Audi was about 5000x more fun to drive, and more comfortable, and looked prettier, etc.

 

I was thinking of a CPO A4 as my next car, but after looking around the Jetta GLI seems to be very comparable except for the lack of awd, and it is $5k less brand new than the CPO a4.

I'd check out a certified used Lexus. From my experience the CPO program from lexus is really great and surpasses other makes in terms of coverage and how well they'll work with you if anything were to go wrong. I forget the website, but theres a chart somewhere comparing the coverage levels of all luxury makes on their CPO programs.

 

I currently have a CPO acura tsx, and so far my dealership has been excellent as well. I go to either Montclair Acura or Park Ave Acura by paramus. Any service or warranty work i've ever needed was always free of charge and always had a nice loaner car waiting for me the moment I got there.

 

I know acura and lexus aren't on your list, but I've had nothing but excellent service from both and could be worth checking out.

i am a honda tech and let me tell you, the 2013 accords are NICE! they are very, very comparable to most of the entry level lux cars. honda isn't what it used to be they are really stepping up their game while staying reliable and easy to fix. i don't know what your budget is but i would at least go and check one out before deciding on a used lux brand. and remember - when the warranty runs out the honda will ALWAYS be cheaper to fix than the BMW.

I would not buy a used bmw without warranty, unless you starting month one put away money for stuff.

You can't even turn wrenches yourself, such as oil change, as the ecu has to be reset at the dealer

 

Ultimate Driving machine? YES, pain in the ass? Sure. Shitty gas mileage? HELL YES!

 

Speaking from current experience.

in the the next month or so I'll be in the market for a new car, but I started to think instead of a brand new basic car like a honda accord maybe I should look into getting something a little nicer like a certified used infinity or BMW. what do you guys think? opinions on cars, advice on purchasing, any input I know you guys never steared me wrong in the past... I'm sure alot of you have done this... thanks!

 

if your choices are just infinity or bmw, then bmw all the way.

 

euro stuff......

bmw....my personal favorites from yourup. the only problem i tend to see with them, is that they generally seem to start nickel and diming their owners in the ballpark of 100k.

mercedes....second favorite. they seem to never die. i prefer the feel of the beemer though.

saab,,,,,,only buy if you're a masochist.

anything british....see saab.

volvo....if only dependibility is your concern, then this is the way to go.

 

asian.....

toyota......downright good cars, and stupidly dependable. can't go wrong. go lexus for luxury.

honda.....see toyota. only difference, is slightly more expensie to repair.

mazda.....pain in the ass to work on, but they've come a long way in recent years. mazda dealerships in nj suck though.

nissan.....i like these more than mazdas, but less than toyotas/hondas. go infinity if you must....i used to tow a TON of infinitys.

subary....best performance bang/buck in from the asian cars. awd turbo can't go wrong. not very luxury oriented though.

Lexus PRE owned amazing vehicles!

Id say just go with Subaru but I'm way biased owning three.

I'm running a small car service and from my experience nothing beats Lexus LS430/460. They run for over 300K without big issues and at 200K have much better feel than Mercedes S500 at 100K. Also Mercedes over 100K will need a lot of expensive repairs.

If you are planning to drive a lot or keep it for long time, I would definitely recommend to go with Lexus LS, don't know about Infinity, but would expect it to run fine as well. If you don't drive a lot and keep car for 2-3 years - any luxury brand would do (I've had very bad experience with 2 Cadillacs, would suggest to keep away).

I went with a Certified Lexus last December. 3 year old car. Best decision I made.

 

Yes, a new Honda, Toyota, etc would be cheaper, but you cannot beat a luxury vehicle.

Infinity and Subaru driver here. Can't go wrong with either. You can wrench on both yourself, and any mechanic can work on either.

 

Other friends have had BMW's and Audi's... they all said, unless you have a warranty, don't bother.

 

This is from someone who owns a premium BMW motorcycle, and who wants a M3/M3 as an attainable dream car. Just have to know it will cost $$.

I'm running a small car service and from my experience nothing beats Lexus LS430/460. They run for over 300K without big issues and at 200K have much better feel than Mercedes S500 at 100K. Also Mercedes over 100K will need a lot of expensive repairs.

If you are planning to drive a lot or keep it for long time, I would definitely recommend to go with Lexus LS, don't know about Infinity, but would expect it to run fine as well. If you don't drive a lot and keep car for 2-3 years - any luxury brand would do (I've had very bad experience with 2 Cadillacs, would suggest to keep away).

there were a couple years, that if i'm not mistaken, the 6 cylinder cadies were saab powered.....i'm not sure about that though.....

The new volvo's.... plenty of issues... was considering them.

 

Lexus, not surprised... after all, just dressed up Camry's and Avalon's. =)

 

reliable, nice, but boring as all hell.

Id say just go with Subaru but I'm way biased owning three.

 

They're quite hot recently, but I also think they've been getting a bit more generic, and lost a bit of their unique character.

 

(Driver of a 2008 Legacy GT. Nicest Subaru I've ever seen)

 

I'd be careful about exactly what the CPO program entails. Make sure you know *when* your warranty starts. I found out on my Subaru that the CPO warranty is actually starting from the day the car was first purchased new, not when it was purchased as a CPO car.

We bought a new Lexus ES350 back in 2009. I never even considered a foreign car before. Now....won't go back. Love the car. 0 issues. We drove all the other luxury car manufacturers and Lexus was by far the most comfy. We are now looking at the GX460 suv.

 

My father in law has had his GX470 since 05 that he bought brand new with Zero issues too. Toyota has me sold on their product, thats why last year I bought a new Tundra. Never going back.

I love Japanese cars but the luxury on owning a Lexus for 6 years is not even comparable to my 2012 Subaru legacy! But I love my all wheel drive! Ask the 2 guys I passed in Pa mountain slipping and sliding while driving their 5 series BMW and Porsche cayenne, honked my horn and left them so sad!!

Had 750Li and M3 cpo MPG was ok,and program was good. Also had Lexus LS and they had the best cpo of any used car. It's exactly like buying a new one!

Better question is how much, & what models?

I just went through this and shopped one to two yr old cars... less then 25k miles, leather and all features for a budget target of about 25-30k. We drove Audi a4, bmw328i, BMW 528i, lexis is250, Lexus es350, merc c300, infiniti g37, Acura tax and tl, Cadillac CTS, Hyundai genesis, Volvo s80, Subaru's legacy, Chrysler 300, Nissan maxima.

 

We bought a certified hyundai genesis 4.6 with 10k miles. A great driving car with really good reliability and fantastic resale. Paid exactly the same amount as a Honda accord loaded 4cyl. And interest rates are so low right now.. we got 1.9% from a credit union.

 

They're quite hot recently, but I also think they've been getting a bit more generic, and lost a bit of their unique character.

 

(Driver of a 2008 Legacy GT. Nicest Subaru I've ever seen)

 

I'd be careful about exactly what the CPO program entails. Make sure you know *when* your warranty starts. I found out on my Subaru that the CPO warranty is actually starting from the day the car was first purchased new, not when it was purchased as a CPO car.

 

Average family income and net worth of your Subaru owner is by a good margin higher than of any other main brand auto company, such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, etc. Just saying.... my wealthiest clients are actually owners of Toyotas, Fords and Honda's.... with a few Acura's thrown in.... nice cars too... just a tad ugly.

Just bought a certified car. I feel we got a pretty good deal and a 24 month/24000mile warranty. Pretty much always bought late model , low mileage cars as we don't keep them that long. Work truck , bought new because I keep them a long time.

I have a BMW. It's a great car and I love it when it's running right, but it's been the least reliable car I've had in the last 30 years. I have the "platinum" extended warranty and when it's over, the puppy is going back to the pound.

 

The most reliable car I've had was the Acura before the BMW. I had zero problems with that car. What bothered me about it was that it was a Honda trying to masquerade as a BMW.

 

Honda now only offers a manual transmission on limited models and only in a couple of colors on the new Accord.

 

I'm thinking of buying a Civic Si sedan as my daily driver next time.

 

The Volvo is my "winter beater"/"station car". I'd buy another Volvo except they dropped manual transmissions from most of their lines more than a few years ago. It's not been an awfully reliable car, but makes up for that in other ways.

My wife's last two cars were Lincolns, both low mileage dealer cars (2100 and 5800 miles) with the Lincoln certified used car warranty. Both were like new and both had the certified used car warranty that was superior to the original factory warranty, increasing both original warranties by 3 years.

 

Granted, they were not BMW's but still nice cars.

 

 

Average family income and net worth of your Subaru owner is by a good margin higher than of any other main brand auto company, such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, etc. Just saying.... my wealthiest clients are actually owners of Toyotas, Fords and Honda's.... with a few Acura's thrown in.... nice cars too... just a tad ugly.

you need wealthier clients LOL, none of mine with a worth>20 million would ever drive them.

FWIW I bought the LS430 twice and they are wonderful cars but couldn't own them for more than 6 months. VERY boring! You have a good price range. I would look for a little older but less than 10,000 miles. I bought a 08 750LI in 2011 with 5,000 miles on it for 38k. Was like absolute brand new with 2.9% BMW financing. Walked out without putting a dime down. Best car I ever owned. MPG was actually on par with my other large cars. Even had massaging drivers seat. As you may have guessed I have car issues LOL. I leased a 2012 TL so I would stop flipping cars. They have great leases. My fav car in the past 4 years was my SC430! In that time I have owned 2 corvettes, M3 cabrio, 750LI, 2 LS430's, a couple of trucks and a few more that don't matter.

Oh, and if you buy a BMW and its a CPO and you have no troubles you are usually good to go. If it has lots of problems dump it before the cpo is up. All companies have problems. I had a Toyota minivan that was an absolute danger it was so defective. Took Toyota to arb and won!

I'm driving a 2011 subaru wrx limited right now, good car. I'll probably return to Infiniti though. I like BMW's, but would never own one. The usual response I get about them is "great car!... when it's not in the shop trying to figure what what the latest check engine light is about".

 

Infiniti, Lexus, Acura, all good. Avoid the German cars, nothing but trouble.

I would not buy a used bmw without warranty, unless you starting month one put away money for stuff.

You can't even turn wrenches yourself, such as oil change, as the ecu has to be reset at the dealer

 

Ultimate Driving machine? YES, pain in the ass? Sure. Shitty gas mileage? HELL YES!

 

Speaking from current experience.

 

+1 to this. Wife has a BMW and we either will trade it in or have to buy the extended warranty/free maintenance because I do not want to he stuck with tons of expensive upkeep!