New car opinions

[WFUWaldo]

Not only do I not have a car payment but my insurance is significantly cheaper.

This is not necessarily true depending on what the old car is and what safety features the new car has.

If you're trading in a 2010 PT Cruiser (one of the worst rated vehicles) for a 2014 whatever with a good safety rating, side airbags, etc, then your insurance cost could potentially go down.

That would also require you to own a PT Cruiser, which would be gross.

 

[WFUWaldo]

Thanks for providing back up numbers to your post. My hypothesis would be that there is a sweet spot on the back end of a car's life (175,000-250,000 miles) where you aren't really losing much resale value anymore and your maintenance holds pretty steady.

This is generally true since you can't sell a vehicle for negative money. In reality all vehicles have a floor price which is anywhere between $200 and $500.

At that high mileage it really depends on the reliability of your vehicle, how properly you've maintained the vhielce, and luck. Some cars/people can get 200,000 miles with only minor maintenance, some will have significant breakdowns at 100,000. Properly maintaining your vehicle is extremely important, even early in it's life.