Good news for ecomodders: used Mitsu Mirages are selling cheap

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Looks like Mitsubishi picked the wrong gas prices to introduce a high mpg mini car at.

They'll go back up as quickly as they came down.

[Fat Charlie]

As customers we know that, but the main car buying market is chasing SUVs like they never paid for gas in their lives. Kind of hard on the guys trying to sell small cars today. "Disappointing fist year sales" can make a company shy away from something even if it was just a bad coincidence with a fluke in oil prices. But if the small fist year sales still beat initial expectations, that's wonderful.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

(FYI, the new Corvette Stingray holds the most of its value at 84.7%.)

I just realized that this "best" car for retained value actually lost more cash value in year 1 than the "worst" car.

Corvette Stingray starts at $52,745 + $1725 for the automatic (spec of the "top" car noted).

84.7% of that is $46,136.

That represents depreciation of $8,334.

By the end of year 2, the Vette might have depreciated by more than the total MSRP of a base Mirage.

[awcook]

That is pretty interesting Metro, but I don't think that people who buy new Corvettes really care about depreciation value or gas prices. They just want a sweet car with lots of power. Most people who buy the Mitsubishi know that their car is cheap and are more likely to sell it in the upcoming years.

I did a little bit of math for the Tesla Model S (~$132,000) and compared it to the Civic that I am driving now. Over time, the Civic will eventually catch up to the Tesla's value, but that will take more than 60 years. At 60 years, the Civic's total cost including depreciation would be about $97552 at 12,000 miles/year. The Tesla would be $139,450 at 15,000 miles/year.

The Corvette will likely cost more than the Tesla in 60 years because it uses gas. I included this to just say that people who buy supercars don't really care about the depreciation, they just want to have some fun.

[MetroMPG]

You mean Mirage buyers have different priorities than Vette buyers!?

Kidding!

I just posted that to show that the "%" comparison is problematic. The authors put together a list about the financial implications of various car choices. Yet the "best" car actually costs the owner more in depreciation in real terms than the "worst" one.

[user removed]

Most of the people I know who have what I would call a lot of money, don't buy expensive cars like Corvettes. They also don't live in houses that many would expect them to live in.

In most cases where they live in million dollar plus houses and drive 100k plus cars, its becuse their current taxable income is so high they need the deductions to keep some kind of control on their tax liability. A big mortgage deduction and a correspondingly large deduction for vehicle expenses, when it is subsidized by a 50%+ contribution of otherwise money lost to taxes, is where they "invest" otherwise taxed monies.

It's not that they don't care, it's different proirities.

regards
mech

[Hersbird]

The mortgage tax deduction still sin't as good as not paying the interest at all. Best case you get a what 40% deduction on the interest you pay? if you didn't pay any interest that is a 100% deduction. So real rich people (and smart poor people soon to be rich) don't carry any debt at all.
Edmunds.com has a pretty good cost of ownership for new cars but I don't see the Mirage listed. A 2014 basic Civic comes out to be $10,000. A 2014 Stingray is $21,000 for the first year. Each is less after.

[Cobb]

Although I never worked in auto sales Ive met a lot of people who bought cars , going to buy a car and paying on a car loan. Most buy a car to meet a want or need. Then they deal with paying for it and other related expenses, fuel maintenance.

Of all expenses maintenance is optional in their opinion. Thats why a lot of new cars offer free maintenance for the first few years. Who would want a 60k dollar suv with 20k miles on it that never had an oil change cause the owner could barely afford fuel, insurance and the monthly payment.

I saw the auto week update and they gave it high praise. They said it gave hybrid like mpg with only 3 cylinders.

[niky]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

You mean Mirage buyers have different priorities than Vette buyers!?

Kidding!

I just posted that to show that the "%" comparison is problematic. The authors put together a list about the financial implications of various car choices. Yet the "best" car actually costs the owner more in depreciation in real terms than the "worst" one.

This is a misconception that I find myself tackling on a regular basis when asked for advice by buyers. People will go: "I'm buying X, because that's a (Amazingly good resale brand), and that'll get me more money when I sell it later on."

To which I reply: "You do know that with the price of that thing, you're still losing the same amount in depreciation versus Y (much cheaper, basic and reliable non-(Amazingly good resale brand))?"

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by niky

This is a misconception that I find myself tackling on a regular basis when asked for advice by buyers. People will go: "I'm buying X, because that's a (Amazingly good resale brand), and that'll get me more money when I sell it later on."

To which I reply: "You do know that with the price of that thing, you're still losing the same amount in depreciation versus Y (much cheaper, basic and reliable non-(Amazingly good resale brand))?"

A similar issue was raised when Chinese cars started to appear in Brazil, cheaper but loaded with more features than locally-made cars. Altough their depreciation may be percentually higher, after all the lost value is roughly the same. Insurance cost is also an important matter, since they're also less targetted by thieves.