TTAC Podcast: What's the Best Used Car for the Money?

by Tim Healey

Published: February 2nd, 2024

ttac podcast what s the best used car for the money

Welcome back to the TTAC podcast! Today we have Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars.com, on to talk about best and worst used cars for the money. TTAC car reviewer Chris Tonn also sits in.

It's not just best and worst used cars -- we have a wide-ranging conversation covering EV sales mandates and goals, the dead automotive brands we miss, a scary piece of proposed legislation in the Golden State, and the newest crossover on the block.

Give it a listen, and as always, thanks for tuning in!

[Image: Mazda]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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3 of 28 comments

JMII on Feb 06, 2024
Pretty much any Infiniti. You get a sort-of-luxury car for very little money. Japanese reliability and build quality but with big depreciation. Generic shapes that aren't offensive or weird. Downside is you'll have to deal with only average fuel economy and tech that tends to be slightly behind the times.

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- Bkojote on Feb 06, 2024
  The problem with a used Infiniti is the people who drive them. The G35 and G37 were very fine cars, but they went from 'Japanese BMW' to 'No Insurance' . I'm sure half have been wrecked after a failed highway race.
  
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Lorenzo on Feb 07, 2024
I held off before stating my choice, a 1974 Dodge Dart V8, but that's because in California it's pre-cat converter and smog exempt. If you keep a car more than ten years, the cost of the Cali smog test is more than the registration.

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Recent Comments

MaintenanceCosts If I were shopping in this segment it would be for one of two reasons, each of which would drive a specific answer.Door 1: I all of a sudden have both a megacommute and a big salary cut and need to absolutely minimize TCO. Answer: base Corolla Hybrid. (Although in this scenario the cheapest thing would probably be to keep our already-paid-for Bolt and somehow live with one car.)Door 2: I need to use my toy car to commute, because we move somewhere where I can't do it on the bike, and don't want to rely on an old BMW every morning or pay the ensuing maintenance costs™. Answer: Civic Si. (Although if this scenario really happened to me it would probably be an up-trimmed Civic Si, aka a base manual Acura Integra.)
El scotto Mobile homes are built using a great deal of industrial grade glues. As a former trailer-lord I know they can out gas for years. Mobile homes and leased Kias/Sentras may be responsible for some of the responses in here.
El scotto Bah to all the worrywarts. A perfect used car for a young lady living near the ocean. "Atlantic Avenue" and "twisty's" are rarely used in the same sentence. Better than the Jeep she really wants.
3-On-The-Tree I’ll take a naturally aspirated car because turbos are potential maintenance headaches. Expensive to fix and extra wear, heat, pressure on the engine. Currently have a 2010 Corolla and it is easy to work on, just changed the alternator an it didn’t require any special tools an lots of room.
El scotto Corolla for its third-world reliability.