QOTD: First in Line at the Going Out of Business Sale?
Like faces in the community, the passing of each year bring the appearances of new car models and the disappearance of old, familiar ones. Product changeover is constant. Picking up a just-released model ensures you’ll be seen driving a “new” car until refresh time rolls around, or, if you’re something of an oddball, until the unpopular vehicle that tickled your automotive fancy gets prematurely chopped from the lineup.
It’s nice getting into a model that’s destined to look relatively fresh for three or four years, but it’s also nice getting a deal and saving yourself some coin when dealers want that old (and possibly executed) model gone. Would it bother you to find yourself in the second camp?
These days, it’s unlikely you’d need to worry about parts drying up a handful of years down the road, but it does happen. That’s assuming you even planned to drive it long-term. More than likely, a new car with an acceptable amount of power and content, going for the right price (as the dealer desperately wishes to free up a more lucrative spot), is all a buyer desires. The most car for the money, never mind the car.
If you could live with the transmission, an all-wheel drive, Pentastar-powered Chrysler 200S might have been the unwanted gem of your dreams last year. The same might be said of a nicely equipped mid-level Ford Fusion in a year or two.
Neither of these two examples have any collector potential, so you’d be staring down the barrel of a car that’ll be dated and “old” the moment you drive it off the lot. “Its parent didn’t want it around anymore,” the locals will say. “It was a problem child.” Then again, assuming it does have a replacement, you might be making the right choice. You’ll know how your model shakes out, quality-wise. Americans who purchased a new ’75 Dart instead of its ’76 Aspen successor likely soon realized they made the right choice.
So, does the prospect of buying a swan song of a vehicle give you a moment’s pause? How come?
[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
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I had the chance to drive a 50’s eggshell for a week, and I admit to getting off on all the looks as I drove through town. But on a day-to-day basis I’m quite happy without the attention. My best ever was a 92 Dodge Spirit, not quite at the end of the model run but getting close. K car perfected. Reliable, comfortable, responsive. Seriously my best ever. Close second is my 08 Matrix which trails only the Aztec and the 70’s F10 Datsun as the ugliest car in the history of “civilization”. And it’s gray, too. But it’s comfortable, reliable, and responsive. And it’s a station wagon to boot.
One of my best friends in HS somehow found a Merkur Scorpio used in SW MO. What a comfortable cruiser, we could fit the starting 5 of our HS bball team in it. Parts availability was the end of it ,but the body, interior and paint wore very well.He ended up driving a Pontiac Parisienne Bonny through college.