ENGINEER'S 10 GOLDEN RULES FOR BUYING NEW CARS // SECRETS & INSIGHTS SHARED

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Transcript

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Hey guys, this is David from Motor Press. I'm going to talk about 10 golden rules for buying a car from engineer's perspective.

Let's go. Welcome back.

So, I'm going to talk about 10 golden rules for buying a car

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from my perspective as an engineer's perspective. And I've talked about this in the past, but this time I want to keep it nice and simple so you can follow these 10 rules in no particular order.

I'm going to talk about it. And the first one is very obvious and that is do not buy firstear model car.

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Doesn't matter what brand, what automaker, which country, where it's manufacturer, doesn't matter. Just avoid buying the very first year of a new car of a new model introduction because in recent years even the almighty Lexus or Toyota have made some mistakes and

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defects in the first year and there has been just too many things that can go wrong when the model is all new or close to all new and it's the first year of production or first year of model. So don't buy the first year.

I think that would take a lot of frustrations away from everyone because I made that

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mistakes over and over again. Now, I do it because I want to showcase the first year car for you guys.

So, I bought many firstear models, including recently the Land Cruiser, which has some issues. And so, I'm happy to share those issues with you.

But for you who wants to buy a car

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of trouble-free and keep it for a long time, just don't buy the first year. And the second point is very similar to the first point, and again, I talked about this in the past, but I'm I'm going to emphasize again, and that is more than likely don't buy the second year of a new model as well.

Especially if it's

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the all new model. If it's a facelift or maybe the part train hasn't changed, that's okay to buy a second year.

But for brand new models, I would not buy the second year because history has shown that there are also some issues and problems that seems to get carried on the second year. Usually by the third

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year, the problems are resolved and they've gone over all the manufacturing quality items as well as new product development issues. Those are usually resolved for sure by the third year.

So third, fourth year are very safe to buy. I just wouldn't buy the first year obviously, but I would try to avoid the

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second year. Now in some cases, it's okay.

So for example, my Lexus GX 550, this is the second year. This is a 2025, not 2024.

And I found that all the issues and problems and minor things I noticed in the 2024 have been taken care of. And this is troublefree.

But you

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have to keep in mind that the Lexa GX is built at Tahara plant, which is perhaps the best plants in the world. and also the engine which is a 3.5 liter turbo V6 is a carried over engine from other models.

So that's why I didn't expect to have problems for the second year. But generally speaking, avoid the first

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year, avoid the second year. So what's my third golden rule for buying a car?

Well, this one might need a little bit more explanation because it's to do with timing of a car. Nothing to do with manufacturing quality or issues, but it's to do with the demand and supply.

So if the car is very popular and

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there's a long wait list or waiting period then in that case you may have to pay a markup and therefore you're not going to get any discount on the vehicle. So third point is don't buy a vehicle when it's in high demand if you want to save some money at the point of purchase.

So for example the Lexus GX

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550 is in high demand. There's almost a 2-year wait list both in Canada and the US and it's really hard to get one.

Now, I had deposit long time ago, so I was able to get it pretty quickly. But for most of you, you probably don't want to buy when it's in high demand because you won't get any discount.

You might get a

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markup in some cases in some regions. We don't have a markup here in Canada, but you definitely will have one in US.

And therefore, it just makes it more tricky. Although I do have to admit if you buy something in high demand and you're able to get it, then if you sell it in a short time when there is still a demand,

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let's say 6 months or year later, then you can also sell it and potentially make money or not lose money at all. So there's a two kind of flip side of the coin.

One is the fact that if you want to save money when you buy the car and you want to keep the car for a long time, then obviously don't buy it when the vehicle is in high demand. But on

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the other hand, if you're a type of person who like to buy a car and quickly change it within a year or less, then you probably do want to buy it, maybe pay the markup, but a year later you'll be able to sell the car, maybe even with a markup still, or at least you won't lose money. So those are the two

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scenarios you have to kind of keep in mind, but generally speaking, just don't buy it when it's in high demand. The fourth point might seems really obvious, but people don't always follow it, and that is don't buy a car with options or colors that no one wants.

For example, this Lexa GX 460, which is also mine,

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has a V8 engine, and you know that I love V8 engine. So, you might think it's in high demand, but because a new GX 550 has already come out, the V6 twin turbo is highly popular.

This car has actually depreciated and it's no longer in demand and you might think it's kind of

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strange, but people have moved on and they don't really want V8 anymore. So, it's in reasonable demand, but not in high demand.

And so you have to kind of be careful that sometime you keep a car that you think will be in demand later on but it turned out not to be the case and it's hard to get rid of or you end

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up with a high depreciation. So let me give you a couple examples.

Uh if you buy a car let's say in bright yellow or bright green or pink or purple color, you can be sure that either dealers will say they don't want to buy that from you or you have a heck of a time selling it.

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Even though there is some study that has been done that shows that some colors such as regular yellow or more of a normal green color could actually bring higher resale value because it's hard to find. But generally speaking, you want to stick with color that's more common.

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White, gray, silvers, even blacks are fine and also red for sports cars. Otherwise, don't pick strange color.

Don't pick a rare model or a car that no one wants to buy because you're going to have a heck of a time of selling it later and it resale value goes way down.

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So that's my fourth point. And the fifth point is to make sure that you do a proper test drive to see if you like the car or something you might find out during the test drive.

Don't go for a 10-minute test drives and expect to make a good decisions. go for a longer drive

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like let's say uh at least half an hour, maybe even longer if the dealer will let you. And also drive it under a number of different circumstances.

Drive it in sunny weather. Go and drive it when it's raining or when it's cold.

Go by yourself. Go with a family or friends.

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Try to go for a drive at least twice, maybe even three times. And if you do that, you will know exactly which car you will like.

Also, if you're looking to buy two or three different type of cars, then go and drive all of them back to back on the same day. Don't drive one car, then one week later drive another

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car because you won't remember exactly what the other car felt like. Always drive back to back.

And that way, right after the test drive, you'll know which one you like the best. Like I said, take your time.

And in some cases, a dealership might let you keep it overnight for more expensive vehicles,

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and that's always the best way to evaluate the car. I do have a long video that talks about how to test drive a car.

So, watch that video if you want to find out more. But again, just to summarize, go for multiple drives, drive under different weather conditions, and drive all the competitive models on the

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same day, and you'll know which one you want to buy. The sixth point is about focusing on life cycle cost.

something I talked about in the past as well. But remember that the cost of owning a car for a duration of your ownership is not always about the purchasing price, but

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it's also the purchasing price plus insurance, maintenance, gas, or charging cost. All that has to be included.

And then you have to take into account depreciation. So when you finally sell the car, how much did the car actually depreciate?

So the buying or purchasing price minus the selling price will give

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you a depreciation. Adding maintenance, fuel, anything else that you might do like a detailing cost, whatever you want to do to um make your car look good.

All that cost added together is your life cycle cost. Some car has a very low life cycle cost because they don't use any

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gas. Let's say electric car.

Also, they're they're not depreciating because they're popular and over a course of two, three, five years, the life cycle cost could be really low even though the purchase price might be high. So, take that into account.

If you buy electric car right now, they depreciate a lot,

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but you don't pay any gas. And so, you got to figure out which one makes more sense and estimate the life cycle cost and decide which car to buy based on that.

What's my seventh point or seventh golden rule? will always prioritize long-term reliability and durability if

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you're going to keep a car for a long time. So, for example, I know that this particular vehicle GX is very reliable, but not as reliable as my older GX, which is my GX 460.

That one has been around a long time. It's end of the life cycle.

Like, this is the actual end of

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the its version. So, this is the last year of the V8 Power GX.

So, that one is super super reliable. This one is a second year of the new GX, so it should be pretty reliable.

But the first year, of course, like I said earlier, might not be reliable. So don't buy the first year for that reason as well.

But even

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the second year is sometime questionable. But if you buy after the facelift, which is usually the fourth or fifth year or even the very last year of its model, then you know all the little bugs and some of the larger bugs have been resolved and you'll be very very reliable.

So generally speaking, older

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the car in terms of design, the more reliable it is. Even from a brand that might not be known for reliability.

If you buy the older model with older design, it's usually quite well made. So think about that and make sure that you're buying in the right year, the right timing so that you are maximizing

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reliability and durability over anything else because if you're going to keep it for a long time, well, if it breaks down, you're not going to be happy and you're going to sell it. So look for that.

Also don't forget to check against other datas from consumer report or JD power. JD power not all that useful but consumer report are actually quite

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reliable. Uh go to the forums where people are talking about the kind of problems they had.

Check with your friends or neighbors or ask for help from some other network. Uh sometime I also go to the back of the dealership and go to service department and say hey tell me has this car been reliable or

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have you seen a lot of it come back and usually they'll tell you a little bit. the honest dealers would.

And that's how you avoid buying cars that might have reliability issues. The eighth point is not to buy cars with options you don't need.

So that include all the dealer add-ons. Sometime you can't avoid it

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because if car is popular, they're going to add on stuff and you're forced to buy those things. But if you can avoid it, obviously don't buy things you don't need.

That includes buying cars with higher level trims and it comes with many options and you might not need them. So, for example, this is a Lexus

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GX 550 overtrail plus, which is one above the Overtrail, and it comes with things that at first I didn't think I needed that. That includes a cooler box in here because this makes the whole center console smaller.

Uh, and for the longest time, I said to myself, I don't

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need a refrigerator or cooler in my car. But I do admit once I have it, I love it because right now it's summer, it's hot, and I can keep my drinks cool.

But this car also has a massage chair which is absolutely useless. I've never seen a single massage chair in any car that

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proves to be useful. They're just very small, just small amount of movement.

And you know what? They don't really do anything to me.

And for most part, they're kind of waste of money. Uh some people may want the sunroof or moon roof or better stereo, but in most cases, those extra options cost a lot more

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money and probably won't add that much more joy in your driving. So pick carefully because they add up a lot, especially if you're looking at some premium brand like Porsche.

If you keep adding it, you can double the price of a car. So be careful what you choose.

Only pick what you really need. And if you're

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not sure, don't buy it because sometime you can add on later anyway. The ninth point is how to save money when you want to buy a car.

So make sure the timing is right. If you buy end of the month, 30th or 31st or last day of the month, generally speaking, dealership will give

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you a bigger discount or throwing something for free like additional warranty compared to let's say beginning of the month. They're not really anxious.

But end of each month, the salespeople as well as a dealership is kind of under pressure to meet quota and to make one more sale. And they're going

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to be very anxious to get more sales to use. So if you start negotiating let's say one or two days before the end of the month so let's say 29th maybe even 28th by the time you test drive the car and you're happy with the car you'll be 30th uh or 31st and then you say well I

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can't decide right now you go away first keep the pressure on come back 5 hours before the dealership closes you're going to get the best deal also applies for the season usually winter time is slow so if you were to buy a car around December 30 or even 31st, you're going

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to get the best deal of the year. Also, in January because sales are very slow.

If you buy cars in summertime is usually peak and you're going to pay a little bit more. But of course, you also have to look for rebates and dealer discount that sometime is on top of all this stuff.

So, make sure you keep an eye out

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to see what kind of discounts dealership might be throwing in terms of ads and or rebates from manufacturer. Combine all those ideas together and you should get the best deal.

And here we are. Now we are on the 10th point.

The 10th golden rule of buying a car. Well, don't buy a car just in case.

So I have many people

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that come to me and say, "David, I need a truck." I say, "Why?" "Well, I got to, you know, move some stuff and move a furniture from time to time." And I say, "How often do you have to move a furniture?" "Well, you know, once a year, once every two years when my relatives are moving or when I have to move a furniture." Well, don't buy a

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truck that you don't really need just because you might have to move once in a while because you can obviously rent the truck and it'll be cheaper than buying something that you actually don't need. Or people say, "I need a minivan because I got to move some family around and take my kids around and my friends around." And I'll say, "How often do you

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have to have seven people in the car?" They'll say, "Well, I don't know. Maybe once every two years." Well, don't buy a minivan when you don't want to buy a minivan just because or just in case.

You might have to drive some people around. So my 10th and final rule is buy what you really want, what you really

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like and what you'll be happy with. And if the needs changes, rent a car or borrow a car from a friend and address those needs separately as a separate incident or separate situation.

And that way you can really focus on buying what you like and you'll be much happier that

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way. So apply all 10 rules and hopefully that means you'll save some money.

you'll have a more reliable and cost-saving car. And most of all, you'll end up with a car that you're happy and you can keep for a very long time.

And that's the hope I have for you. So, this

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was a video about 10 golden rules for buying a car. I do plan to make other golden rule videos, maybe about selling a car or maintaining a car or how to uh wax your car, whatever it might be.

Let me know in the comments below what kind

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of 10 golden rule video you want me to make in the future because I plan to do one every couple of weeks. If you enjoy my video, please give me a thumbs up, make some comments, and if you haven't done so yet, would you kindly subscribe as well?

Because many of you guys watch my video but are not subscribers and that would be truly helpful. Until next

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video, I'm signing off for now. Thank you so much.