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What used cars have reached the bottom of their price curve and will soon begin appreciating in value?

Asked by ETpro (34605points) June 13th, 2013

I’m going to need a new set of wheels now that my eyes are back in full working order (cataracts removed) and I’m living out in the burbs of Boston, not its crowded North End. I’d like to buy something relatively inexpensive. I’m not looking for a $200 beater here. I’d like to pick up something that, given regular maintenance and care, still has 50K or 100K miles or better left in it. There are a relatively small set of models out there that are going to become the classic cars of 2015 and beyond. Theoretically, if I buy one of those now, before it is widely recognized as a collector’s car, its value will only go up as I drive it so long as I keep it in good running order, rust and dent free. But which cars are set to do that?

I found this interesting site, but many of its top 10 candidates are probably outside my price range. Also, at my age, if I bought a muscle car like the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak with its 8.4 liter V-10 cranking out 600 HP, my wife would quite rightly have me committed to a mental hospital. I’d like to target something that is just over that 100,000 mile marker where the price drops off dramatically because lots of buyers still operate under the now false impression that 100K miles is about all a car is good for. Automobile reliability has actually improved dramatically over the past few decades. I bought a Jeep Cherokee with just over 100K on it for my last car, and put another 115K on it with it still running fine before my cataracts got so bad I knew I wasn’t a safe driver. I gave it to charity.

So, with all that said, what make, model and year vehicles might I pick up with $5K or less? The further we go toward the less, the better.

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