When does it make the most sense to trade your 5th gen in? Opinions?

 

If you mean how long you should hold on to a car before trading in, I think your best bet is if you can hold a new car for at least 3 years. Depreciation hits during the first couple of years are huge.

 

For a used 03 you'll lose your ***. The incentives drop the value of trade ins. The advantge is that they'd keep your car on their lot b/c its newish. I'd guess a used o3 trade in would be $15K +/-

 

I have a 2000 GXE that I paid for 21.2 when it was brand new in aug 2000. The car just hit 40K mi and I just want to see if it is smart to get more use of it, get more miles on it, or trade it in now while I can get maybe 10-11 grand for it...Because in 2004 my cars trade-in value will be 7500. See, I am making payments on a car that also depreciates. IF my pmt is lets say 300/mo, then depreciation is another 300/mo. At the total of 600/mo I'd say that is a one hell of a pmt.

 

The longer you keep your Max, the better for you.

That's because the depreciation is steepest in the first yeat or two years of the ownership. The worst thing to do is to sell your car after a year or two.

 

*If economics is the only concern.* Lost half its value the first three years and 40k miles. Loses the next half in another 12 years and another 160k miles. Run it till the wheels fall off. Seriously.