In today’s shaky economy, many people are looking for the best value in a car, and used cars are what they’re in the market for. But for people on a budget, how can they get the most remaining life out of a used car while paying the lowest purchase price? By analyzing over two million used vehicles, American used car shopping platform iSeeCars.com identified models with the longest lifespan and then compared those models with their current used car values. This allowed the researchers to identify the best values for ten-year-old vehicles ranked by the price of their remaining potential lifespan (the lowest price per remaining 1,000 miles of lifespan).
“Although used car pricing is slowly dropping, it remains near record levels, putting a serious financial pinch on first-time buyers or used car shoppers needing to replace their current vehicle. And new vehicle pricing is simply unrealistic for many consumers,” said Karl Brauer, Executive Analyst for iSeeCars.com. “But we now know shoppers can buy a 10-year-old car that costs substantially less than one- to five-year-old used models, yet these vehicles still have 80,000 or more miles of life left in them,” continued Brauer. “Some, like the Toyota Prius, Toyota Avalon, and Honda Ridgeline, have more than 125,000 miles to go. And all of these top 20 cars provide a potential lifespan above 200,000 miles.”
The average price in the U.S. for these top 20 best used cars for the money is just $12,814, with an average remaining lifespan of 101,923 miles, or more than 46 per cent left of their total usable lifespan.
| Best used car buys (in USD), 10-year-old used cars | |||||
| Model | Price per 1k Miles | Avg Price | Remaining Lifespan (miles) | Remaining Lifespan (%) | Potential Lifespan (miles) |
| Chevrolet Impala | $87 | $9,706 | 111,996 | 48.6% | 230,343 |
| Toyota Prius | $107 | $13,878 | 129,466 | 51.7% | 250,601 |
| Honda Civic (coupe) | $108 | $12,673 | 117,819 | 52.1% | 226,120 |
| Kia Sedona | $110 | $9,640 | 87,747 | 42.1% | 208,615 |
| Toyota Avalon | $111 | $15,818 | 143,056 | 58.2% | 245,710 |
| Honda Fit | $112 | $12,347 | 110,333 | 53.2% | 207,231 |
| Honda Accord | $118 | $13,437 | 113,584 | 50.2% | 226,168 |
| Ford Fusion | $119 | $10,079 | 84,590 | 42.1% | 201,071 |
| Dodge Grand Caravan | $120 | $10,354 | 86,292 | 41.2% | 209,350 |
| Toyota Camry Hybrid | $123 | $14,360 | 116,903 | 50.7% | 230,547 |
