Best Used Cars

Everybody loves a shiny new car, but the test of time tells which are the best value for the money. Finding the best used car can be a challenge, not for lack of information online, but for the sheer mass of information -- often conflicting -- that one finds online.

Every major car and consumer website publishes regular lists of the best used cars in terms of value and reliability; however, each editorial staff has its own opinion and standards, and the lists are seldom anywhere near identical. In face, the only choice that appears unanimously on every major list is the Honda CR-V! Here are some reliable sources to assist you in your search for the best used car:

• Consumer Reports' annual Best & Worst Used Cars list is an invaluable resource. CR also produces a list of used cars by price, which further breaks down the general ratings by year (or more precisely, by price, but this can give you a good idea of how reliable a car is, if it is devaluing quickly on the used market year-on-year.)
• Edmunds.com currently posts used car ratings for the 2004-2009 production years, sorted by type of vehicle. You can find it here.
• MSN Autos annual rankings list can be found here.
• The current Kiplinger list of the best used cars (via Yahoo.com) can be seen here.

Cost of Ownership

When researching used cars, one of the more important factors to consider is cost of ownership. Most quality ratings sites track and factor in the long-term cost of maintenance and other ownership costs of a given vehicle. Often nominally cheaper cars can cost a huge amount of money to keep up, and occasionally even the most popular cars from the best makers have bad years that run up ownership costs for a given model -- to say nothing of the high (and rising) cost of parts of European and Asian imports.

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