Comment by TacticalCoder | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TacticalCoder | Hacker News Reader

Unlikely to get upvoted here but a used Porsche Panamera with an extended bumper-to-bumper manufacturer warranty. As Doug Demuro says it's cheap, really cheap.

There's not a single brand new car costing, say, 75 K EUR or less that I'd have rather than that because the quality simply ain't there.

The ride comfort, soundsystem, sound insulation, interior quality, how it drives superbly (and can yet be used for some spirited drive if you fancy that), etc.

Best car I ever had. Next one is going to be another used Panamera, probably the plug-in hybrid. I tried the Porsche Taycan (their 100% EV) and it's amazing but I'll wait a bit until you can find used ones at bargain prices.

I'm a big fan of Tesla but, to me, the build quality simply ain't anywhere close: as in... It's not even remotely comparable. They are worlds apart. And as I don't rice at the greenlight, I don't care about the 0-60 perfs.

There's nothing better to cruise at 110 mph on the autobahn or to go pick up the kid at school.

It's high-end luxury with quality materials for less than the price of a new Camry.

https://youtu.be/EAezax2ugQU

By very far my favorite purchase of the last two years+.

Similar, I got 2014 BMW 535i Touring. With everyone buying EVs and nobody wanting wagons, it was a steal. I haven't had many cars in my life, but this thing is just astounding, and I'm always afraid when I take it in that BMW is going to try to upsell me on something or tell me something is broken, but everytime I go in they just say "oh my god! we never see these. You're cars in perfect shape!".

You paid less than $30K? I've owned used-luxury cars before and everything's wonderful until you have to get it repaired. I guess with a warranty it might make sense, but what's that payment?

The video he linked was from 2020 and reviewed a 2012 Panamera. The title of it is "Here's Why a Used Porsche Panamera Is a Sub-$30,000 Bargain" and he says that it's cheaper than a Camry within the first 60 seconds.

my bad, I didn't realize OP was actually Doug Demuro.

maintenance on a used Porsche can easily cost more than the car over its lifetime. I remember going in for an oil change and finding out I needed new breaks. That was a mortgage payment.

Best thing you can do is to source the parts yourself, from Pelican or other online stores. Get an invoice, then you can find the exact parts online. Very easy for consumable parts like brakes, rotors, oil filters, etc. Mobil 1 is super cheap at Wal-Mart. To be honest, once you look serious about sourcing yourself, lots of mechanics will lower the price so the parts are at/near wholesale.

Biggest Porsche ripoff is the brake pad sensor - $70-80 that you can buy for about $8. It's just a sensor, doesn't affect brake performance.

The wear sensor? My car (a VW) has that. It's literally just a loop of wire embedded in the pad that wears through and breaks the connection once the pads get too thin. I would hesitate to even call it a sensor, because that implies some level of sophistication.

Yes exactly. I have very, very few negative things to say about Porsche but the price they charge for that dumb loop is one of them. I'm sure VW, Audi, BMW etc also overcharge for the same part but likely not to the same extent.

It's not a separate part, it's part of the pad itself with a 2-pin connector. I've never bought brake pads from the dealer, but aftermarket pads include it, effectively for free. And it's a pretty useless feature that my old car didn't even have (same model), so I just cut the plug off before installing the pad. You can just manually close the circuit if you don't want the dash light to light up.

I did not know about Pelican, thank you. My tail light just went out, the parts are very reasonable.

Similar story here! Got a used 1987MB R107 560 SL. Paid slightly under $20k with less than 80k miles on it with only one previous owner. It’s mechanically in excellent condition with not so great interior. But hey, it’s totally fun to cruise around top down, and can be serviced in a variety of places at somewhat reasonable rates. And when you pull up to Alice’s Restaurant (well haven’t since last spring...) on Skyline blvd, it gets almost more attention than those Lambos and Teslas that ‘everyone’ is taking there! See son, that is class! ;)

Anyways - your mileage may vary, but I’ve been totally happy with this purchase. And driving and tinkering with it has offered great distractions from the otherwise gloomy year.

Is there any way to figure out what the maintenance costs of a car is? For example, for an 8-year-old Porsche Panamera? Otherwise, I've always just come across anecdata on message boards.

Edmunds has a "Cost to Own" calculator here: https://www.edmunds.com/tco.html

Sadly it does not go back 8 years. You could check the numbers on a 6-year-old Panamera vs a new Camry though: https://www.edmunds.com/porsche/panamera/2015/cost-to-own/?s... https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/camry/2021/cost-to-own/?style...

I had a Porsche Cayenne S for a while. It was a great SUV. Fun to drive and could actually get 31 MPG on long highway trips.

I bought a second hand Tuareg which is pretty similar under the covers. Nicest car I've ever owned and it makes me happy to be in it.

Interesting you say that. Used Panameras in my area are more expensive than Cayennes.

no way this is cheaper than a used prius

new Camrys cost 75k in Europe?

You joke but I’m with you. A solid Toyota does the A to B thing in reasonable comfort! Not sure why I need a Porsche.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com