Study: Buy These 12 Cars Used, Not New

CARS.COM — There’s nothing quite like a new car. It smells nice. It looks great. Heck, it just feels right, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t always make the best financial sense to buy fresh off the assembly line. A new study by the automotive researchers at iSeeCars.com singled out a dozen cars that behoove you to buy used due to large price differences between brand-new and one-year-old models.

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ISeeCars analyzed over 14 million new and used cars sold for the study and found “12 models had price drops between 31.2 percent and 34.6 percent, which are at least 1.5 times greater than the overall average, and would be better values when purchased lightly used rather than brand new,” researchers reported.

The study showed that buying one of these dozen models one model year later with average miles would save shoppers between $6,000 and $20,000 – and still boast the latest safety features and favorable crashworthiness scores.

The 12 vehicles iSeeCars deemed a better value used than new, followed by the average percentage price reduction and dollar-amount savings, are:

12. Buick Regal, 31 percent, $11,525

11. Chrysler 300, 32 percent , $13,351

10. Cadillac ATS, 32 percent , $6,099

9. Fiat 500, 32 percent , $11,106

8. Jaguar XF, 32 percent , $19,966

7. Lincoln MKZ and MKZ Hybrid, 34 percent , $14,177

6. Nissan Maxima, 34 percent , $12,469

5. Mercedes-Benz C250, 34 percent , $15,247

4. Kia Cadenza, 34 percent , $12,940

3. Volvo S60, 34 percent , $14,204

2. Lincoln MKS, 35 percent , $16,039

1. Fiat 500L, 35 percent , $8,096