CNNMoney.com
Companies Economy International Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading Winners/Losers/Actives Bonds Currencies Commodities World Markets Money Magazine Real Estate Taxes Jobs Ask the Expert Money 101 Autos Mutual Funds The Help Desk Loan Center Best Places to Live Ask the Expert Ultimate Guide to Retirement Retirement Calculators Best Funds Best Places to Retire Fortune Brainstorm Tech Apple 2.0 Blog Big Tech Blog Sectors and Stocks Tech Talk Resource Guide Small Business Makeovers Questions & Answers Small Business Video 100 Best Places to Launch FSB 100 Fortune Small Business Fortune 500 Brainstorm Tech Investing Management C-Suite Rankings Main Create Portfolio Edit Portfolio Create Alerts Edit Alerts
2 of 11
BACK NEXT
Used value
Used value
The 2005 Ford Focus may not be the most popular car on the block, but it's dependable and gets good mileage.
Q. What about buying used?

A. It depends. "Used compact cars in really good shape - like three-year-old Honda Civics - are commanding 70% to 90% of their original MSRP because demand is so high," says Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting.

Adds John Wolkonowicz, senior automotive analyst for Global Insight: "Buying a used Camry or Accord isn't a great move - they hold value too well."

Your best deal: a car that isn't in great demand but gets good reliability ratings from J.D. Power & Associates, such as a 2005 Ford Focus (24 mpg city, 33 mpg highway) or Hyundai Elantra (25 mpg, 33 mpg).

Both sell for less than 60% of the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), which seems an underestimation of their real value, considering their J.D. Power ratings.

NEXT: Function over form

Last updated August 12 2008: 6:04 AM ET
More Galleries
Hope for homeowners Critics thought homeownership would never work in the South Bronx. They were wrong. Tour the one house currently for sale on Charlotte Street. More
Detroit: The Innovators The Motor City needs new industries. These 7 entrepreneurs are bringing tech, medical research and design jobs to the Detroit metro area. More
Then and now: 'The worst slum in America' Charlotte Street in New York City's South Bronx was once world famous for its blight. Now it's a slice of suburbia in the inner city - complete with Bimmers and boats. More

Special Offer
© 2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.