You Can Afford To Spend More . . . So Why Did We Buy A Sonic . ?
- Thread starter JTee2017
- Start date
I had three Sonics over the years and have sold them privately, traded, and had the last one totaled. We have switched over to two Hondas. First a new 2018 CRV, now a used 2017 Accord, both base models.
I bought one of the three sonics brand new and thought it was a good car, but I lost too much money up front. The next two, I bought "on the cheap" by looking for deals. They came to us with less than 5,000 miles each for $10k and $12k.
Total cost was $38k and total of resale prices was $20k. So, $18k depreciation to drive three cars for about 5 years each. That's about $1200/yr/car or $100/mo/car on average. This would have been even lower if I had not bought the first one brand new.
If I could have found a used Sonic as nice as the one that was totaled recently, we probably would have bought it. But, at least around here, Sonics are seen as throw-away cars. Most owners are inexperienced and don't take care of them very well, present company excluded, of course. We saw two Sonics at the grocery store lot today - both had the name of a buy-here-pay-here dealer on the back.
We didn't want any car that was not well maintained, and that is nearly all we found on used Sonics.
I'm still not certain that switching to Hondas was the best choice financially. We pay cash for cars and all cars depreciate. While the reliability and resale values on the CRV and Accord are almost unbelievable, I did not buy them to sell, and the cost of entry was a bit high at $40k for the two. I also do not like the attitude of most of the Honda dealer's employees. They treat you like an idiot if you drive up in something else and they think that is how to win over customers.
We like the Hondas, but we liked the Sonics too.
I bought one of the three sonics brand new and thought it was a good car, but I lost too much money up front. The next two, I bought "on the cheap" by looking for deals. They came to us with less than 5,000 miles each for $10k and $12k.
Total cost was $38k and total of resale prices was $20k. So, $18k depreciation to drive three cars for about 5 years each. That's about $1200/yr/car or $100/mo/car on average. This would have been even lower if I had not bought the first one brand new.
If I could have found a used Sonic as nice as the one that was totaled recently, we probably would have bought it. But, at least around here, Sonics are seen as throw-away cars. Most owners are inexperienced and don't take care of them very well, present company excluded, of course. We saw two Sonics at the grocery store lot today - both had the name of a buy-here-pay-here dealer on the back.
We didn't want any car that was not well maintained, and that is nearly all we found on used Sonics.
I'm still not certain that switching to Hondas was the best choice financially. We pay cash for cars and all cars depreciate. While the reliability and resale values on the CRV and Accord are almost unbelievable, I did not buy them to sell, and the cost of entry was a bit high at $40k for the two. I also do not like the attitude of most of the Honda dealer's employees. They treat you like an idiot if you drive up in something else and they think that is how to win over customers.
We like the Hondas, but we liked the Sonics too.
Last edited:
Randall goo
New member
I believe in taking stock in America when at all possible. The Chevy sonic is simple, durable, parts friendly. With You Tube tutorials…. Pricey repairs have now become afternoon challenges. I notice high mileage imports have hi mileage pricetags;After being on the forum now for some 8 months, it struck me that the forum has many highly educated, professional people along with, I assume, well compensated incomes.
Obviously, there are many other cars in the market place so it begs the question: "Why buy a Sonic when you could afford much more"?
For my wife and I, the Sonic is our little version of a sports hatch to zip around in and will use for Summer Day trips and still get great MPG that the SUV would not. And the Sonic has amazing passenger and cargo room to boot. You know, sometimes wife likes to stop at street or flea markets, collector shops or any other "buying opportunity" that we might come upon.
I thought it would great to see why other members chose the Sonic over something else.
And. . . so?
EDIT: - - Secretly, I'm hoping someone from GM may still be reading this forum and see that there would be a more interest in continuing to produce a Next Gen Sonic with more tuner or factory upgrade options and that there is a market for a roomy, comfortable sporty little sedan and hatch. The Sonic would be the bomb with the newer 160HP 1.5L turbo that the Cruze now gets. Especially for you 5 speed manual folks.
And, no offense GM, the Cruze just is more of a hum drum look-a-like car like everything else out there.
While mid to high mileage domestic cars are very reasonable. I dropped 2500 for my
‘15 LS sedan with 158, miles. No leaks just two repairs that the former owner didn’t want to do. Keeps me challenged and enjoy satisfaction when repairs are done.
And the bigger? No monthly payments.
