best car for an inflation spike...?

In reply to alfadriver :

Companies did find out that WFH can work for some of there employees. Kinda (can not think of the correct word here) to assume that is an option for all people. Take maintenance personnel - kinda hard to fix equipment from the house. I also know a fair number of machinists. Some of them do some hobby machining at the house, but very few could pay their bills that way! 
I'd love to find a job closer than 35 miles away, to save some gas, but I already took a job that pays a bit less than I need, right before going back to traveling jobs were pulled off the table. I sure can't afford a 1/2 cut in pay. 
So I'll need to keep something to commute with, prolly till they bury me. 

In reply to 03Panther :

It's not for everyone, but not having to have a commuter car is clearly the best commuter.  Someone had to point that out.  Then the choice of cars is more about what you really want forever.

In reply to alfadriver :

Even the wording in your reply, make it's seems like it is a choice. It's not. 
But that might not be how you mean it to sound. 

At only 21 mpg, I'd love to have something more suited to commuting. But WFH will never ba available to me, and the panther is paid for, worth very little, and will be dead nuts reliable for a long time to come. Since the majority of our population thinks $10.00 / gallon is a good thing, I'll be hurting soon. 

its not quite your answer but trucks resale for a whole hell of a lot and realistically in the USA gas is still pretty cheap,. newer trucks are crazy expensive and even a few years old with the right trim/options is pretty penny. 

plus you can do truck stuff or bring home more project cars. 

Ideally you want something that will cost very little to use ($/mi), and depreciate very little. Generally speaking, locking in low interest loan payments is the best way to hedge against inflation. But insurance and registration costs will be higher with new(er) vehicles, so those costs need to be accounted for.

Trucks and some BOF SUVs (4 Runners, Wranglers, new Bronco?) depreciate very little, but will have high initial purchase prices and higher running costs. A brand new Chevy Bolt can be had for under $25k these days and would have super low running costs, but is likely to depreciate (although if fuel costs rise enough who knows...). A Tesla might be a great option if you can stomach one, as they have super low EV running costs, but depreciate very little. Higher upfront cost than the Bolt and most other EVs though. Another interesting choice might be the new Wrangler PHEV if you can find one. It would give you EV running costs for the first 25 miles you'd drive, and will likely have strong Wrangler resale too.

If you're not financing, then you're just trying to guess which vehicles might be at the bottom of their depreciation curve. But they also need to be reliable, and hopefully fuel efficient too in order to avoid nickle/dime-ing you. I think John Welsh's cheap Prius suggestion is a good one in that regard. If you're trying to time an investment vehicle in hopes that it will appreciate at about the same rate as inflation that's kind of a crap shoot.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to alfadriver :

Interesting point about leases.  If used cars continue to have elevated values, the high residuals may make leasing a VERY attractive option.

I remember some pickup a few years ago where the lease was $2500 down and $0/month for 36 months...

But you still have to pay TTL for a lease, one of the reasons they have never made sense to me. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Vehicle has to be titled, vehicle has to be registered.  You're the one using it, you should be the one to pay that expense.

Or, more pragmatically, no business eats costs, those get passed down to the consumer.  You'll be paying for it one way or the other, this way is transparent.

I think it also depends on the nature of inflation. The fed, et al. have committed to letting a bit of "catch up" inflation occur, so prices may increase before interest rates increase to reduce inflation. Look at increases in real estate and compare to the lack of change in core inflation. Vehicle inflation could continue without rates, or core inflation increasing (or the other way around!).

Really it's no different any other investment decision. In a given year, 3/4ths of funds fail to match indexes. The next year it's the same story, but with a different set of funds up/down. If it was easy to predict, it would already be priced in. :) Even Warren Buffet hasn't significantly outperformed the market in decades. I think it's prudent to consider significant medium term inflation as say a 20% risk. I'd be mindful of not making decisions that could be adversely impacted and consider hedges to ensure you're not hurt by inflation. eg. If I was buying a car, my inclination to finance/lease would increase. eg. Normally I'd probably pay cash if the rate was >2%, now I'd probably pay cash if the rate was >3%.

If you want to hedge your bets, you want to buy a vehicle that doesn't decline in value relative to other vehicles, thus pick something that is popular and likely to remain popular. eg. If inflation increases people may become more sensitive to fuel prices, new regulations could increase fuel prices, electric cars could make gas cars less popular, etc.. Based purely on this I'd suggest small cross-over, or a hybrid.

Miata Is Always The Answer...