[MysticCat]

My first and only new car was a dark blue 1987 VW Jetta. I really liked it.

My wife's first and only new car was a white 1998 Jetta; she really liked it, too. (She got when we were dating, not married.)

But since those cars gave up the ghost (hers from age, mine from being rear-ended), we haven't bought any more new cars -- all of our cars since then have come from CarMax or Hertz. I doubt we'll ever buy a new car again; we just don't see the value in buying new and we'd rather be putting the difference cost-wise somewhere else.

There are days lately that I miss the car I had before the new car, though -- a 1979 VW Rabbit diesel. It got 50+ mpg on the highway. Even given the cost of diesel fuel, I still could live with that.