RetireJapan

mighty58 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:44 am Is this cost supposed to include or exclude taxes/shaken required at the time of purchase?
At the low end that can make a big difference whether it's above or below the 500,000yen mark.

I didn't think it through that far, but yes, how much to start driving it on the road, which can be a lot, for sure.

My "free car" came with a year of shakken and tax paid and I only paid ¥3,000 for a new reg (generous student), but my Mini required 250,000 on top of the auction price for shakken, new tires and brakes.

Although new cars drop in value instantly, I can think of a couple reasons to get a 1-3 year old, especially with EV.

-New battery is better than older battery
-Latest safety features are a huge improvement over 3-5 years ago
-New tech in general is better
-Smell nicer

Cars are cars, and a cheap car will get the job of transportation done. My father-in-law has a 20-year-old kei truck with 150,000km, and he uses it daily (drives 5km a day I think).

However, in the past technology (such as airbags, ABS brakes) didn't change that quickly, but now it seems to be moving along faster.

Have never spent over 500,000yen... the used car market here offers so much value I can't really justify spending more.
My cars, in order:

1. Toyota Corolla Levin, 12 years old, 20,000yen.
2. Mazda MX6 V6, 11 years old, 190,000yen.
3. Honda Prelude SiR, 13 years old, 390,000yen.
4. Subaru Legacy Wagon GT-B, 14 years old, 290,000yen.
5. Toyota Alphard, 18 years old, 190,000yen.

All with <70k on the meter at time of purchase.

I've had three cars over the 30+ years in my present city. First was a new mini van (kei), put 80k km on it, started using oil. Second was a year old lite-ace, diesel/manual, drove it till it was 14 or so, maybe 130k km. Third and present car is a Fit, bought new, now 12yrs old. It'd be hard to find even a 3-5yr old used car to compare with its condition, I'll probably do another shaken on it next March, only about 88k km on it--my driving really fell off after retiring, but still a very necessary luxury.

Before reading some of the responses here, I guess I hadn't considered shaken as a part of a car's initial cost, but then thinking about it I have seen that that can be expired and a necessary part of buying some used cars.

**

A similar poll might be "How much was your bike?" Or "bikes" in my case--I have three, all still ridable and working (once each CF, steel, and alu).

mighty58 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:56 pm Have never spent over 500,000yen... the used car market here offers so much value I can't really justify spending more.
My cars, in order:

1. Toyota Corolla Levin, 12 years old, 20,000yen.
2. Mazda MX6 V6, 11 years old, 190,000yen.
3. Honda Prelude SiR, 13 years old, 390,000yen.
4. Subaru Legacy Wagon GT-B, 14 years old, 290,000yen.
5. Toyota Alphard, 18 years old, 190,000yen.

All with <70k on the meter at time of purchase.

Easy to see your lifestyle
Poor and single
Single, looking for partner for roadtrips
Still single, or perhaps married now, no kids
Married, one kid
Married, 2-4 kids

TJKansai wrote: ↑Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:52 am Easy to see your lifestyle
Poor and single
Single, looking for partner for roadtrips
Still single, or perhaps married now, no kids
Married, one kid
Married, 2-4 kids

Wow, haha, you've pegged me pretty much spot on!

You've had a few quick cars. My one speedster was the Cooper S (manual) I bought at age 50. A lot of fun, but too small for a third passenger.

My first car was a Ford Cortina. 300 pounds.Scrapped.
Second was an awful Austin Maestro. 1500 pounds. Traded in for a new Citroen AX
Then I was introduced to the wonders of Japanese cars . Nissan March. Second hand.
Honda Edix 1 million yen.written off by a truck. 6 month later.
Toyota Scienta.1 million yen,second hand and still going strong after 8 years.
Would love an electric vehicle but we live in an apartment. Probably have to wait until they solve that problem or get hydrogen..... but not at those prices

Bought my first car in Japan - a new 2019 Suzuki Jimny. The new model was crazy popular so I had to wait exactly one year to take delivery of it.

Total cost was just under 2,000,000 for the top-of-the-line kei model all in, including navi, two years maintenance and taxes.

It was the best decision I ever made. I love exploring the forest roads and the fuel economy is excellent. Best of all, it still take a long time to get one that used ones sell for more than the new price so if I sold it today, I would pretty much get all of my money back.

Carless till late 30s, then:

Volvo XC90 (14yo; sayonara sale): 250,000 (part-exed for peanuts before shaken)
Suzuki Spacia (1yo; kei car dealer): 1.5m (current; mainly used by wife)
Honda Stepwgn (5yo; Honda dealer): 2m (current; mainly used by me)

My wife had a Toyota Vitz before I came to Japan which we used for a couple of years.