I think the main issue in terms of choosing a new car vs. a used car has to do with how long you intend to own the car, and how long you are willing to wait for an opportunity that is not immediately in front of you.
I had a 2000 Insight that was destroyed in an accident and wanted to get another Insight. I looked at one used Insight. It looked okay. Though it was not the color I wanted, that wasn't essential to me. I was mostly concerned about whether the car had been abused or not. I tend to keep cars a long time, evidenced by my 1992 Civic with 212,000 miles on it.
The first thing that bothered me was what I didn't find: There were no entries in the Owner's Manual noting when they had done any service on the car. It was a returned lease car and the dealer stupidly tried to comfort me by telling me that he wasn't even sure this manual actually belonged to this car. The car had 12,000 miles on it. The rear tires looked pristine and the front tires had some obvious wear.
That's when I figured it probably had not had its first oil change yet. The tires had not been rotated. Likely, the only maintenance it had was filling the gas tank. The gas mileage was in the 40s, so likely it was driven mostly in city driving, and perhaps not all that conservatively.
While you might judge that the engine isn't run as hard as a regular car, realize that the engine is smaller than in a regular car and it gets run plenty hard in normal driving. It's a tough little engine (hey, it's a Honda), but in order to get multiple 100,000 miles out of it, it does need to be maintained, and likely you won't know how well it was maintained by the first owner unless you are the first owner.
That was important to me, so I passed on the used car and ordered a new one, since I didn't want a CVT. It took about 3 months to get it, though I got it in the color I want, 5-speed and while I didn't want air conditioning and they talked me into it, they did give me enough of a price break for me to feel more comfortable with my compromise.
So, you can pick one of the cars immediately available to you and you'll probably be fine. It's a Honda. Take care of it and it will likely last you many years. You'll probably save money, since any repairs you have to do because of poor first ownership probably won't exceed the additional cost of buying a new car. Even new cars, even of a good model can be an individual lemon, so there's no such thing as a safe choice.
Just make a choice, any choice, and then commit to it. Don't choose one and then allow yourself the luxury of wishing you'd made a different choice. You can be happy with ANY choice, so long as you invest fully in it to choose a car and then make it the best car you've ever owned, in your mind if not in your driveway.
!! Transform and roll oout
