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Should I buy a new base-trim car or a 2-year-old mid-trim at $22,000?
For most Canadian buyers who drive 15,000 to 20,000 km per year, the 2-year-old mid-trim wins. You avoid the steepest year-one depreciation (typically 18% to 22%), you get heated seats, a better infotainment screen, and often blind-spot monitoring that would cost $3,000 extra on the new base trim. The new car wins if your annual mileage exceeds 25,000 km, since warranty coverage becomes more valuable, or if you plan to keep the vehicle 10 or more years, where the additional two years of usable life can matter. For 3-to-6 year ownership plans, used is almost always mathematically better.