Grab a 3-year-old car to evade the worst of the depreciation hit, unless thou art rich enough it doesn't matter. Any car can break. Every car has stuff that wears out. Many variables to consider. How long to you intend to keep the critter? If long-term you want a car whose parts will not destroy your budget. Some parts of the country are "friendlier" to "foreign" cars than others. The upper midwest's rural areas beg for the purchase of a Chevy or Ford since the locals know how to fix 'em. If in a bigger city with a Honda, Toyota, etc. dealer your options increase. There IS sumpthin' to be said for the Consumer Report's list though they are not infallible.

Posted by trevorlawson (My Page) on Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 19:01 Its true manufactures are not allowed to force a retailer to sell at a set price. But what they can do if a retailer is caught underselling is stop selling to them.... Most appliance manufactures do increase the prices once per year, beginning of the year is the choice of most. Normally the average price increase is 3%-8%. re: there are a few things that can happen when a dealer is selling under UMRP for a period of time. If the product has a volume rebate ( a kickback the dealer gets at the end of the year for being loyal to one brand ) they can with hold the rebate which costs the dealer money at the end of the year if they see occurrences of selling under UMRP. The second penalty is that some high end appliance distributors will stop selling to the dealer who continually sells under UMRP. . The third penalty is that they can declare them an unauthorized dealer and the remainder of there stock will not be covered under the manufacturers warranty when sold. Every manufacturer in the industry handles this differently and there tolerances vary. When the product has a running change ( meaning the features change without changing the model number then the dealer has a right to sell it off at a discounted price. They may or may not disclose to the customer that they are selling last years design. Some differences can be a subtle as lighting changes from halogen to LED> Typically the manufacturers impose price increases as cost of material goes up ( such as stainless steel ) and these increases are handed down usually once a year.

I live in zone 6 and did a hoop house out of PVC conduit with home-made frames with special connectors that made the top more onion shaped (vs perfectly round). The ribs were probably 3ft on center. This successfully survived with produce (spinach, lettuce, kale, etc) all through my winter (tried on the winter 2013-2014). I bought special poly for greenhouse for the outside - I buried the edges down. I also on the edges went around with 2" foamboard insulation dug down about a foot. It wasn't air tight since I had a door and window (I use it in the spring/fall as well). I added lots of water to the back row (lots as in probably 500 gals) and then some water under my floating row cover. I also added 1.5" foamboard insulation to the back wall under my hip board for added temperature stability. I had xmas lights under the floating row cover for "emergency" heat. It was fine. I don't know how much snow you get but some say it is okay to use a broom on the inside of the hoop house to brush snow off of it. I didn't and didn't have problems. I need to see if I have any pictures of my setup (I took it down this summer since I went all in to buy a greenhouse - a RIGA). That winter is the only winter I used my hoophouse for - I didn't try before then or since then (for personal reasons I did not winter garden last year). So it might be due to a mild winter that I had such success. I say try it! BTW - I can't open your link but have read many places that a truly round roof hoop house will struggle against snow load since the top is practically flat. That is why I went with special connectors to make more of an onion shape so the very tip was ridged vs flat.

Take heart, always1stepbehind, there are good deals out there to be found. I bought my current car when I was in the market for a vehicle that would get good gas mileage for my daily work commute. At the time, I was driving a vehicle that went through a tank of gas a week at $100 every time I filled the gas tank. It was costing me a fortune to go to work! I expected to end up with a beater, but I didn't care as long as I could get my commute cost down. Imagine my surprise when hubby stumbled across a sweet, low mileage, in perfect condition Jetta that had been warehoused for a couple of years because Grandpa quit driving. We stole it for $5000 which was several thousand below blue book, but the sellers were happy to get rid of it. That little car really helped my budget and I really enjoyed driving it. I only had to fill it every two weeks at a cost of $30 per fill-up. The car finder service mentioned by aok is also something worth looking into. We bought our last new vehicle that way and it was as painless a transaction as I've ever experienced when it comes to purchasing a vehicle. Good luck, when you least expect it, you'll find just what you're looking for!