Consumers keeping the used car market alive and thriving

If you're interested in the full study, which I linked above, you can also find:

• A list of the 20 older used cars with the largest growth in market share
• The increases in price for each of the 20 cars with the largest growth in share
• A discussion of the increased durability and fuel efficiency offered by older used cars

I can dig this. I review new cars and as much as I enjoy it, I wouldn't buy a new car today. Not only are they stupidly expensive (an entry level Toyota Corolla now lists on the company's Canadian website for $27,198.96 and for that you have to suffer through life with a cvt transmission) they're so full of technology and supposed safety and driver assistance aids that I find myself yelling at some of these vehicles rather than enjoying the drive.

Don't get me wrong, I like some of this stuff. Rear view cameras with cross traffic alerts are fantastic, for example, and I can live with blind spot monitors even though they get fooled easily when you're turning left in dual lanes (and other places). But front cross traffic monitors? When you supposedly have eyes?

And there are lots of other annoyances.

This, as well as financial reasons, is why, as I've mentioned previously, my wife and I joined the drive to keep older cars around.

We have a 2013 Toyota RAV4 Limited that is in top condition, other than having a weird starting issue that only pops up when it's most inconvenient (then goes away after the car finishes its snit). And if it weren't for that phantom gremlin – which Toyota has yet to diagnose properly despite multiple attempts – the car has served us flawlessly.

A new coat of paint might be nice, but it's hardly a priority for this rust-free workhorse.

We paid $20K for that low mileage RAV4 back in 2018. The same vehicle, which I don't like as much, now starts at a whopping $48,814.94 for the Limited trim.

Our other car did need some upgrading, however, and last fall I took care of it, dragging our 2005 Audi A4 Avant sport wagon into the 2020's. Oh, it didn't/doesn't need anything mechanical to be upgraded, but my B6 version A4 didn't have any type of connectivity at all, just a lovely but obsolete six disc in-dash CD changer that I used for CD's only once in the 12 years we've owned the car.

I had previously fudged connectivity through a few different aftermarket products, including a Bluetooth thingy that sends its signal to the Audi's FM tuner. It worked okay in the country, but in the city there was so much interference that it was pointless. And the audio quality was marginal – a waste of the car's fine Bose system.

I also tried a cassette adapter (the old head unit offered both cassette and disc changer), which required a wire running from my cell phone to the head unit. It worked, but it was noisy, the sound wasn't great, and it also required me to buy an adapter with which I could mount my cell phone on the Audi's dash.

And neither of these solutions let me use the phone hands free properly.

Then I discovered that I could replace the original head unit completely, not only bringing real Bluetooth to my ancient A4 but also adding wireless Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto) that makes the car emulate most of my cell phone's apps.

Not only that, but the unit I bought – a Kenwood DMX9708S – had the capability of having a rear-view camera hooked in. So, I had the folks at local Car Salon outlet – who handled everything except actually getting the car to their location – install that as well.

They did a fantastic job! The head unit itself (which, to be honest, is probably overkill considering all the other stuff it'll do that I don't care about, like HDMI video, etc.) looks and acts as if it's original equipment. The rear-view camera is mounted subtly near the licence plate, the microphone for phoning/texting etc., is mounted subtly on the headliner between the sun visor and the rear-view mirror, and the Kenwood's USB outlet is hidden cleverly in the "ash" tray, where it's invisible until you want it.

It looks, works and sounds great! I can no longer play CD's because I bought a head unit that didn't offer that capability, but I could have if I'd wanted to. I don't care, though: why haul a bunch of CD's around in the car when I have 120 gig of music on my phone, most of which is of high audio quality?

I love the hands-free stuff! I can send and receive phone calls, of course, but I can also send and receive texts using voice control, with the "lady" in the stereo reading incoming texts and reading back to me my outgoing texts to ensure it recognized my voice correctly – which it usually does very well.

And the installers set it up so that I can use the old stereo's steering wheel-mounted controls, and the rear-view camera fires up when I shift into reverse – exactly as it should!

The whole setup, including installation, cost about $2000 and change and I wouldn't begrudge a penny of it if we were still allowed to use pennies.

And now, I have a 20-year-old car that's in nearly mint physical and mechanical shape and is also about as state of the art technologically as I could want. And I never feel compelled to yell at it!

Okay, since it's an old car it also costs money to keep it on the road mechanically. On top of the two grand for the audio upgrades, I also had to put about six grand more into it last fall. It needed a new water pump and the way Audi set things up it also meant they might as well do the timing belt and assorted other things that need replacing over time, even though they weren't actually required yet. It was a case of whether I wanted to pay them to pull the front end off the car once, or twice. I opted for once.

I don't begrudge it, either.

Really. I've had the car for 12 years. I bought it for just a tad over $16K and over that dozen years I've probably put that much into it again. So, not including gas (and, alas, its 3.0 litre V6 requires premium), I've probably spent about $30-35K.

That sounds like serious money, but as noted above, it's only new Corolla money – and I've had the privilege of spending the last 12 years driving the best car I've ever owned, a top of the line, every option included, six-speed manual transmission, sports suspension-equipped sports wagon that's luxurious, comfortable, plenty fast enough, and functional. And an absolute blast to drive!

If I wanted to buy that car today, new, I'd be out of luck. You can no longer get (at least, in Canada) an A4 Avant with a lowered suspension (which makes its quattro all-wheel drive system handle even better than it does already). You can no longer get it with a V6, either, and you can no longer get a manual transmission.

But I would get all kind of nannies that would drive me nuts. It's been years since I've reviewed a new Audi, so I don't know if all the annoyances can be shut off – and will stay off – but I also don't want to have to pay for them just to shut them off or yell at them.

According to their Canadian website, Audi wants $71,340 for a new, top line A4 wagon. That's competitive in its niche, but why would I want to pay that for a car I won't like as much as the one I have already?

I don't know how many years of driving I have left in me (I'm 72, but my Dad drove until his late 90's) but I'm willing to drive my little stealth missile happily until I can no longer drive, as long as the car stays in its current condition (and I have every intention of keeping it that way).

So, yeah, I can see why people are buying, and/or keeping, older cars.

I guess the new car makers don't like it, though, and it's not all their fault! Much of what they have to deal with is government-mandated, which adds price, complexity and ideology (electric cars ring a bell?). If we could allow freedom back into the marketplace, I think consumers and carmakers would all be a lot happier.