I’m looking to get a car for the next 2 years. This is for my kid who got his license.
The thing is - I hate buying used cars.
Thinking what the most cost effective option is to buy/lease a car that I’ll hold for only 24 months. A sedan, nothing fancy.
What’s most cost effective? Does it make sense to lease for 24 months? buy new and sell?
What model would you suggest?
What cars do you have in the household? What’s going to happen in 24 months? Is he going to Europe for school?
We have a BMW sedan and a Honda mini-van.
No, not going to Europe, lol. But good chance he’ll go to a school in a city where it doesn’t make sense to keep a car.
Neither of them are sedans but you can check 24 month Wrangler lease or 18 months Ariya lease.
Is the minivan beat up? If so, he can drive that and you can lease something new for his mom.
An EV lease is double in the insurance. On a teen that could become $400/month
They are lucky if it’s only $400. He needs to check insurance before starting a lease regardless EV or not.
What’s most cost effective is a sub $6,000 used car paid in cash and with liability insurance
If you can find a Prius Prime at MSRP it should hold value well for 2 years.
With the general decline of the small car over the past decade I’m not ever sure that is the most cost effective option. $6k gets you a 10+ old year non Toyota/Honda with 100k+ miles or a ten year old Toyota/Honda with 150k miles. With that age/mileage, the chance of needing a big repair, which would dramatically increase ownership cost, isn’t that low. It’s a gamble. If the car runs well it’s a lot cheaper. If the car needs a big repair it’s a lot more expensive than below option.
Personally I’d go with a new lower trim Jetta/Elantra/Corrola. Whatever you can get the best deal on. If the Carfax stays clean, should only lose ~$3k-$5k over two years. And no risk of $3k repair six months in. Plus much safer.
This would be a deciding factor for me (vs. cheap and possibly scary used car).
Get a bmw 3series lease or Volvo xc40. Basically go down the just if small cars and SUVs on IIHS TSP+. Cross reference that with hackr friendly cars.
Buying a Toyota Corolla or Camry rings the bell, but if you want to go used route Lexus ES 350 or Toyota Camry to save a buck or two and hold value well after 2 years 
if he knows how to drive/park and can handle the larger (Camry or ES 350) go with those, but if in doubt-Corolla is your friend
Seems like a 3 year old 2021 Corolla would have minimal depreciation after 2-3 years, and should be pretty safe since it’s newer, right?
It’s not gonna stay clean
I see the argument for safety. I just don’t know what muscle memory all that intervention technology creates for new drivers. Or the moral hazard. Like knowing you can look at your phone because the car will supposedly brake for you.
I also don’t know what heads up you get when these safety nets stop working all of a sudden. I just helped replace a windshield for a family member and I suspect their AEB is no longer working but with no warnings whatsoever.
I would assume (just based on Toyota’s reputation for resale), but I haven’t checked myself. 
But are you asking b/c you are thinking of getting a 3 yr old Corolla? I think the argument some (incl myself) are making is that, if a 3 yr old Corolla does have minimal depreciation, it may not be all that diff, price-wise, from getting a brand-new Corolla.
And, if that is the case, why not just get the new one (and, for instance, enjoy the benefits of full warranty coverage)?
Looks like cargo vans are the best bet. And he can moonlight as an Amazon delivery driver.
I had 2 Teslas and just got an IX. EV is not double on insurance. It barely went up at least with Allstate
It literally does not make any sense to (try to) compare auto insurance. There are so many factors that go into the premiums.
FWIW my Wrangler 4xe has consistently seen nearly double the insurance premiums of my Rubicon 392.
The play for me would be either a new base model Corolla / Jetta / Civic / Sentra or a really short 18-24 mo lease on something discounted (18 mo LEAF lease? MA is pretty dense so range is probably not an issue, and the low range on the LEAF might be a feature, not a bug).
A wild card alternative would be an ex-rental Corolla. Some depreciation and already a little beat up, so you won’t feel bad about getting it more beat up, but it’ll resell easily even if a little beat up because the market for used Honda / Toyota sedans is pretty tight and there is always demand.
I recently sold a 2007 Acura TSX with 150k miles on it for around five grand and it was viewed as a big favor to the buyer (a related party; probably could have gotten closer to $6k on the open market at the time)- the <$6k market is pretty depressing these days, especially up here in MA where corrosion is an issue in the age range that the sub $10k price point implies.
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