I stopped caring bout cars all together when I actually had to pay for them myself. Still, my own proverb "there are no rational arguments for not buying a Toyota" hasn't kept me from staying true to German cars. We've opted for Audis, though. One notch down price-wise from BMW. We've always bought used cars, too. A new one is such an idiotic investment that it's better to let someone else take the blow of the first three years of depreciation.