Strongly recommend looking for high quality or luxury cars coming off 3 yr leases vs a 'new' car. Build quality in the higher end stuff is generally better and they'll last longer; plus, you've avoided the greatest depreciation years (first 1-3) of car ownership, and if you find something that's below your budget, you'll save more on taxes, registration and insurance.
I've used this site to identify nominal 'market' prices for new or used vehicles, and you can compare prices in your area to those in other regions.
http://www.cargurus.com/
I saved about $5-6k buying a 3 yr old Cooper Works Mini that was at a dealership in Iowa vs buying out here (and >$12k below a 'new' model, for a car that had only 15k miles on it). When I took it to the local dealership and they scanned the key, they informed me it ALSO had the 'extended service plan' attached, so I ended up with 3 MORE years of free service (I've spend $0 on service or oil changes, and had free 'loaners' when I've dropped it off for service, too).
So, if you MUST have a new car, go for it, but by doing a little homework and scanning new/used prices, you'll get a far better deal. Also, MOST dealerships still use the same tired tactics of the '4-box' to negotiate a 'price' and loan rate to match your monthly payment target, or try to add on 'delivery packages' and other bullcrap charges to pad their pockets. Find out what the 'new' or 'used' car you want is actually worth, and just walk away if they start trying to play games with the prices. They KNOW that the minute you walk off the lot, they will not get a sale, so do it; go back in another day or two and draw the line in the sand on what you'll accept, and walk away again if you get the same BS tactics. You CAN find some dealerships that have better bottom line pricing and fairer sales pitches, but most still use the same crap; walk away when they do it or you'll end up paying a lot more than you need to.
Also, if you are financing, go to your bank in advance and find out what they'll lend you and the rate; you MIGHT get a better deal from a credit union or bank, but SOME dealerships can actually get you better rates - just need to pay attention to the other fees they might tag on to 'hide' what you're actually paying. And, if you can get a dealer-subsidized 1% or 2% loan rate on a new car vs. 5% or more on a used one, the new car may not be much more expensive overall. Run the math on what the total cost of a loan, registration, taxes etc in an XL spreadsheet if you really want to know the cost difference.
And, if you can find something for $100 less per month on a loan payment that is acceptable, that's $1200 a year you can be putting in the bank toward your next car. That's $6k saved over five years that you'd have for a vacation, house down payment or another car.
Once you save enough money to buy your cars with cash, you realize how much of your annual budget doesn't need to go to making car payments....
