Without knowing your situation or location, it is difficult to provide targeted advice, but in general it will be advantageous to buy a 1-3 year old car, from a

Without knowing your situation or location, it is difficult to provide targeted advice, but in general it will be advantageous to buy a 1-3 year old car, from a good manufacturer, using your own financing (or even better, mostly with cash). New cars are nice and shiny, and do have the latest safety/efficiency gains, but you will lose a bunch of resale value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Depending on your goals, needs, and the car model, a lightly-used year-old car can give you 95% of the value for a lot less cost. Then, as for financing, shop around instead of using dealer financing. Check with banks and especially local credit unions and see their rates. Then when you have a car in mind, get pre-approved and get the car. I would only recommend a new car to someone with cash to burn, and I would only recommend leasing if it's a car for your small company and your accountant advises it.