How to Decide Which Car to Buy

If you follow my flexibility advice, you will narrow your choice of cars down to 2 or 3 models.

Assuming the prices are all similar, the problem now becomes: How do you choose one over the other?

There's a simple solution: Rent the cars for a day or two and see how you like them. Test driving a car is a good chance to get an overall feel, but you don't really get to know what it feels like to own one until you drive it around for a full day (and night).

Car rental companies and short-term rental apps like Turo keep just about every popular car in their inventory. You may need to research a bit before finding the cars you're interested in, but they're most likely available.

Some car dealers will even let you rent their cars for a day - and some will even let you do it for free (it's actually a selling tactic called "taking the puppy home", once you bring it home, it's hard to bring back) - you just need to call the dealership and ask.

Renting a couple of cars will set you back a couple hundred dollars, but it's worth the peace of mind if you're really having difficulty deciding. It's much better to spend a little money and know for sure whether you like a car, than to buy one and regret it later.