What are important attributes for you while buying a new car?

Not stolen, or written off. In a state that has high hail damage.

1) What my wife wants
2) What my wife wants
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150) What my wife wants

Safety features are important to me (and so are important to my husband).
I also look at the size of the boot to make sure we can fit our luggage in. We travel fairly often.
Reliability and the manufacturer’s reputation for good customer service/responsiveness.
Exterior/Interior options and look.
Price. Of course, price is probably the first item. Can we afford it, and do we really want to spend that much, is the first question and determines which vehicles we check out.

It has to serve what I actually need it for well. It’s not going to be expensive but it will be a proven reliable model. It will likely be used and if I can’t buy it with cash it will need to be paid off in a year.

That it be made in Germany.

My last two cars were Honda. The first Honda was a Civic and that was just by chance. The second Honda is a CRV and that was intentional. I used to have Nissans and Honda is so much better than Nissan, in my opinion. With the CRV I wanted something that would be ok in bad weather and had space for carrying crap if I need to. I got a mid-level one – not the cheapest on the CRV’s but not the fully loaded one with bells and whistles either. Mine has some extras like bluetooth, and of course it’s got electric windows and doors, cruise control which I don’t use and some other things like that.

@Rarebear – Still people call it male dominated society..)

The seat is comfortable.

The steering wheel doesn’t tilt far away at the top. WTH is that for?

If I’m buying a “practical 4 door” I care about getting in and out of the back seat.

The car doesn’t feel like a piece of tin that will fly off the road on a turn.

Safety, reliability and practicality top the list for me. Nothing else matters.

Heated seats. I don’t care about anything else. That’s only a slight exaggeration.

Cost of ownership.

I was wanting to buy a Volkswagon but opted for a similar priced and better looking Toyota—primarily because of frequency of needed maintenance and cost of parts.

Secondly, I’d say go with a car that suits your personality and feels right to you. Nothing pretentious and nothing that draws too much attention, but respectable and nice.

I start with a list of cars based on looks and then after research, eliminate any that have reliability issues. After that, it’s probably about price. I guess I assume new cars all have acceptable safety levels.

They may be safe, new, and have few problems— but some cars, even from manufacturers that make reliable cars—individual models may have problems or common maintenance issues. Cost of Ownership as reported in Consumer Reports is insightful. You may want it anyway, but some cars really do have maintenance issues and expensive parts—or are more difficult to repair. Just something to be aware of. It needn’t be a deterant if you want it anyway.

@Gabby101, I don’t know about where you are, but I believe Mazda is one of only a few non-luxury manufacturers in Australia who include safety features such as active braking systems that will automatically apply the brakes if the sensors on the car identify an immediate collision risk. There was a guy on TV the other day saying it should be standard on all cars. It isn’t as yet.

My car also beeps at me if someone is in my blind spot.

I’m not sure if ABS brakes and stability control are standard on most cars, but mine has both and having stability control did save my bacon one day.

You can’t assume a new car has most available safety features.

New cars generally seem overpriced and unaffordable. Oh but you listed Mileage, so you must mean new to me cars.

Absence of deal-breakers (e,g, bad appearance, smell, defects)
Driving experience (I want good handling, good manual transmission)
Mileage,
Price
Reliability,
Engine,
Car Manufacturer,
Safety,
Interior features,
Exterior Features,

I don’t know what you mean by Drive Train as a consideration – its condition?

@Earthbound_Misfit ABS brakes are great. An “active breaking system” that uses sensors and algorithms to brake for me – NO JUST NO!

Driving position. I don’t like to be in a low slung position.
Reliability reviews
Storage space cargo capacity
Safety
Mileage
Easy to access controls
...
Low on my list are interior and entertainment features I consider fancy displays and touch screens a waste at best and a driver distraction.

1) What my chauffeur wants
2) What my chauffeur wants
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150) What my chauffeur wants

I guess it will come down to what I will have to settle for because the vehicle manufactures won’t sell me what I want.
One with the fewest new fad gadgets.(cause they only screw up in time)
Price.
dependability.

All I care about is price and reliability.
If I was richer, I’d care about safety, low emissions, interior space, manual controls (not that stupid touch screen that everyone has now)