Dear Tom and Ray: My fiance and I are planning to buy a new car that fits our lifestyle and our budget. We are currently looking at the Honda Fit, the Toyota Matrix and, my personal favorite, the Honda Element. Anyway, here's some info about us: --We live in the mountains outside of Las Vegas (at 8,000 feet!), so we get lots of snow. --We also drive about 300-400 miles per week, so decent miles per gallon is important. --We are cyclists, and I am starting a gardening business, so we need lots of cargo room. --We are cash buyers looking to buy a used 2008-2011 vehicle for less than $20,000. Now, with all of that information, would you agree that the Element is a good choice? I am mostly concerned about repair costs and resale value, because Honda has discontinued the model. My main question is this: When a car manufacturer discontinues a model, does the resale value typically increase, or decrease? How about the cost of repair? Elements are hard to find used by private sellers, and I've always heard that Element drivers LOVE their cars, so I wonder if the resale value might even increase. Thank you so much! -- Kaelin

TOM: Generally speaking, when a manufacturer discontinues a car, it gets cheaper to buy -- new or used. Cars that become "classics" are exceptions. But even then, it can take decades for a market to develop and prices to rise.

RAY: Eventually, after cars have been discontinued, parts do get harder to find. But I wouldn't worry about either of those things in your case.

TOM: Why? Because this isn't an investment, Kaelin. It's a car. It sounds like the Element is perfect for you. And you can tell your fiance we said so (which we know is why you wrote to us in the first place -- to gather evidence for when you have to talk him out of his Porsche Boxster idea).

RAY: You need all-wheel drive for the snow, so the Fit is out. You need room for the bikes, and the Matrix is too small. And you're going to muck it up with mud from gardening, so you want a cargo area that you can sweep or wipe out. The Element sounds perfect -- as it is for a small (too small for Honda) group of devoted owners.

TOM: And I wouldn't worry about repairing it, either. Honda is very good about stocking parts for older cars. Besides, the Element is mechanically the same as the Honda CR-V, which sells well and which Honda will be supporting and repairing for many years to come.

RAY: I wouldn't worry about the resale value, either. It's true that those people who own Elements seem to love them, so, most likely, there will be a market for used Elements for a while if you have to get rid of it. But why would you get rid of it if it's the perfect car for you? If you really want to get your money's worth, keep it as long as it functions well, and drive it into the ground.

TOM: And if you need any instructions on how to do that, let me know. I've got a lot of experience driving cars into the ground.