Buying a car..need input

[Bonnie]

Looking for a new car that's reliable, affordable in the price range of 15 to 21 thousand.. Any suggestions on what to buy and what to avoid.

Any lemon stories????

[Mr. P]

Isn't it faster to walk in NYC that drive? :poke:

[Sweetchuck]

< $21k isn't going to give you a lot of options in new cars.

What do you need in a car? Seating, room, winter driving, mileage, towing?

Give me some criteria that you need in a car, maybe I can help you out.

[Mr. P]

< $21k isn't going to give you a lot of options in new cars.

What do you need in a car? Seating, room, winter driving, mileage, towing?

Give me some criteria that you need in a car, maybe I can help you out.

Oh GAWED yer a used car salesman!!!! :poke: :laugh2:

[Sweetchuck]

Oh GAWED yer a used car salesman!!!! :poke: :laugh2:

I'm not that smart.

:laugh2:

I like cars, I think I understand them. Having said that, I haven't bought a new car in a while. I have 3. An 04 Durango, an 03 Dodge Ram and an 07 (or near) Hyundai Accent.

Bought the Durango to haul the kids around. Running that into the ground, it has 120k on it, looking to double that mileage. Ram is the ATV hauler. Good running truck, 4x4 is nice in the snow, a little under powered. 110k miles, might run that into the ground but if I do get a new vehicle, this one's getting traded. I'd like to buy a big truck - diesel, before BO fucks those up.

Hyundai is for gas mileage. Around town car. I'm driving that until I die, I'll put a boat sail on it if I have to.

[Bonnie]

Isn't it faster to walk in NYC that drive? :poke:

Ha ha, but I'm not in the city , I'm in the burbs:eek:

[crin63]

You should be able to negotiate for a Honda Accord or Civic for that price. They hold their value pretty well also.

My personal opinion is: Don't buy a GM or Chrysler since the government is still involved in them.

[Bonnie]

< $21k isn't going to give you a lot of options in new cars.

What do you need in a car? Seating, room, winter driving, mileage, towing?

Give me some criteria that you need in a car, maybe I can help you out.

Mainly just for me, don't have kids to tote around, but I would like to get good mileage, my job has me driving a good bit, sometimes city miles.

[darin]

Subaru. Holds value better than any other japanese car I know...rock-solid in all weather conditions.

My 2006 Subaru - 2.5 years after purchase still worth more than I owe. :)

[Bonnie]

You should be able to negotiate for a Honda Accord or Civic for that price. They hold their value pretty well also.

My personal opinion is: Don't buy a GM or Chrysler since the government is still involved in them.

I do like the new accords, plus they are reliable and safe, or so I've heard. And there are a lot of incentives now to buy. I figure with my trade in I should be okay.

[Bonnie]

Subaru. Holds value better than any other japanese car I know...rock-solid in all weather conditions.

My 2006 Subaru - 2.5 years after purchase still worth more than I owe. :)


Darin what is the warranty for the subaru?

[Mr. P]

DON'T buy a VW beetle new or used!!!! JUNK!

[crin63]

I do like the new accords, plus they are reliable and safe, or so I've heard. And there are a lot of incentives now to buy. I figure with my trade in I should be okay.

My buddy just got a new accord for $20k out the door with all the bells and whistles.

[Sweetchuck]

DON'T buy a VW beetle new or used!!!! JUNK!

Depends.

The "new" Beetle? Can't say, probably garbage. The original Beetle? If you can deal with gravity heat and shitty handling, it's a great car.

Here's my peeve with new cars - they're over-designed. I rent a lot of cars. Rented a Chevy Malibu a few weeks ago. Total piece of fucking shit. Cheap interior, shitty plastic, no balls, the dashboard looks like a fucking space shuttle dash.

I spun the wheels once on a slippery surface and this huge fucking idiot light pops up and tells me I have "limited traction control".

Give me a fucking break - like I needed to know that? Cars are so fucking over developed with so many fucking gadgets - no wonder it costs thousands of dollars when they start to break down.

Build a basic car. BASIC. Give me AC, radio and an engine and I'm fine.

Over-engineered. That's the word of the day.

[Mr. P]

Depends.

The "new" Beetle? Can't say, probably garbage. The original Beetle? If you can deal with gravity heat and shitty handling, it's a great car.

Here's my peeve with new cars - they're over-designed. I rent a lot of cars. Rented a Chevy Malibu a few weeks ago. Total piece of fucking shit. Cheap interior, shitty plastic, no balls, the dashboard looks like a fucking space shuttle dash.

I spun the wheels once on a slippery surface and this huge fucking idiot light pops up and tells me I have "limited traction control".

Give me a fucking break - like I needed to know that? Cars are so fucking over developed with so many fucking gadgets - no wonder it costs thousands of dollars when they start to break down.

Build a basic car. BASIC. Give me AC, radio and an engine and I'm fine.

Over-engineered. That's the word of the day.

I agree. In my younger yrs a 14 yr old boy could tune a car, today, well forget simplicity. Now if yer smarter than the average bear you can still work on yer car but they make it very difficult with all the special tools, difficult if not impossible access and such.

[Sweetchuck]

I agree. In my younger yrs a 14 yr old boy could tune a car, today, well forget simplicity. Now if yer smarter than the average bear you can still work on yer car but they make it very difficult with all the special tools, difficult if not impossible access and such.

Exactamundo.

[Abbey Marie]

Bonnie, I'm very happy with my Hyundai Sonata. I bought it with a lot of extras, though, including a pretty powerful engine. :beer:

[Little-Acorn]

For my money, Toyota Yaris or Corolla or Camry; Honda Fit or Civic or Accord. If you want American, Ford is by far the best, almost as trouble free as the Toyotas and Hondas. If you want 4WD, Subaru is excellent too.

HOW TO GET THE LOWEST PRICE

When you decide what you want, get up REAL early on a Friday morning and grab a newspaper. Look for picture ads where dealers advertise the car you want "Super Sale, Two Only At This Price, VIN number This and That!"

These are "Loss Leaders". Dealers actually sell just a few cars at a loss, usually their most common model (the one with automatic, AC, decent radio, not real expensive), usually on starting on a Friday. They run the ads all weekend, hoping hundreds of people will se the super low price and come in, all weekend. Of course the one or two get snapped up pretty quick. And for the rest of the weekend, once people are in the door, dealers can say, "Gee, sorry, the sale cars got sold, but we have a whole bunch of similar ones here at onaly SLIGHTLY higher prices" etc. etc., you know the drill.

Get there early Friday morning, be leaning on the door an hour before the dealership opens. If you're there early enough, you can walk thru the rows of cars and find the VIN numbers from the sale ad, and decide which one you want (nice color or whatever). When the first employee shows up, tell him "I was here first, and I'll take THAT one!"

A friend who was a senior manager at a local Nissan dealer, told me that that's the absolute lowest price the dealer will EVER sell that car for - he is actually taking a loss on it. He makes it up by selling not-so-low-priced cars to the hundreds who came in too late, and actually makes more money over the weekend than if he had not had the big ad with the super-low price for just a few cars.

[DragonStryk72]

Ha ha, but I'm not in the city , I'm in the burbs:eek:

If you go into the city with any regularity, you may want to stick to a smaller car. I grew up in NY, my dad lives in Jersey City by the PATH station, and my sister lives in Brooklyn. I can tell you that your biggest enemy there is finding a space, so the less bulky the car, the better.

Were you planning any long range trips for this vehicle, or just something to do short running around in?

[darin]

Darin what is the warranty for the subaru?

Don't recall. Not very long compared to other companies. I bought my car in 2008, and it was out of warranty for the miles (previous owner was freeway commuter it seems). Nothing has gone wrong in 2 years which isn't under 'normal maint' - light bulbs, etc.

Whereas my Mazda, I bought new - full warranty. On my 2nd engine, 2nd transmission, 3rd Catalytic converter, second starter, third battery, 2nd clutch, 3rd set of plugs, coils, and wires....

Warranties only matter if you use them - AND the dealer doesn't try to give you crap when claiming something. I've had to fight for EVERYTHING to get covered on my car - except the 1st cat that went bad.

Living where you live, a good set of winter tires coupled with subaru's AWD system would make you nearly unstoppable....remember, all AWD systems are not the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooQRxlChvMw


My rule of thumb - getting 'asking price out the door' is a good deal.


If they want $21,995, tell them you'll give them $22,000 out the door, etc.

[HogTrash]

Looking for a new car that's reliable, affordable in the price range of 15 to 21 thousand.. Any suggestions on what to buy and what to avoid.

Any lemon stories????What to buy - A really big SUV gas hog.

The reason being, it pisses liberals off to the max. :D

What not to buy - A Prius.

For obvious reasons. :slap:

^

[Sweetchuck]

For my money, Toyota Yaris or Corolla or Camry; Honda Fit or Civic or Accord. If you want American, Ford is by far the best, almost as trouble free as the Toyotas and Hondas. If you want 4WD, Subaru is excellent too.

HOW TO GET THE LOWEST PRICE

When you decide what you want, get up REAL early on a Friday morning and grab a newspaper. Look for picture ads where dealers advertise the car you want "Super Sale, Two Only At This Price, VIN number This and That!"

These are "Loss Leaders". Dealers actually sell just a few cars at a loss, usually their most common model (the one with automatic, AC, decent radio, not real expensive), usually on starting on a Friday. They run the ads all weekend, hoping hundreds of people will se the super low price and come in, all weekend. Of course the one or two get snapped up pretty quick. And for the rest of the weekend, once people are in the door, dealers can say, "Gee, sorry, the sale cars got sold, but we have a whole bunch of similar ones here at onaly SLIGHTLY higher prices" etc. etc., you know the drill.

Get there early Friday morning, be leaning on the door an hour before the dealership opens. If you're there early enough, you can walk thru the rows of cars and find the VIN numbers from the sale ad, and decide which one you want (nice color or whatever). When the first employee shows up, tell him "I was here first, and I'll take THAT one!"

A friend who was a senior manager at a local Nissan dealer, told me that that's the absolute lowest price the dealer will EVER sell that car for - he is actually taking a loss on it. He makes it up by selling not-so-low-priced cars to the hundreds who came in too late, and actually makes more money over the weekend than if he had not had the big ad with the super-low price for just a few cars.

I purchased my last 3 or 4 cars by finding the exact car I want, getting it's VIN number and calling all of the dealers in the area and asking them how much they will sell it to me for.

Dealer's gladly do dealer trades. They send a flunkie to the other dealer and drive the car back to sell it to you. Whichever dealer gives me the best price, that's who I buy it from - and all of them were dealer traded.

[Little-Acorn]

For my money, Toyota Yaris or Corolla or Camry; Honda Fit or Civic or Accord. If you want American, Ford is by far the best, almost as trouble free as the Toyotas and Hondas. If you want 4WD, Subaru is excellent too.

HOW TO GET THE LOWEST PRICE

When you decide what you want, get up REAL early on a Friday morning and grab a newspaper. Look for picture ads where dealers advertise the car you want "Super Sale, Two Only At This Price, VIN number This and That!"

These are "Loss Leaders". Dealers actually sell just a few cars at a loss, usually their most common model (the one with automatic, AC, decent radio, not real expensive), usually on starting on a Friday. They run the ads all weekend, hoping hundreds of people will se the super low price and come in, all weekend. Of course the one or two get snapped up pretty quick. And for the rest of the weekend, once people are in the door, dealers can say, "Gee, sorry, the sale cars got sold, but we have a whole bunch of similar ones here at onaly SLIGHTLY higher prices" etc. etc., you know the drill.

Get there early Friday morning, be leaning on the door an hour before the dealership opens. If you're there early enough, you can walk thru the rows of cars and find the VIN numbers from the sale ad, and decide which one you want (nice color or whatever). When the first employee shows up, tell him "I was here first, and I'll take THAT one!"

A friend who was a senior manager at a local Nissan dealer, told me that that's the absolute lowest price the dealer will EVER sell that car for - he is actually taking a loss on it. He makes it up by selling not-so-low-priced cars to the hundreds who came in too late, and actually makes more money over the weekend than if he had not had the big ad with the super-low price for just a few cars.

P.S. I used the above method to buy my wife's Camry. When I got to the dealer (at 6AM), searched around for the two cars listed in the ad. One was out front, black in color (yuck). The other was in back by the service bay, cream-colored, with a dent and a long scratch in it, and one of those hats on top with a service number. Looks like someone had nailed it in the parking lot.

When the dealer opened, I was first in line, and told him I didn't want the black one. But the cream one had the ding, and I asked him if he could swap the cream one for another identical Camry with exactly identical equipment, model name etc. And he said Yes! We wound up getting a red one my wife liked - we were allowed to choose from nearly every Camry LE on the lot!

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good....!

Would have bought my Sienna the same way, but they never use those as loss leaders. >:-O

[darin]

Here's good advice about using the warranty as a major or deciding factor in a car purchase...





Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted. Why would somebody put a guarantee on a (car)? Hmmm, very interesting.

Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I'm listening.

Tommy: Here's the way I see it, Ted. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a (car) 'cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside.

Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good.

Tommy: 'Course it does. Why shouldn't it? Ya figure you put that little (warranty) under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?

[chuckles until he sees that Ted is not laughing]
Ted Nelson, Customer: [impatiently] What's your point?

Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy; well, we're not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that's all it takes. The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser, and your daughter's knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.

Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the (car)?

Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump (and add wheels to it) and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality (car).