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I don't think a F31 is in your price range but that would be what I would buy! Maybe Volvo V60 but again they hold their value pretty well and both of those are pretty expensive to fix. If you like nazi cars the Jetta / Golf Sportwagen or Golf/GTI are good choices. They're not going to be wildly less reliable than your E46 and if you have metric tools you're good to go! Otherwise maybe the TSX wagon (kind of a unicorn), Ford Focus Titanium hatch (no automatics, kind of cheap interior), Impreza or WRX hatch (again with a high trim package for power seats, kind of cheap interior), Mazda3 GT hatch. You could also try to find one of those weird Lexus hybrid hatchbacks, I forget what they're called maybe the CT200/300h? I'm kind of assuming that since you're coming from an E46 that you do care about some fun to drive aspects even if you didn't list them. If you really do not, there are also the Hyundai Elantra wagon and hatch which are very competent but a bit dull.
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Oct 5, 2018 17:12
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Paradoxish posted:Guys, I need some help picking out a used wagon or hatchback. buy a Mini, OP. join me in the "bad decisions" club.
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Oct 5, 2018 17:16
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I don't think a F31 is in your price range but that would be what I would buy! Maybe Volvo V60 but again they hold their value pretty well and both of those are pretty expensive to fix. Yeah, I definitely want something that's fun to drive. I'm not really pushing myself too hard with this budget so I did consider just spending more and getting an F31, but part of why I got rid of my F30 a few years ago was that I didn't like it enough to justify how much it was costing me to own it. I'm also trying to stick to this budget in part because it's money I've set aside purely to replace my car and I'd like to avoid adding anything else to it or going too crazy. For what it's worth, I had an Elantra wagon as a rental for several weeks and I basically walked away thinking it was a really great car that I would never want to actually own. I feel like I probably need to find a Jetta Sportwagen to test drive since it seems like they check most of my boxes. I was considering hunting down an A3 Sportback too since they basically seem like Jetta/Golfs with slightly nicer interiors. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 17:43
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My situation is very similar to yours. I’ve got a 2004 330ci that I love that is getting a little old and impractical, but is still overall solid and I just can’t find the replacement car that ticks all the boxes. More and more I lean toward just keeping it as a second fun car because it’s not costing me that much to own. I’ve been real close to getting a Golf Alltrack since it checks off manual trans, wagon, AWD(ish), and reasonably fun to drive. Plus it might be a last-of-its-kind combination. It’s a bit out of your budget for a new one, but used Sportwagens (non-AWD) are probably in it.
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Oct 5, 2018 18:21
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I think you'd be really hard pressed to find something better than a Mazda3 hatch in that price range.
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Oct 5, 2018 18:34
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the A3 Sportback is a golf with a not better interior that is less useful than the JSW from the same era, my buddy has one and it's loving dumb unless you really want Haldex VI and the 2.0T.
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Oct 5, 2018 19:24
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For the first time in my 35 years, I'm in the position to buy a new car. Since I've never done this before, I've been doing a lot of research both by reading this thread and some other places on the interwebs. I've still got some questions I'm hoping you guys can help me with, largely about the financing process. From what I've read, you'll have an advantage at the dealership if you secure financing ahead of time because you become a cash buyer. But a lot of the places I've looked at online want to know what kind of car you're buying as part of the application process. How can I get approved first if I'm not sure what kind of car I'm buying? (For the record, I'm like 90% sure I want to buy a 2019 Honda Fit, but I'm going to consider the HR-V and the Civic as well.) I was planning on heading to the dealership this weekend to look at the cars and hopefully decide 100% on which one I want - is this a bad idea to do if I haven't secured my private financing yet? I think I might be missing some steps, but as I understand it, the process goes: Apply many places for financing Get approved for X dollar amount loan Get a blank check from the place that approved me good for up to X dollars Take check to dealership, negotiate price (hopefully less than X dollars), and write in that price on the check Drive away with new car I'm sure there's some steps I'm missing there, but what are they? For example, the car I want has an MSRP of roughly $18,900. I'm planning on putting down $5000. So I was planning on applying for a loan of roughly $20,000 to account for taxes, doc fees, etc. And since I likely won't need the whole $20,000, I can just actually take what I need, is that correct? Also, if I get approved for the loan, but end up not using it (deal at the dealership falls through, dealer beats the rate of the financing I've secured on my own, something else), does that aversely affect my credit? One last thing - has anyone here used the Costco Auto Program? It purports to simplify a lot of the negotiation and haggling process by giving you a good price right off the bat, but I'm curious how much savings are actually to be had. Or if I'd be able to really get a lower price by getting a 2018 model at this time of the year.
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Oct 5, 2018 19:43
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ok yeah a bunch of that is not right. 0) definitely look at cars before you are ready to buy and figure out what you want before you get approved. you don't need to figure it out exactly, but if you decide you want a Fit, 1) Dealers do not prefer cash buyers. They make margin by kicking up a bank loan a few basis points - so the bank loans to them at say 4.5% and they are allowed to kick it up a certain amount. You then pay say 4.9%, bank pockets the 40bps. this is an important dealer revenue stream. 2) Yes, you just take what you need. Securing financing before buying the car gives you a loan at rate X term Y up to amount Z. You generally do not receive money directly. The financier will hold the title on the car and will pay the dealer for the car. Your actual loan once you have closed the deal will be Rate X Term Y Amount Z1 where Z1 is the actual amount you borrowed on the car (OTD price - downpayment). Downpayment will go straight to the dealer. Here's the process I recommend: 1) Figure out what you want to test drive 2) Go test drive that poo poo 3) Get price quotes on the poo poo you want 4) Secure outside financing 5) Figure out which dealer you want to buy from, and finalize your OTD price. If they ask you about financing, tell them that you have financing but are willing to listen to them on terms and will go with their financing if it's better. Sometimes it is, due to various manufacturer incentives and bank incentives. 6) Get their terms and compare to your outside financing. If their terms are better, use the dealer's financing - it will be through a reputable bank (eg Ally) or manufacturer credit arm (BMW Financial Services, etc) 7) Sign over your downpayment check and complete paperwork for the dealer, the state, and the bank. you will not get a blank check from your outside loan originator (what the hell?) they will fax all the paperwork to the dealer and handle that poo poo directly with the dealer's F&I manager 8) you drive away in car 9) Title gets sent to your lienholder
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Oct 5, 2018 20:05
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big crush on Chad OMG posted:Carmax is only good if they’ll sell you the extended warranty for a good price, and only then it you’re buying something comically unreliable like a V12 S-Class. https://jalopnik.com/the-6-coolest-unreliable-cars-you-can-get-with-a-carmax-1650270557
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Oct 6, 2018 08:30
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sincx posted:https://jalopnik.com/the-6-coolest-unreliable-cars-you-can-get-with-a-carmax-1650270557
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Oct 6, 2018 13:01
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if i want to buy a car that is specifically a project for myself and the rest of my family who are suddenly interested in cars that we could work on and also build something we could use in like amateur kind of rally poo poo what would I be looking for? nothing fancy, I've asked this question before of people in the past, the answer seemed to usually be a bug is that still a go to for learning to DIY mechanic poo poo?
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Oct 7, 2018 02:54
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:ok yeah a bunch of that is not right. Thanks so much for all this. It was very helpful as I went to test drive some cars this weekend. Unfortunately for me, the car I had done the most research on and decided I was 90% sure the one I wanted, the Honda Fit, did not fit me. I'm about 6'3 or 6'4, and I was scrunched into that driver's seat. In my current car, an '02 Accord, I'm used to being able to have my left leg almost totally extended while in the driver's seat and with the seat all the way back. In the Fit, I couldn't even get close to fully extended. So, with that being said, I've been looking at a lot of other models, including from manufacturers other than Honda, and since I know nothing about cars I thought I'd get the goon hive mind opinion on my options. Proposed Budget: Originally when I was looking for a Fit, I was trying to stay under $20,000. Now that that's out, I'd be willing to go up to $25,000, with the ability to go a little over that for a car I really love. New or Used: New. I have no interest in dealing with previous owners and maintenance histories. Body Style: The smaller the better (more on that below). I'm mostly looking at compact sedans or hatchbacks and crossovers. How will you be using the car?: I live in the city so I don't have a daily commute. This car will mostly be used on the weekends to drive a couple hours outside of the city. I'm also keen on taking some road trips in this car in the future. What aspects are most important to you?: I'm interested in reliability, good mileage, the ability for me to comfortably fit in the driver's seat. As far as amenities go, the only things I'm considering "must-haves" are Apple CarPlay and Traffic Aware Cruise Control. I'm also interested in cars with as many lane-assist type tech things as possible, but it's not a dealbreaker. Most of the time all those things come with the Traffic Aware Cruise Control anyway. When I first started my search, I was looking for cars with good mileage but not a hybrid because 1) I had an (incorrect?) assumption that hybrids were more expensive to maintain and had a higher chance of something going wrong with them and 2) I drove a Prius as a rental about 10 years ago and hated it. But since I think I was wrong about that, I am including Hybrids in my search. Additionally, I have a unique situation. I rent a garage, and the driveway to the garage is an alley that's 80 inches wide. My current car is 70.3 inches wide, and it already feels like a super tight fit. So I was hoping that the new car I got would not be wider than my current car. Some of the cars I'm looking at ARE an inch or two wider, which makes me nervous. I tried driving down the driveway in my current car with the mirrors extended to simulate what it will be like driving down in a wider car, and it fits but it's nerve-wracking. So, here's the cars I'm looking at SIX HOURS LATER EDIT: My wife has chimed in and said she's firmly on they hybrid train. So I'm moving the Corolla Hatchback to the "not considering" category and pulling the Hyundai Ioniq back into the "considering" category. 2019 Honda Insight - I got to test drive this car and liked it a lot. It's not as small as I would have liked, as it's 71.6 inches wide vs. the 70.3 I'm used to, but I think I can spare roughly a half inch on each side. The price is right and includes all the amenities I want. This is probably the current front-runner. 2019 Kia Niro Hybrid - I like compact SUV's, and I looked at the Honda HR-V but it had the same tight fit as the Fit so I didn't consider it. But the Niro looks to have a more spacious driver's seat (based on a YouTube video I watched), and also has the advantage of being a hybrid so it will get great mileage. I have no idea of the reliability of Kias, and getting all the amenities I want will push the car up north of $26,000 which is more than I'd like to spend, but this is probably second on the list behind the Insight. I plan on taking this for a test drive this weekend. 2019 Hyundai Ioniq - Also suffers from "boring car syndrome" like the Corolla, but it does get the best mileage of any car on my list. Worried about being too tall for the inside, and price is up around $26,000 for the trim with the tech package I want. Those are the three main models I'm considering. The rest are other models I considered but have mostly taken out of consideration for one reason or another, mostly price. However, if I test drive the above models and don't like them, I'll bring some of the below models back into consideration. 2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback - I'm not a guy that puts a ton of importance on having a "cool" car, but the Corolla sedan puts me to sleep just looking at it. The Corolla hatchback, however, looks fun to drive, and has a similar small and nimble footprint to the Fit, which I liked. The Corolla HB is not a hybrid, but with 32City/42Highway, it's pretty fuel efficient. And at $22,000 for the SE trim level that has all the amenities I want, it's the cheapest one on my current list. I'm worried about having the same problem with me being too tall for it though. 2018 or 2019 Subaru Impreza or Crosstrek - I liked the look of these cars when looking at them online, and having AWD is a welcome addition but not something I place a ton of importance on. But when I was spec'ing them out online, the Subaru EyeSight package which has the cruise control I want is a very expensive addition, or only standard on the highest trim model, which brings the cars up close to $27,000 or $28,000. Not sure if I'll bother to test drive these, since that's getting to be a bit more expensive than I'd like. Although, the 2018 Impreza models have 0% financing for 60 months if I buy by Oct 31, which is nice. 2019 Volkswagen Jetta - I've always liked the clean look of Volkswagens, but I've never had one. Mileage is pretty decent at 30City/40HWY, but price for the SEL trim level that has all the bells and whistles I want is about $25,000, which is towards my upper limit. Also the whole emissions scandal kind of makes me not want to buy a VW for a while. 2018 Toyota Prius - Looked at it, doesn't have Apple Car Play, not considering. Whew, that was a long post, so thank you if you read the whole thing. If anyone has any opinions on the cars I'm considering, or wants to suggest something else I should look at, please do. I had a Ford for about 5 years and had tons of problems with it, and then a Honda for about 10 years and very few problems with it. I have no idea how reliable any of these other brands are, so I'm particularly interested in hearing about that. Thanks! OldSenileGuy fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Oct 9, 2018 |
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Oct 8, 2018 20:39
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Doorknob Slobber posted:if i want to buy a car that is specifically a project for myself and the rest of my family who are suddenly interested in cars that we could work on and also build something we could use in like amateur kind of rally poo poo what would I be looking for? nothing fancy, I've asked this question before of people in the past, the answer seemed to usually be a bug is that still a go to for learning to DIY mechanic poo poo? Get a Miata. Or something with a small block Chevy. Edit: Or put a LSx into a Miata.
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Oct 9, 2018 04:04
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OldSenileGuy posted:Thanks so much for all this. It was very helpful as I went to test drive some cars this weekend. Unfortunately for me, the car I had done the most research on and decided I was 90% sure the one I wanted, the Honda Fit, did not fit me. I'm about 6'3 or 6'4, and I was scrunched into that driver's seat. In my current car, an '02 Accord, I'm used to being able to have my left leg almost totally extended while in the driver's seat and with the seat all the way back. In the Fit, I couldn't even get close to fully extended. I would add the thread favorite Mazda 3 to your list, and possibly the Ford Focus. My son is about your size and fit into it very nicely. You'll just have to drive a bunch and see what you're comfortable in.
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Oct 9, 2018 04:10
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OldSenileGuy posted:Thanks so much for all this. It was very helpful as I went to test drive some cars this weekend. Unfortunately for me, the car I had done the most research on and decided I was 90% sure the one I wanted, the Honda Fit, did not fit me. I'm about 6'3 or 6'4, and I was scrunched into that driver's seat. In my current car, an '02 Accord, I'm used to being able to have my left leg almost totally extended while in the driver's seat and with the seat all the way back. In the Fit, I couldn't even get close to fully extended. You could try a Mini Cooper.
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Oct 9, 2018 04:22
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Just curious why mileage is such a big sticking point for you if you don't have a commute?
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Oct 9, 2018 04:36
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Buying a hybrid does not make sense for you. Why no Honda Civic or Mazda3? Those are usually the consensus class leaders.
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Oct 9, 2018 06:52
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Buying a hybrid does not make sense for you. Is there a new production Civic that doesn't have an I4 turbo? Honda is having massive problems with the CRV and Civic turbos with having gas in the motor oil and they don't have a fix yet. edit : You don't have a commute but want to buy a new car? Why.... Rent a car for your road trips and literally save 30 grand over 5 years.
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Oct 9, 2018 09:43
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The LX and EX trims have a 2 liter naturally aspirated engine. You can get the EX with CarPlay and Honda Sensing.
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Oct 9, 2018 09:49
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How many miles do you drive per year?
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Oct 9, 2018 14:40
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It looks like the new Toyota Corolla Hatchback SE has all of the features you want (Apple CarPlay compatibility, automotive radar, narrower width than other cars) other than having a hybrid powertrain. I'd put that one on the top of your list. I agree with the other posters that buying a hybrid doesn't make sense for you economically since you don't drive very much. I'm not tall, and I haven't sat in the new model Corolla hatch, but it seemed to me like the Corolla and the Civic (also check that one out for sure, although it looks like a wider car) had pretty roomy interiors when compared to compact cars from other companies when I looked at compact cars a couple of years ago. Obviously don't let this advice prevent you from sitting in the car to see for yourself if you fit or not. I'd also like to add that if you are worried about price, buying an off-lease used car is a good option, and probably wouldn't be much more of a hassle to maintain when compared to a new car. It definitely won't be as much of a hassle to maintain when compared to your old Ford, presumably from the 90's. It will be harder to get the automotive radar & Apple CarPlay in a used car though. edit: If the reason why you are interested in hybrids is for ideological/environmental/sociological reasons, then I would recommend that you go all the way, and try to live without a car, and rent one or use car share services when you need a car, depending on the type of trip. This will save you a tonne of cash and you will earn major environmental brownie points. Having a personal car is pretty convenient though . . . silence_kit fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Oct 9, 2018 |
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Oct 9, 2018 15:02
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Guinness posted:My situation is very similar to yours. I�ve got a 2004 330ci that I love that is getting a little old and impractical, but is still overall solid and I just can�t find the replacement car that ticks all the boxes. More and more I lean toward just keeping it as a second fun car because it�s not costing me that much to own. Yeah, it's shockingly tough to find something that feels as nice as the E46 did without spending more than I'm really looking to. This is actually my second E46 and I went through this last time too before ending up in a 335 for a while. I'd love to keep my 330Ci around, but thanks to a house fire I'm stuck in an insurance provided condo for probably close to the next 10 months and there isn't enough parking for a second car without spending a fortune. I may end up either backing off on my hatch/wagon requirements and settling for a sedan or upping my budget. Edit- I had an e39 540i 6-speed like 12 years ago and the stupid part of my brain keeps telling me to hunt down to a pristine 540i wagon and pay way too much for it. I really need to get around to killing that part of my brain. Paradoxish fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Oct 10, 2018 |
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Oct 10, 2018 02:22
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As an E39 owner, do not buy an E39
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Oct 10, 2018 04:48
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I was an E39 owner for years. Believe me, I know. Doesn’t make me want one any less tbh
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Oct 10, 2018 05:58
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OldSenileGuy posted:One last thing - has anyone here used the Costco Auto Program? It purports to simplify a lot of the negotiation and haggling process by giving you a good price right off the bat, but I'm curious how much savings are actually to be had. Or if I'd be able to really get a lower price by getting a 2018 model at this time of the year. IMO the Costco system is a good deal if you're bad at haggling and a bad deal if you're good at haggling. If you're getting a new 2018 in the near future you should be able to do better due to the 2019s hitting lots. Costco is ~ invoice - rebates but I'd be trying to get invoice - rebates - holdback right now. If not even cheaper. That won't work everywhere though, some dealers are just greedy fuckers. I was dealing on a leftover 2016 (in Feb 2017) F-150 and they wouldn't go a single penny under invoice, so I went to a different city and bought a 2017 for 1,000 under invoice. My wife and I recently bought her Accord using Costco. If it had been a "regular" Accord I think we could have gotten a better deal by haggling but it was a 2.0 turbo with the manual transmission and since there aren't a whole lot of those around they didn't really want to deal on it. Until we played the Costco card they weren't budging off MSRP.
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Oct 10, 2018 13:18
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veiled boner fuel posted:IMO the Costco system is a good deal if you're bad at haggling and a bad deal if you're good at haggling. Also, if you find a dealer who's not a jerk, sometimes after you've agreed on a price you can still go "thru" the Costco program and take advantage of any extra offers Costco might be offering. For instance on my last purchase through a Chevy dealership I haggled down to the price I wanted, and then gave them my Costco membership card to get the additional $700 Costco GC that was being offered at the time with GM.
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Oct 10, 2018 15:48
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Wow, lots of responses. I’ll try to reply to most of what was said. Regarding hybrids: I guess you’re right that I don’t really NEED a hybrid, but the wife has decided she wants our next car to be a hybrid, so hybrid it will be. She wants it for a number of reasons including environmental concern, but also the effect of looking at two cars side by side that are similarly priced, where one gets like 28/33 and the other gets 50/55. That seems like a big enough difference to be worth it. Are there any other reasons NOT to get a hybrid besides the “you’ll only save $XXX on gas per year so you won’t make your money back until 10 years” type argument? Also for whatever reason I didn’t like the non-hybrid versions of the cars I’m looking at. The Civic felt boring to me and I rented a Kia Soul a few years ago and didn’t really like it. Sure, this might mean I won’t like the Niro either, but we’ll find out this weekend. Regarding renting a car: This is a non-starter for us. Renting a car is a pain in the rear end, requires a level of pre-planning that we don’t have, and takes any spontaneity out of our lives. Not having a car is also not an option. We did that for many years and it sucked. We need our own car. Regarding how many miles per year: This is a somewhat misleading question. For the past few years, I’ve probably driven only about 3,000 miles per year. But there have been several times where we talked about going on road trips or taking extended drives that we did not do because we didn’t trust my current car to not break down. Regarding Costco Auto Program: Thanks so much for all the info on this. I used it when I went to Honda this weekend, and the price was invoice minus $100. Which seemed like a good price to me? I’m bad at haggling so I have no idea what’s good. Plus, Costco advertises that they’ve “already done the haggling for you”, so does that mean that when using Costco the price won’t go any lower than what they offer me? A few other general questions on haggling and other things: If a dealer says he’s already giving me the invoice price, does that mean it’s as low as it’s gonna get? As I understood it, the invoice price is what the dealer paid for the car, so how can they get it any lower? Also, what kind of discount should I expect if I’m looking at 2018 models? Below invoice? The Honda Insight I’m looking at is new for 2019, but the Kia Niro has 2018 and 2019 models available, and the Hyundai Ioniq ONLY has 2018 models available from what I can tell. Getting a 2018 model would require the exact trim, color, etc model that I want to be on the lot, correct? Versus getting a 2019 where they would order it exactly how I want it from the factory? One last question on that - the Honda Insight I test drove still had all the plastic and everything on the seats inside, but it also had 15 miles on the odometer. What’s an acceptable mileage for a new car? Am I wrong to not really want a “new” car that’s already been taken out for test drives by 10 different people? It just seemed weird to me how the dealer was stressing to me how they owned 4 different stores so whoever color/trim I wanted he would be able to find for me. I was assuming he would be ordering whatever I pick from the factory. I don’t really want another dealer’s test drive car.
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Oct 10, 2018 23:11
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Honestly, the only two companies worth looking at for hybrids are Toyota and Chevy. Everyone else's are subpar and many have had some reliability issues over the years, particularly Honda (Hondas are why everyone thinks the batteries are a problem) and Nissan (and I think ford). The prius is the go to for a reason, but a lot of other Toyotas are fine, if not quite as fuel and space efficient. The Chevy Volt makes a lot of sense for a certain use case: People who can charge at home who rarely drive more than 30mi between charges. Basically for the first 30mi (or so) it is an electric vehicle and after 30 it becomes a gas car. This means that its fuel economy is excellent the closer you are to 30 mi, but for like 200mi, the prius will be more reliable. It is a fantastic car for many drivers because they only drive more than 30mi every once in a while. edit: 15mi is still new. They'll put nearly that many miles on it before it hits the lot. Over 100 or so, i'd be more worried.
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Oct 10, 2018 23:29
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Accord hybrids are fine  And I'd imagine the Civics are too.The IMA Civics were pieces of crap anyway because the IMA system was stupid, but I don't think Honda has had an issue with hybrid batteries for 8+ years. bird with big dick fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Oct 11, 2018 |
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Oct 11, 2018 01:11
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OldSenileGuy posted:She wants it for a number of reasons including environmental concern, but also the effect of looking at two cars side by side that are similarly priced, where one gets like 28/33 and the other gets 50/55. That seems like a big enough difference to be worth it. Are there any other reasons NOT to get a hybrid besides the “you’ll only save $XXX on gas per year so you won’t make your money back until 10 years” type argument? Here's one. I will be picking on your must-be-new car requirement, sorry! If you drive only 3000 miles per year, then the difference in your annual CO2 emissions created by burning fuel in a 30 mpg normal vehicle vs. a 50 mpg hybrid vehicle is ~800 pounds of CO2 emissions per year (source: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=307&t=11). For reference, the carbon emissions created when manufacturing a new mid-size sedan: 34000 pounds CO2 (source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/23/carbon-footprint-new-car). It could be argued, albeit with maybe nebulous accounting, that since you drive so little, buying a used normal compact car would be better for the environment than buying a new hybrid, and if you were really interested in being a Friend of the Environment, you'd buy used. You wouldn't offset the emissions from the manufacture of a new hybrid when compared to a used normal car over a 20 year ownership period if you only drove 3000 miles per year. An antagonizing way to summarize this argument is that it is kind of pointing out the hypocrisy in your & your wife's preferences for this car purchase wrt environmentalism. A more charitable way to characterize the argument is that it is pointing out that since you drive so little, from the point of view of CO2 emissions, it doesn't really matter much whether you buy a hybrid or not. silence_kit fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Oct 11, 2018 |
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Oct 11, 2018 01:19
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Every car that's on a dealer lot is a "test drive car" plus they usually get 5-10 miles put on them before they even leave the factory due to rolling off the line and down to the staging area and to the railyard and poo poo. So you're not gonna get a car with 0.1 miles on it and even if you order one from the factory it's still gonna have 5+. From my experience most people test driving cars don't beat the poo poo out of them (especially since theres usually a salesman with them). I nearly bought a new Shelby GT500 out of state that had 450 miles on it because the idiot dealership let someone take it home over the weekend (supposedly) and then they didn't buy it. Something like that is the only time I'd really care. Right before I gave them the deposit I asked about the miles and then noped right out of that deal.
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Oct 11, 2018 01:27
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OldSenileGuy, If you want a new car, just say so and leave it at that. If you start justifying it here, you're basically asking people to deconstruct your argument. silence_kit already pointed out the "environment" hypocrisy here. And car sharing services are available in every medium+ size city. You open the phone, push a button, and it tells you where the nearest car is parked. Then you pay by the mile or whatever your agreement is. Assuming new hybrid purchase, at 3,000/year, it will take you several decades to break even. Here is another cool factor of buying a hybrid. You get wooden tires and it will ride like a basic appliance that it is. The extra money spend on hybrid option, can put you in a different comfort level across the non-miser cars. At 3k/year or even 5k/year, the gas cost difference is a blip on dusty radar. basically, new car will waste you a load of money that you don't seem to have any particular need to spend to begin with. OldSenileGuy posted:If a dealer says
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Oct 11, 2018 03:12
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OldSenileGuy posted:Costco advertises that they’ve “already done the haggling for you”, so does that mean that when using Costco the price won’t go any lower than what they offer me? You might be able to get Invoice, Holdback and Document Fees. I haven't had luck getting them to waive Destination Fees the few times I've tried, but I'm not much if a haggler. You might get it lower because of all the opaque metrics and bonuses the dealership gets when selling cars (i.e. 1k for every Civic, plus a 5k bonus if they sell 12 of them on a week).
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Oct 11, 2018 03:36
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My wife and I find ourselves in the position of needing to purchase a minivan without as much time to save and plan as we'd have hoped. We were planning on a second child, which our current vehicles could have managed without a problem, and ended up getting pregnant with twins. I can squeeze three car seats into the back of our 2008 Accord if two of the car seats are infant seats, but that limits us to one vehicle that can transport them and wont last beyond the time they're in infant seats. It also means I'd be using the HHR for my 60 mile round trip commute, which isn't the end of the world as it runs fine but is noisy and not as comfortable. The vehicle we'd be getting rid of is a 2008 HHR, I don't expect to get much for it so will probably just trade it in to avoid the hassle. As I mentioned we hadn't really been saving for a new car, but since finding out about the twins we've managed to save up about 8k for a down payment. Normally we're the type to buy used in cash and avoid a car payment, but I don't think 8k would get us much for a used minivan. That and the fact that it would be used mostly for transporting young children makes me want something a bit more modern. Given that, I think we'd be ok looking at something up to the 25k price point. So I suppose our list would be as follows: Proposed Budget: 25k New or Used: Used Body Style: Minivan How will you be using the car?: Transporting children, errands, visiting family and road trips. What aspects are most important to you? Reliability and cost of ownership. Looking through this thread and other places, the Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica seem to be the suggested models when it comes to minivans. 25k seems to get you in the neighborhood of a 2015 with ~30-50k miles depending on trim for the Odyssey and a 2017 with 10-30k miles depending on trim for the Pacifica. Is it worth getting something a little more recent going with the Pacifica? Or is the reliability and track record of the Odyssey worth the premium? We'd hopefully be owning this for a long time. Am I missing anything obvious? I am not a car person, hate haggling and get nervous about making the wrong decision on big purchases so I really hate car buying.
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Oct 11, 2018 16:15
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Ranidas posted:My wife and I find ourselves in the position of needing to purchase a minivan without as much time to save and plan as we'd have hoped. We were planning on a second child, which our current vehicles could have managed without a problem, and ended up getting pregnant with twins. I can squeeze three car seats into the back of our 2008 Accord if two of the car seats are infant seats, but that limits us to one vehicle that can transport them and wont last beyond the time they're in infant seats. It also means I'd be using the HHR for my 60 mile round trip commute, which isn't the end of the world as it runs fine but is noisy and not as comfortable. Don't go any older than 2017 on the Pacifica. They are generally solid for a FCA car. Make sure you look at a car fax for any Pacifica you're looking at because a lot of them are ex rentals. I was shopping a few months ago and gave up on used Pacificas because at the time I literally could not find a used one that wasn't a rental. The hybrid may also be a good option depending on your situation. In addition to the Honda (which is a good choice) look at the Toyota Sienna and the Kia Sedona. We ended up getting the Kia because they were cheaper, had the options we wanted, and it is what we liked the best after driving all of the options. When/where I was looking you'd be hard pressed to find a Honda or Toyota at 25k in the mid trims without a bunch of miles, but both are good options if you can find the one you want. I did a bunch of research recently so let me know if you have specific questions.
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Oct 11, 2018 16:48
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If reliability is a concern the Kia has the super long warranty, and is otherwise a pretty decent van. Cascadia Pirate posted:Don't go any older than 2017 on the Pacifica. I guess you meant the GC/TC because 2017 was the first model year for the Pacifica.
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Oct 15, 2018 12:36
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there's also the early 2000s Pacifica crossover thing which is To Be Avoided
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Oct 15, 2018 12:49
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Thanks everyone for your comments. The car decision is made, the backup decision is made, and now we're into the negotiation phase. AKA the phase that I know I'm terrible at. I first went to Dealer A, who participates in the Costco Auto Program. Dealer A was fine - not extremely helpful or knowledgable about the car, but polite and not pushy. Dealer A gave me a price of $23,000 + TTL. This price is lower than the "Fair Purchase Price" on KBB.com, but still within the spectrum of Fair Market Range ($22,920 - $23,933). A few days later I went to Dealer B. Dealer B does not participate in the Costco Auto Program, but I wanted to take another test drive and Dealer B was in a more convenient location for me. Dealer B was fantastic. Enthusiastic, knew the car inside and out, happy to show me stuff about the car, answered all my questions, and even showed me a few things I didn't know about the car even though I had already done a LOT of research. All things being equal, I would definitely rather take my business to dealer B. The initial price Dealer B quoted me was $24,200. I left that dealership with that price, and a few hours later emailed them to say I really wanted to buy from them, but another dealership has given me a price of $23,000. This morning they emailed me back to say that after checking with their manager (  ), they could go as low as $23,500.Is it reasonable for me to hold firm and demand that they meet the price of $23,000, even though Dealer A has the Costco Program behind them? Is Dealer A able to offer that lower price because Costco is giving them some form of compensation? I'm willing to pay a little bit of a higher price to support a good dealership, but $500 seems like too much to me.
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Oct 15, 2018 18:06
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I'm in the market for a ~10 year old used sedan for my now longer commute. For the past 18 months I've been driving a 20 year old truck, and it wasn't so bad when my daily commute was 8 miles, but now it's anywhere from 20 to 60. I did some searching around me, and rather than any specific car/make/model, I found a used dealer that seems pretty good (at least as far as I could tell, I suppose they could have fake reviews,) and am looking for advice on what car from their inventory in my price range might be "best." I'm not a car person, so I really have almost no preference other than 4-door, decent mileage (again, just compared to a 99 Mazda truck,) and not a POS. The dealer is https://www.802autovt.com/, and of their inventory, I'm looking right now at just the ones that are under $4k. Specifically, I'm deciding between the 2010 Mazda3, 2007 Civic (regular, not the hybrid, because I'm leary of a 10 year old battery), 2010 Focus, and 2007 Sebring. The Mazda is winning, but I don't know why other than I guess I like the way it looks (and I suppose there's some nice symmetry in my existing vehicle being a Mazda.) The Focus is probably in last place...I had to drive one as a company car at my last job and it never really "clicked" with me. From my (albeit limited) research, the Sebring could potentially have issues with the engine stalling, the gear shift being stuck in park, and the brake rotors being undersized that might have been taken care of from recalls/tech bulletins, but maybe not. But if they have been taken care of, then it's doing well in terms of cost.
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Oct 15, 2018 19:19
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I drive 24k a year and recently bought a Camry. You should look at Camrys Do not buy a Fiat Chrysler
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Oct 15, 2018 19:21
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