New Car buying fun . . .

Jim Mattheiss

Member
Messages
467
Location
Long Hill Township, NJ
Hello:

I was in the market for a new fuel efficient car. My 2000 VW Passat had 140,000 miles and was making some expensive sounding rattles when hitting expansion joints and such.

I went to several different dealerships explaining that I currently had a 29 mpg highway car and was looking to get as good highway mpg as possible. I also wanted 4 doors with a trunk.

I found the Toyota Yaris sedan which is EPA estimated at 36 mpg with a 5 speed transmission. The issue was trying to find a dealer who was willing to get me a car.

The dealers kept trying to move me into a 32 mpg Scion. My pointing out of the 10 - 12% difference between the Yaris and the Scion highway mpg fell on deaf ears. They apparently have a lot of Scion's and can't get Yaris' - especially in a 5 speed.

It was sort of unreal - I wanted to buy a car and they weren't really interested in selling it to me. Eventually I got a deal cut and the car was delivered yesterday. I like the car but I hope it lasts as long as the VW - I hate buying cars.

I got a chuckle today - I heard a radio add where a Toyota Dealer was leasing Camry's at the Corolla monthly lease rate. They can get Camry's and Corolla's get 35 mpg (much better than a Camry), so they are in high demand.

Cheers

Jim
 
I was surprised that dealers wouldn't deal with me at all on the 1 year old Ford Focus I just bought my wife. Same reason--they are a 35MPG car. Prices increased almost $1000 on average from when I first started looking at them 6 weeks ago until I actually bought 2 weeks ago. At one dealer the salesman wouldn't budge at ALL on his price. I got the deal I offered to buy from him at another dealer, but he doesn't know that and he's never called back to try again--I suspect he didn't need to in order to sell the car.

Since my dad is a Ford retiree, I usually buy a new car instead of like-new because the price difference is usually so small it isn't worth it. But again, on the new Focuses (Foci?) the A/Z plan discount is small and there are virtually no rebates on them--and I see them everywhere on the road.
 
If you think that's bad, I just put a $500 deposit down on a new Prius. I ended up paying nearly MSRP too. Now, all I have to do is wait for 60 -120 days they estimate it will take to get the model I want in stock before I get my new car.:doh:
 
If you think that's bad, I just put a $500 deposit down on a new Prius. I ended up paying nearly MSRP too. Now, all I have to do is wait for 60 -120 days they estimate it will take to get the model I want in stock before I get my new car.:doh:

About two years ago, the Prius could be negotiated. But, for the most part, since they came out it has been sticker price. Take or leave. My son has one and is a big believer. He is practically a constant on the Prius discussion forum. They also have the Toyota hybrid SUV which I have driver. Most of the time, completely silent. That is weird, takes getting used to.
 
The Interest Rate board at the Toyota Dealer said it all:

Yaris 5.9%
Corolla 5.9%
Prius 5.9%
...

4Runner 0%
Tundra 0%
Tacoma 0%
Sequioa 0%

Buy a gas guzzler - we'll give you a break.
Buy a more efficient vehicle - no break.

Jim
 
It's that old supply and demand thing again, huh? I noticed today a used car lot I pass every day to and from work was full of pickup trucks and SUVs. Looks like a lot of people are shopping for mileage cars these days.

Congrats on the new car, though. :thumb: Pics?
 
Before you sign with the manufacturer's financing, check out some credit unions. We got 4.4% on a 2007. No, I that's not a typo--4.4%. The salesman's jaw about hit the floor.
 
"It's that old supply and demand thing again, huh? I noticed today a used car lot I pass every day to and from work was full of pickup trucks and SUVs. Looks like a lot of people are shopping for mileage cars these days."


Gee, this is like deja-vu all over again. Only in the 70's SUVs and pickups were big sedans and muscle cars.:rolleyes::D

We ran the numbers on our cars, and found it's cheaper to keep them. Moving from a 21/30 mpg sedan (paid for) to something getting 36 mpg had a really long payback. ( We put around 9-10K on it a year)

With that said - I hope both cars hold together a while longer - I don't look forward to Jim's recent experience!:rolleyes:

As Vaughn said - congrats and pictures!

Wes
 
Like Matt, we shopped around and found that our credit union would give us a 4.5% interest rate - much better then anything the Toyota dealership could do.

I recall seeing a calculation done a few years ago that determined that the "pay-off" period on the Prius was something like 4 1/2 years. Obviously, this must be dependent upon a certain number of vehicle miles driven. Well, with the price of gas nearly doubling in the last 12 months or so, it seems like this time frame must have gone down considerably.

Regardless, for personal reasons, my wife and I decided that this would be the perfect commuter car and we're glad to make this change.
 
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Like Jim, I hate buying cars on a lot. My last few cars I have bought from fleet dealers. Skip the car salesmen and all their baloney. Tell them the model, color etc., agree on a price, give them a few weeks and you got your car. Another bennie if the fleet folks work out of a main dealer, there finance folks can help; the Honda Loan matched and then beat by half a percent, my pre-approved credit union loan.
 
Before you sign with the manufacturer's financing, check out some credit unions. We got 4.4% on a 2007. No, I that's not a typo--4.4%. The salesman's jaw about hit the floor.

I got 3.9% for 63 months on my new Subaru last month, and it was financed through the dealer (Chase Bank). None of the four credit unions I belong to could come close to matching that.
 
"I recall seeing a calculation done a few years ago that determined that the "pay-off" period on the Prius was something like 4 1/2 years. Obviously, this must be dependent upon a certain number of vehicle miles driven. Well, with the price of gas nearly doubling in the last 12 months or so, it seems like this time frame must have gone down considerably."

It's getting bad out there. I heard a story today about $6.00 a gallon gas... today, somewhere in the USofA. Doorlink parked her van several weeks ago, and has been driving the pickup: it's a little 4 cylinder Sonoma, and gets twice the mileage of her Sienna. We're taking that Sienna in tonight to see how much we can get if we sell it. She said "it would have been worth more two months ago." I said: "we'll be saying that two months from now!"

Anyway, it gets worse: when you're part of a big organization, you have to do contingency and scenario planning. So we spent the better part of the morning yesterday asking ourselves "what will the university look like if the price of gas doubles?" The highest forecast we saw last week was $250/bbl oil. At that price, we'd be under heavy pressure to make sure staff and faculty could work from home. We'd almost certainly be looking at a four day schedule for classes, and maybe three. Many buildings would be shutdown, due to energy costs, and we'd need to provide virtual university desktops, so that home machines look like office machines. We'd also need to have input on renovations of mass transit in the district.

Someone took a much more extreme position than that, pointing out that the county is about to build a 10 billion dollar road to relieve congestion on the beltway... but by the time it gets done, no-one will be able to afford to drive... ;) personally, I think we'll find some solution... but I also think most our us have bought our last gas powered car... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
My dad showed up two weeks ago in a brand new Honda Civic. Says he's getting 32 city and 39 highway - double what his Grand Marquis was getting him. The Mercury was getting up there, so the cost of gas simply pushed his schedule up by about a year. The dealer told him they were no longer taking SUV's in on trade (may be true, but i don't trust that sort of thing) and that big sedans were next.
It's his first ever brand new car - it's fun to see him enjoying the new purchase.
I'm still kicking around in my 1990 Toyota pickup. Nothing on it but AC. It's got about 165K on it and still runs great - carburator and all. The old red paint is faded, but there's no rust anywhere. I've had two separate total strangers come up to me to see if i'd sell it. The fuel efficiency is OK, not what i'd call great - 25/30. Seems people are starting to get a bit wierd about things.
paulh
 
Doorlink parked her van several weeks ago, and has been driving the pickup: it's a little 4 cylinder Sonoma, and gets twice the mileage of her Sienna. We're taking that Sienna in tonight to see how much we can get if we sell it.

...
but I also think most our us have bought our last gas powered car... ;)

Re: Sienna... I drive a 2004 8-passenger Sienna and love the convenience. With 4 kids we just can't consider downsizing yet. But we do drive as little as possible -- I always biked to work, and the kids are homeschooled, so we're doing about 1 tank of gas a month. But even so, seeing $87 to fill that tank hurts...

Re: the last gas powered car? Well, I found that you can put in orders right now for a 2009 all-electric. If you have a solar panel or wind generator, you can make your own electricity to recharge it also.

I'd like to see some hard reviews of it though.
 
I drive a Lexus RX300 and a Ford Ranger pickup. They both get around 17 mpg in town. (I don't do enough highway driving to really care about the highway mileage, although the Lexus gets about 22 and the Ranger gets about 18.) Not great mileage at all, but they are both paid off, so any replacement vehicle(s) would need to get some amazing mileage before it'd be economically viable to replace them. I probably average about 10K to 12K miles a year, although I'm definitely curtailing any unnecessary driving with the current gas prices.
 
people are never going to give up their gasoline autos. Never.
Gas hits 8.00 a gallon, people will just keep using plastic.
I have a feeling, in 10 years from now, were going to see an unexpected quick rise of heavily debted retirees, who will be totally lost and in trouble.
The govt regulates so many professions, its amazing it allows the oil companies to do as they wish.
The NY governor was thinking recenly of wiping out gasoline taxes in hope of getting cheaper prices at the pump, but then figured the oil companies will just charge more in NY.
Its kinda sad. If theres a blackout in NY, and you sell flashlights and batteries, if you price gouge, you get fined heavily. If you run an oil company, sky is the limit.

The talk around my house lately is how empty the roads seem lately during rush hour. Not a bad thing, car pooling and mass transit is becoming a big thing in NY now.

I dread the day gas hits 10 bucks a gallon. Entire industries will fall apart.
100s of thousands of people will be jobless, truckers, airlines, farmers will be forced to hike the price of food so high an average income family wont be able to buy enough food for their family.
Our world runs on oil, and I hope someone stops these oil companies from destroying our economy and country.
 
People in other parts of the world have been paying the equivalent of $8/gal for fuel for a long time and they're getting by. There's a lot of things that can be done but they all take time. More efficient vehicles, public transportation, living closer to work and the city, new technologies (like plug in hybrids) - all of these will allow us to get around while using less fuel.

The US has had cheap fuel for so long that we've built our lives around it. Converting to an expensive fuel lifestyle will be painful and will take time but we can (and will) do it.

Mike
 
People in other parts of the world have been paying the equivalent of $8/gal for fuel for a long time and they're getting by. There's a lot of things that can be done but they all take time. More efficient vehicles, public transportation, living closer to work and the city, new technologies (like plug in hybrids) - all of these will allow us to get around while using less fuel.

The US has had cheap fuel for so long that we've built our lives around it. Converting to an expensive fuel lifestyle will be painful and will take time but we can (and will) do it.

Mike
I hear this a lot, but it is only partially true. The countries that have not done stupid stuff, like us, and continued to invest in exploration, drilling, and refining are paying a lot less per gallon than we in the US. Brazil, china, Saudi - all less than $2 right now - some under a dollar!:eek: If we had not been putzen around for the last 30 years and invested in the same things we would not have lost tens of thousands of jobs to other countries that have lower energy costs. Don't even get me started on the idiocy of turning food into car fuel :eek:. Just my $.02.:)
 
I believe we are already seeing a lot of curtailing on driving. I know I have cut down dramatically on the use of my truck. There are two to three days a week I don't even start it. Trips to town for errands are definitely planned and combined. And, there are pinches in other areas. We recently had to get new tires both for the Focus and my truck. The dealer where I have been doing business for years has four bays. Usually, there is a wait or an appointment has been necessary. These days most bays are open and I just pull in. Same with the auto repair shop we use. The owner was able to get the Focus in and out quickly for an a/c check and he said business is way down. Of course, the ripple effect will eventually reach every sector of our economy. Not good. I'll quit, I'm getting close to the edge of our 'no politics' rule.
 
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