Buying A New Car...

[Capital]

I recently purchased a new Honda CR-V EXL and I am very happy with that purchase - after owning Toyota Camry for 14 years. The ratings saw that the CR-V was top notch and nothing thus far has led me to believe otherwise.

[dawgfan]

Sack, have you given any consideration to an EV? Both the Hyundai Kona (258 miles) and the Kia Niro (238 miles) are long-range crossovers at a reasonable price.

[Coffee Warlord]

Still very happy with my Mazda CX-5.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Sack, have you given any consideration to an EV? Both the Hyundai Kona (258 miles) and the Kia Niro (238 miles) are long-range crossovers at a reasonable price.

apartment living makes that impractical. Not against the concept, but don't really have a workable solution.

A hybrid, be it the RAV4 or something similar, is better suited to our living situation.

[SackAttack]

Got an email the other day that purported to be about the Hybrid XLE RAV4, but the offer inside smells more like a gasoline XLE.

I don't really mind; it's the most aggressive offer I've gotten on an XLE yet either way. But it'd be nice if it were a less ambiguous contact.

[Izulde]

No one will sell me a car without a full license, which makes practicing damned difficult, if not impossible. So stupid.

Anyway, driving lesson is booked for Friday - road test set for November 21st.

[Edward64]

Got my college junior son a used MX3 hatchback two weekends ago. It was a pretty good shopping experience (had to tell a couple of them that I didn't want to talk monthly payments but the full price though). We paid half and he has to pay the other half over 4 years.

Before I got involved my son was convinced by an Infiniti dealership he wanted a new $43K Infinti and that the monthly lease payments were doable. My wife and I were able to convince him that this was not a good idea and to wait until he had a job. Afterwards we talked about how unethical it was for a car dealership to try push a college junior (admittedly with a part-time job) a brand new $43K car.

[AnalBumCover]

I'm convinced my next vehicle will be a RAV4. However, as a current 2004 Highlander owner (and a guy who in the past has always thought SUV's should be big and strong), will I feel driving a RAV4 will be a significant downgrade to this? I haven't test driven it yet, and I will when purchase date, in January 2020, approaches.

I'm choosing the RAV4 because, 1) it's more affordable than a new Highlander, and 2) it will fit better in my garage, which is always a tight fit with my current situation.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

I'm convinced my next vehicle will be a RAV4. However, as a current 2004 Highlander owner (and a guy who in the past has always thought SUV's should be big and strong), will I feel driving a RAV4 will be a significant downgrade to this? I haven't test driven it yet, and I will when purchase date, in January 2020, approaches.

I'm choosing the RAV4 because, 1) it's more affordable than a new Highlander, and 2) it will fit better in my garage, which is always a tight fit with my current situation.

Affordability is why I targeted a RAV4 over a Highlander, also.

As far as whether it'll feel like a downgrade, having not driven a Highlander, I can't say. I can say that my RAV4 test drive was the best of the bunch. Couple of the other crossovers struggled at highway speeds, but the RAV4 didn't have any issues with get-up-and-go.

That was unloaded, though; I don't know how any of the cars I've driven would do with a cargo area full of a month's worth of groceries (my girlfriend hates grocery shopping and refuses to consider breaking the grocery trip into bimonthly affairs). Wonder if a dealer would let me test that next month, hehe.

[rjolley]

We're in the market for a small SUV for my wife and we'll probably end up going with another CR-V. The current one has done well for us over the last 11 years, but needs repairs which cost enough to warrant considering a new car instead. First major issue we've had with it and my Pilot did us well for 10 years, so Honda's definitely on the top of the board for us. We did look at the HR-V and Fit, as well as Toyota and Mazda, but the CR-V is the best value for us.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by rjolley

We're in the market for a small SUV for my wife and we'll probably end up going with another CR-V. The current one has done well for us over the last 11 years, but needs repairs which cost enough to warrant considering a new car instead. First major issue we've had with it and my Pilot did us well for 10 years, so Honda's definitely on the top of the board for us. We did look at the HR-V and Fit, as well as Toyota and Mazda, but the CR-V is the best value for us.

Honda has weirdly been the most expensive of the ones I've test driven, and it definitely lagged Toyota on standard features, both Toyota and Hyundai on creature comforts, and put the telescoping lever for the steering wheel in the weirdest damn place.

[pbot]

2008 and 2012 Rav4s at our house. We bought them for the awd capabilities and to sit a bit higher up than a Corolla/Civic type. I get 23-24 mpg commuting to work and can fairly easily hit 28-30 mpg on extended highway trips.

They're good little vehicles. No complaints with either of them.

[SackAttack]

Interesting developments over the last week or so.

Couple Hyundai dealers offered to put me in a 2020 Santa Fe SEL for at or under my budget, and Jenny and I decided that's the direction we're going to go.

Couple Toyota dealers, previously resistant to meeting my matrix of price and feature requirements, went "wait, can we try again?"

I'm not expecting much to come of that because so far all the Toyota attempts have either been "here's why you should spend another $2500 now: resale value!" (when...15-20 years from now, that vehicle isn't gonna be worth $2500 more than a 2020 Santa Fe) or "we can do pre-owned but we can't get there on a new 2019 RAV4 XLE."

And neither of those options are going to cut it this time.

So we'll see.

[Izulde]

Lessons have been going weirdly well so far - enough that there's a decent shot I might pass road test on 21st.

Then I'll be car shopping on my own for the first time if I do.

[Flasch186]

I'm looking into buying a 2021 Chevy Suburban Premier with Premium pkg inc. rear seat media center... black ext/black int

Anyone know the best way to get started? I've already pinged a few internet sites and my email is getting bombarded. What's the best way to do this?

[cartman]

the new Grand Wagoneers look sexy AF. The interior is amazing

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

I'm looking into buying a 2021 Chevy Suburban Premier with Premium pkg inc. rear seat media center... black ext/black int

Anyone know the best way to get started? I've already pinged a few internet sites and my email is getting bombarded. What's the best way to do this?

I basically have a burner Gmail and Google voice account specifically for car shopping. That way my real one isn't spammed to hell.

As for how to buy a specific high end model with high end trim, I'm no help here. I figure you're probably more at the dealer inventory mercy and having to use direct from manufacturer as an anchor. The last two times, we went shopping, we were looking for a low end car (Ford Fusion, Kia Forte) with low to "meh" trim so inventory was high. We did the Edmund's thing where you could submit them what you wanted and they'd spam your inbox but, in exchange, you'd get a couple of prices that dealers /had/ to honor and you could use the lowest one as an anchor. Then I just let other dealers compete off of that. If no one got much lower than the initial one, I just went with that. Just a bunch of emails - kindof a busy week or two - and a spreadsheet to keep track of where everyone's best deal, trim level and specific VIN, and response time. Then make the call with the flat info in front of you. Once you've made a call, email and ask if they'll still honor their deal and, if so, they'll be happy-ish because it's like 30 mins of paperwork for a sale. Of course, you still have to deal with the financing, etc (though on the second one, we just brought our own financing from our bank - we probably could have saved some money using the dealer financing deals but it also is a way for them to alter their deal from before and makes for more negotiating).

SI

[Ksyrup]

When I bought my Audi in November 2019, I basically used every car app and website I could to search within a 500 mile radius to find what I was looking for. I reached out to about half a dozen with a pitch of "I've got cash and financing, I'm willing to come pick it up, give me your bottom line best price" and I ended up getting exactly what I wanted in Chicago. Way better price and selection than I could ever get within an hour of Lexington. It was relatively painless.

[Pyser]

in LA car brokers have become the rage. play two of them off each other and grind them down. they talk to dealerships for you (and get their cut from the dealerships too). they deliver the car to your house and you sign paperwork at home.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

When I bought my Audi in November 2019, I basically used every car app and website I could to search within a 500 mile radius to find what I was looking for. I reached out to about half a dozen with a pitch of "I've got cash and financing, I'm willing to come pick it up, give me your bottom line best price" and I ended up getting exactly what I wanted in Chicago. Way better price and selection than I could ever get within an hour of Lexington. It was relatively painless.

This is how I've heard is the best practice for cars. I had heard that people with {big} money just bypass the salesman, go straight to the finance manager, give them a list of features and what car they want, and tell them to get back to them with a price. Then do that for every dealer they can find.

[Ksyrup]

I try to eliminate all of the "other stuff" - I get my own financing, deal separately with any trade-in, have parameters for the price I'm willing to pay, know what my monthly payment is going to be, and have a decent list of several dealers I'm working or will move on to if the ones I contact want to play games. I've bought 4 cars in the past 18 months - 2 new, 2 used but just one model year off new, and it has worked great.

[cartman]

Another little know tactic is to search enthusiast forums for the make/model you are interested in. A lot of times there are dealerships that work group buys with the forum members to sell just above dealer cost.