Buying a car

[Benny Profane]

Because,more money. And bigger

And by bigger I mean taller. All these small SUVs are bloating up and up. Can't get into my box without a step stool, it was much easier with my '01 Forester. Furgetabout my 93 Outback.

[old goat]

Don't buy a Crosstrek. Skis won't fit in the back.
We went with Costco. Costco goes with one dealer in the area, the dealer gives a good price in exchange for volume. Our dealer had one salesperson dealing with Costco customers. My son isn't a Costco member but went to the Costco salesperson after we had bought a Forester through her and she gave him the Costco price. I'm sure you can get the same price by haggling but for those of us who aren't hagglers Costco saves the haggling.

[plugboots]

So Mazda 3 too small, 3 series/ A4 too big? Ford Fusion AWD, and cheap.

[KyleLanTheman]

If the new mazda 3 too small, check out the cx-3. AWD 32mpg highway, very low maintenance, excellent interior, and better handling and ergonomics than any honda or toyota. Cx-5 is also great.

[iceman]

[uglymoney]

I test drove this car, liked it, especially the engine, but availability seems to be an issue, and, my experience tells me that when that happens, the dicking around reaches a fever pitch. I negotiated for a Crosstek in '11 when they first came out that didn't exist when I arrived at the dealer. That bitch got my opinion in her face.

No. They can't give them wagons away. I bought my 18 manual Alltrack for 22k out the door (before license and taxes ) with zero hassle. Drove to a dealer 250 miles away. List was 27 something. Could have been cheaper if I had gone to the east coast and didn't get hooked into wanting the cool racing green one. Car Gurus.

The S has no leaky sunroof and all the options most people want except a blasting stereo.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/se...=500&zip=02101

Also I did haggle to get a little thrown off the Cargurus price. Just emailed some offers they wouldn't accept so I told them they needed them to give me something if they wanted to close the deal so I got a couple hundy off. Not much but it paid for the trip up.

[PNWbrit]

If the new mazda 3 too small, check out the cx-3. AWD 32mpg highway, very low maintenance, excellent interior, and better handling and ergonomics than any honda or toyota.

My wife has one of these it's our commuter car.

It's fun to drive, great in snow, but a little gutless. 29 mpg seems to be it's realistic mileage.

The interior is very nice but it's tiny inside and the trunk and gas tank are ridiculously small to accommodate the AWD system into what is a Mazda 1 floor pan.. which comes with fairly basic rear suspension compared to the 3. if the 3 is too small the CX3 will be too.

We just had to have a warranty replacement transmission - failed seal and it dumped its fluid. 6k miles.

[cravenmorhead]

I don't have any advice on specific cars, but I was happy with my process.
Carmax will ship cars within a certain radius - maybe 500 miles? - for free. So I had them get 3 trucks I was interested in to the closest carmax and drove them all back to back (Chevy Colorado gasser, Colorado diesel, tacoma).
Figured out what I wanted (Tacoma, crew cab, long box, off road package) and then emailed every dealer within a semi-reasonable drive near the end of the month and the end of the quarter, telling them I'm going to buy this truck in this spec within the next week and a half and they need to give me their best pre-tax price, with all fees included. I also told them the price needs to be in writing and I won't take phone calls.

This triggered a flurry of phone calls, but also emails.

I then emailed everyone but first place saying "you're in X place, can you do better?" but without giving them a price to match/beat.

Third round, I gave those left standing the price they needed to beat.

And finally I let my closest dealer match for the sale. They also had the color I liked more.

It all went pretty smoothly, and some of the dealers who dropped out said they couldn't buy the truck for what I was getting it for. They guessed the dealer offering the price was close enough to hitting a manufacturer incentive that it was worth it to them.

[bagtagley]

Bought both our cars via email. Plenty of resources online. If you’re truly prepared to buy and willing to travel a bit, you’ve got good leverage to get the price down. If you’re kicking tires prepare to be ignored when you don’t pull the trigger.

[Bobby Stainless]

I like to fuck with car dealers. Mercenary Car Dealer for hire.

[The AD]

If the new mazda 3 too small, check out the cx-3. AWD 32mpg highway, very low maintenance, excellent interior, and better handling and ergonomics than any honda or toyota. Cx-5 is also great.

I was hoping to like the CX-5 back when I was looking, because I think the vehicle looks good, but I just didn't think it stacked up against the Honda CR-V all things considered. YMMV, of course.

I've been averaging a little over 32 mpg in my 2017 CR-V just as a point of reference.

[mcski]

What were the main things that you felt the Crv did better? I like the looks of the cx5. It feels more like a high end car to me

[The AD]

What were the main things that you felt the Crv did better? I like the looks of the cx5. It feels more like a high end car to me

The only thing I liked better about the Mazda was its looks. I felt like the Honda had a nicer interior and more features. I didn't notice a huge difference in driving the two. It's been a couple years now, so I don't really remember the details. The CR-V isn't going to win any races, but it gets the job done and gets good gas mileage.

[BmillsSkier]

Benny, you strike me as a Buick man.

In all seriousness someone in the wagon thread and again over on Jalopnik showed just what kind of screaming deals there are to be had on the new Tour-X wagons. And, plenty of room for a bike in back, comfortable, roof rails, looks decent... and I recall prices in the 20s. That ticks a lot of your boxes.

[basinbeater]

Just pick one. They are all equally boring and functional if you buy new with a warranty.

sent from some fucking device using some fucking program.

[Benny Profane]

Benny, you strike me as a Buick man.

In all seriousness someone in the wagon thread and again over on Jalopnik showed just what kind of screaming deals there are to be had on the new Tour-X wagons. And, plenty of room for a bike in back, comfortable, roof rails, looks decent... and I recall prices in the 20s. That ticks a lot of your boxes.

Well, when it comes right down to it, an awd minivan is what we all need, right? But, even I can't stoop to a minivan.

[skaredshtles]

Well, when it comes right down to it, an awd minivan is what we all need, right? But, even I can't stoop to a minivan.

Insecure in your manhood?

I get it.

NTTAWWT.

[basinbeater]

Don't recommend a chick car to him...

sent from some fucking device using some fucking program.

[plugboots]

Bennie, minivans are awesome if you have friends. oh yeah...

Seriously you don’t need an SUV. I’ve skied every weekend from November through June for the last 30 years or something and never need “clearance”. Get the Buick. The Regal comes in all wheel drive or that wagon.

[Meathelmet]

Well he carries around a lot of baggage.

For Bennys baggage a semi is needed.

Que : Bobby and his trailers.

[The Tortoise]

I test drove this car, liked it, especially the engine, but availability seems to be an issue, and, my experience tells me that when that happens, the dicking around reaches a fever pitch. I negotiated for a Crosstek in '11 when they first came out that didn't exist when I arrived at the dealer. That bitch got my opinion in her face.

When did you look? VW was really, really slow to roll out the Mk7.5 models so inventories were low. There should be more out there now. You can also look for a regular AWD wagon too.

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...centives/page9

[plugboots]

Gay folks like minivans? Never occurred to me. Huh.

Bennie, get the VW Sportwagon for $25 K or less.

[AK47bp]

Wife just got the new Honda Passport.
https://automobiles.honda.com/passport
So far so good. Drives well and same engine as Pilot.

[Kevo]

Did the email thing a year and a half ago when I bought my 4Runner.

I emailed every Toyota dealer in CO and WY and told them what I was looking for and asked for their best price. I lucked out that seven different dealers had the same truck I wanted (TRD Off Road Premium).

I played the dealers off each other over a day or two. In the end only three dealers were playing and all the others backed out. The lowest cost came in at $300 less than any other dealer could offer at about 11% below MSRP, which is pretty unheard of for a 4Runner in CO. I walked in the next day and wrote the dealer a check, filled out some Patriot Act paperwork and drove off the lot. Towards the end I was having to send screenshots of emails- the dealers didn't believe the others were going so low.

Couple things- I put the max down that I could (I think $7k) on a 2% cash back credit card to get some $$ back. I had cash and didn't need dealer financing, but I ended up financing through a credit union that offered me 1.24% APR. I took the cash and I put in into CDs that are now earning 3.2% APY. So, I'm making about $600 per year in interest arbitrage from my 4Runner being financed. It was my only new car buying experience and was super easy. I'll never negotiate in person going forward. You have so much leverage over email and limited leverage in person.

[BmillsSkier]

Saw this in the wild today during lunch. Honestly, if I wanted to add an awd do-anything wagon to the stable for a reasonable price (and didn’t already daily an allroad) I’d look at these things seriously