Well as most of you know from my other thread here. my car was totaled so now I am in the market for a new/program/used car. I'm looking for the best deal I can get on the most reliable vehicle I get. I am not in the market for luxuries. Not sure my price range yet but I should have $7,000-12,000 to put down or pay on the car right away. With that much up front, I would really like to keep my payments under $200 per month but I know a lot of that depends on rates you get and such. I want your suggestions on cars/SUVs/trucks and what makes (brands) and models to seek and stay away from. I want something with 4 doors as most of you know I have a little one on the way and getting in the back seat of a 2-door car sucks, especially when you're dealing with car seats. TIA
With the amount you have to drop down, you should be able to get the note you're lookin for. I wouldnt tell the dealership exactly how much you have though. Say you have 9000 to put down. I would tell the dealer you have 7 and see what they could do. If you could get the note your lookin for (under 200) and save some of that money, thats great. As for makes....Toyota, Honda, or Nissan (or their luxury brands: Lexus, Acura, Infiniti) And personaly, I really like the '09 Maxima. Sporty yet luxurious and the best lookin flagship sedan available.
i think honda had 1.9% financing rates avaliable for a while, they had a new civic lx on the lot from last year for high $14k in new york, not sure if that was a good deal but i was tempted to buy...
Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, etc. Those will run you around $20k+. Buick Lacrosse would also probably qualify. Mercury Milan would be another. If you want to go smaller maybe a Toyota Matrix. I'd stay away from Volkswagen, Kia, and maybe even Mazda. The Altima would be another choice, but I'd put the Accord and Camry ahead of it in terms of reliability.
I'd take the Accord simply because Nissan is still trying to recover from the myriad of problems they've had in the recent past with reliability in their cars. I also think the interior on the Accord is really nice. It really depends also on what you're looking for in a car when it comes to recommendations. If ride is really important, drive them both, too.
Do NOT tell the dealership what you have to put down or what you want your payments to be...just negotiate the price of the car. Do your homework on interest rates/financing and go with the cheapest rate (may end up being the dealership)
My brother has an Altima hybrid. Pretty sweet ride. Super quiet, and gets about 36-38MPG overall, and a 700 mile range before fillups. My friend also has a brand new all black Accord. Also pretty nice. You can't go wrong with either, but I would get an Altima Hybrid cuz of the gas milage and low APR financing... and its about the same price as the Accord.
Make sure to go to Edmunds and check out the prices paid for various cars. Also the forums on Edmunds usually have good posts about what other people are paying for a particular car. This is also a great way to find out all the incentives that may be available on car. There are not too many cars that you can't have for Invoice (not MSRP) - whatever incentives. Many cars can be had for invoice - $500 to $1000 - incentives. ALso, if you are with a credit union, you can often get good enough rates with them to take advantage of the cash incentives over the APR incentives. If you want to finance with a car company, get a pre approval letter from somewhere for a decent rate from a bank: work on getting a lower rate from that number. On cars that are sold in volume, you can often get a good deal through the internet. Test drive it somewhere, make sure you know what packages you want, then go to various online sales managers at the different dealers and see what the best price is. Print out agreed upon price, go to dealership with money, leave with car. This is often much easier and with bigger savings than working with the floor sales people. One thing to watch out for, get the VIN on the car you are talking about with an internet salesman, make sure the car they have for you matches the VIN when you go in to see it.
Also, I am looking at SUVs as well. Not behemoths but Muranos and the like. Anybody had any luck with these cars? The reason I am looking at SUVs, looking back at the wreck that is what hit me. It totaled my car but she was able to drive away from the wreck. I've always heard that about SUVs too, that they're pretty tough and safer than cars although you pay for that in gas mileage. I'm not set on getting an SUV yet but I'm looking at those as well. Found some interesting deals on eBay although I would hate to buy on eBay without seeing the car in person first, test driving, etc. Anybody ever bought off eBay?
I'm pretty sure Fatty's bought a couple of cars off of ebay. He could probably offer some insight there.
Best answers - Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Right now, Toyota is offering a $1,500 rebate on the Camry and Honda is only offering low lease rates. Both good cars but the Camry will be cheaper at the moment.
I would suggest emailing your info to The Car Guy, Jerry Reynolds. I've heard his show on 610 on Saturdays and he's really good. He's based in Dallas, but knows about deals and dealers in Houston. http://www.carguyradio.com/ His email is in the link and make sure you tell him you're from Houston.
And for good reason. The Camry can't touch the new Accord, either in style or design or quality or fit and finish. I would probably go with the Accord now or wait until Toyota releases the new Camry. The Accord is pretty much in a class by itself right now in terms of affordable family sedans. The Camry and the Altima are next in line and they are roughly on par. I know people have different tastes, but unless you are really hung up on one of those brands then the smart buy is definitely an Accord at the moment. I am not crazy about their sedan at the moment but I love their coupe design, it looks very clean and crisp like the Euro coupes.
Honda CRV. Best selling suv from 07-09 I think. I think you can get a LX for around $20k...or a EX-L for $24k. I'm trying to low ball the dealerships to selling me a EX-L for $23.5k. MSRP on a EX-L is almost $27k.
BTW, since I am looking at SUVs as well I was wondering how insurance rates differed when you had those types of vehicles.
