Ford owns Mazda, but Mazda still makes the car. Nissan is like the American version of Japanese car companies.
ybplayer22 gave some good advice. here's more... STEP 1 ------------------ Get pre-approved for a car loan from a bank or credit union. This gives you a precise understanding of your maximum sales price STEP 2 ------------------ go to edmunds.com and http://autos.msn.com/ to check out the different cars that are available in the class that you're looking for. Look at their prices and reviews. Don't fall in love with one type of car - keep your mind open to the fact that a different car may be a better purchase. STEP 3 ------------------ Go to multiple dealerships to test drive the cars that you are interested in. Don't go to just one. For example, test drive the Nissan, the Toyota, and the Honda. only go to a dealership to test drive the car and see how it feels and looks. DO NOT GO THERE TO BUY. don't even think about it STEP 4 ------------------- After researching the cars and test driving them, decide on which make and model you want. STEP 5 ------------------- Go back to edmunds.com and http://autos.msn.com/ and look at the various options that are availble for your desired car. Choose which options you want, keeping in mind the price. make printouts of all the options available for your car and the prices for the options. You must know what the total invoice price for your desired car will be. STEP 6 ------------------- go to carsdirect.com. Fill out the forms, indicate what car and what features you want, indicate that you are pre-approved and will be making a purchase decision within two weeks. Carsdirect will send emails out on your behalf to all dealerships in your area. The dealerships will email you with their introductions. Immediately reply to all of those emails indicating that you are serious about buying (if you don't reply quickly, they'll stop dealing with you quickly). let the dealers send you offers. Keep your contact with all the dealers open (keep emailing them). The more of them you have competing against each other, the better it works in your favor. If one makes a good offer, email their competitor(s) and tell them that yuo've gotten a better offer and they need to improve their offer. your goal is to buy the car at or below its invoice price. STEP 7 ------------------- When you've got a dealership that will sell to you at the right price, email them to let them know that they've got a deal and arrange a time to go get your new car from them. do not compromise your price. They might try to say things like "the price had to go up because the car has these other features". Be polite, but firm. Say, "I am very interested and am close to buying, but I don't want those features and don't feel I should have to pay for them."
200-300 dollars a month will be tought unless you have a good amount of down payment...interest rates on used cars are high even with excellent credit..300-400 is more reasonable pricing..
