Any tips for buying a new car?

[Xee]

Well, as of late the tranny has been slipping in my 116K-mile, '92 Taurus. If I drive it for more than 15-20 minutes, it will get stuck in mid-gear when downshifting to first (pretty much whenever I come to a stop at a light or stop sign). Stepping on the gas just makes it rev high and go nowhere. The only way to get it going is to shift to reverse, and then back into drive, whereupon it will "catch" and jerk forward. Driving it for 35+ minutes renders even this "fix" useless and I'm pretty much at it's mercy; it'll get in gear when it feels like it and doesn't care for any obscene gestures I might be getting from the people behind me. Still, it wasn't a biggie. I only live 7 minutes from work so I planned on waiting until the spring and then getting a new car. Unfortunately, a douchebag has bumped up my plans a bit.

About a week ago, I was walking to my car after work when I noticed it looked a little "crooked". When I got closer I saw that the car had been pushed over the yellow parking lanes, the drivers-side door was caved in, and there was red tail-light bits and pieces all over the ground. Some frickin' gutless coward had hit my car (in reverse?) and taken off. Now, due to the age of the car, I took off collision insurance a couple years back and only had liability on it, so any repairs are coming out of my pocket. With the state of the tranny, there's no way I'm putting any more money into it. So after I got home I called my dad over, who had been a Ford body-man for 20+ years, to have a look at it. After he did, he said there was no way to fix it since the douchebag had bent the reinforcement bar inside the door and compromised the structural integrity. If I ever got T-boned from that side I'd be fubar. So it's not only an aesthetic issue, but a safety one as well.

That being said, I'm planning on getting some quotes from dealerships this next week and then hopefully getting a new car by the weekend after (I've settled on a 2009 Mazda3 Touring Value with no options). Thing is, I have no experience whatsoever and don't really want to go there with a deer-in-the-headlights look. So, does anyone have any tips on dealing with salesmen?

[UOK]

Get competitor pricing. Do your homework on deals. I'd take all your quotes with you from place to place. Even though the car seems reliable, judge a book by its cover in terms of the dealership. If it's an undeniable deal but the lot is shitty looking and the salesmen appear too desperate, not a good choice. The best idea sometimes is word of mouth. Check out the sites below, ask around if you know anyone who's bought from those dealers.

http://www.dealerrater.com/
http://www.cardealercheck.com/
http://www.edmunds.com/dealerships/drr/jump.html
http://www.mydealerreport.com/
http://www.dealerdex.com/
http://www.dealershipratings.com/

[gaba]

'92 Taurus to a 2009 Mazda... that's a hell of a step-up. I'm way too cheap to ever buy new, even if I was rolling in dough. I'd had some pretty good cars and never payed more than $2k. Not that you shouldn't get what you want, but is there a good reason to get an '09? Yeah, it's all shiny and new but compared to a '92 Taurus (good car by the way, I had one for a while... pain in the ass to work on but I rarely had to) pretty much anything built within the last 8-10 years is gonna feel like a Cadillac (or a Lincoln since you seem to have a little blue-oval-crush).

I haven't been paying attention lately. Are the big three slashing prices? I know there are instances (big trucks for example) where you can get a great deal on a new vehicle. I just didn't think small/economical cars were in the mix.

[Boris13c]

For anyone willing to buy a well used, but well maintained vehicle, you should check out the cars the rental agencies sell.

Most of them have a lot of the creature comfort options that are high ticket items when a car is bought new.

All of them come with the vehicle maintenance records. So even one with higher mileage than you would like should still have some years left in it because it was properly maintained.

So, you get a functional and well maintained vehicle that you can pay for in a year probably and have for 3 at least.

[Otis Day]

I'm way too cheap to ever buy new, even if I was rolling in dough.

That is me as well. I have been buying cars in the $2000-$5000 range. I get my $'s worth out of them. I drive my cars until they practically die. Currently driving a 1994 Crown Vic. It was my mom's car. Odometer stopped working last year at about 140,000 miles. Looks a little rough, paint fading, hardly any rust though. Runs well, leaks some oil.

The wife's vehicle is a 99 Plymouth van, 135,000+ miles.

Can't afford new.

[gaba]

The wife's vehicle is a 99 Plymouth van, 135,000+ miles.

Mine's bright red. The girls call it "Jellybean." I think they'd be mad at me if I got rid of her, even if I could afford better. Great van though. I love being able to play mix-and-match with the seats. On a cold day, with the middle one out I can get in and shut the door behind me before buckling the little ones in. Then I can just roll it up to the center position and have a huge amount of space in the back for cargo. Great for the drive-in too. Pull the seat out and throw a couple blankets back there, you've got a place to lie down and veg out, plus a small sofa outside. I covet the "stow-and-go" seating in the newer ones but I really like having the ability to use the seats outside the van. Plus, the little four-banger (anemic as it might be) gets me fuel economy in the mid 20s. My first vehicle was a full-sized van. This one holds the same 7 people but gets a hell of a lot better than the sub-10mpg of the Big-Brown-Beast.

Manly it is not, but it gets me where I need to go if affordable comfort and it's far less embarassing to be seen in than it's predecessor (a junked out '88 Olds).

Cost? Nothing. Wifey's dad felt bad that he sold off the land he had promised her. He got the van in trade for the first year's rent (back rent he negotiated as part of the asking price) and gave it to us.

I have bought several cars in my day and rarely paid over $1,000 for any. I've even bought a couple since I've been married but wifey, at 30, has still never bought a car for herself. There are some issues with marrying "Daddy's girl" but this is definitely not one of them. She even talked him out of HIS car once. He got her a Tempo for her first car. She didn't like it and talked him into trading her for his Thunderbird. (It was sort of a cool car in 1994.)

[MamaBear]

We never buy new cars either. I think cars suck period, the one time my parents brought a car brand-new, it sucked too. Cars are just not something I want to spend a lot of money on. Got my 2001 Durango for $2800 from a guy my husband knew who was hard up for money...he'd just bought it off a car lot for $6800 5 months earlier! That was a deal. Least it would have been had the engine not blown up on me a little less than a year later. So we replaced the engine. Still have less money in it than the last owner did.

We also have an 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera station wagon (The Woody Wagon) that I inherited from my grandma. It has been a fabulous car for us. We've put relatively little money in it, always kept up good maintainence on it, never had to replace anything major. But the inside of the body is starting to fall apart. Electric windows, seat adjusters, that sort of thing. My husband used it to get back and forth to work and that's it. We planned to just drive it til it died and I do wonder when that would have been. We won't get to find out though cuz one icy morning a couple weeks ago my husband's co-worker hit him pulling into the parking lot at work! It's still driveable (though really hard to open the gas tank) but considered totaled cuz you can't get the parts to fix it anymore. Probably it was for the best...I think we'll get more money for it from the insurance company than a buyer.

Anywho, we are thinking we would like to get a used truck. They are so handy to have. It needs to have an extended cab and we'd like 4 wheel drive. Anybody have any truck advice for us? Trucks you loved or hated?

[gaba]

I had an '85 Ford that I loved. It was a complete piece of junk... not a design flaw, it was just run to death. Big V-8... straight pipes (wake the neighbors loud)... bench seat. I loved the bench seat. Not even for the pervy stuff you're all thinking. It was really nice to have wifey sitting right next to me. I replaced pretty much every single part that could be unbolted from that truck. The great part was the engine compartment so massively large that I could sit on the fender with my legs INSIDE the engine compartment when I was playing with it's guts. I'm no mechanic though. I kept her running with duct-tape and bubble gum for as long as I could. Eventually she just crapped out on me. No telling how many miles on it. The odometer had rolled over at least once.

Being from the Ozarks... a good truck is like a dog. I think every man's got to have one at some point and every one of them remembers theirs fondly.



Jeez... I have this sudden urge to write a country-western song.

[RING4CHI]

I'm still running on my first car (8 years and counting.) Big ol' 1991 Cadillac DeVille. I should turn over 225,000 miles in the next week or two.

[Ormazd]

Well, as of late the tranny has been slipping in my 116K-mile, '92 Taurus. If I drive it for more than 15-20 minutes, it will get stuck in mid-gear when downshifting to first (pretty much whenever I come to a stop at a light or stop sign). Stepping on the gas just makes it rev high and go nowhere. The only way to get it going is to shift to reverse, and then back into drive, whereupon it will "catch" and jerk forward. Driving it for 35+ minutes renders even this "fix" useless and I'm pretty much at it's mercy; it'll get in gear when it feels like it and doesn't care for any obscene gestures I might be getting from the people behind me. Still, it wasn't a biggie. I only live 7 minutes from work so I planned on waiting until the spring and then getting a new car. Unfortunately, a douchebag has bumped up my plans a bit.

About a week ago, I was walking to my car after work when I noticed it looked a little "crooked". When I got closer I saw that the car had been pushed over the yellow parking lanes, the drivers-side door was caved in, and there was red tail-light bits and pieces all over the ground. Some frickin' gutless coward had hit my car (in reverse?) and taken off. Now, due to the age of the car, I took off collision insurance a couple years back and only had liability on it, so any repairs are coming out of my pocket. With the state of the tranny, there's no way I'm putting any more money into it. So after I got home I called my dad over, who had been a Ford body-man for 20+ years, to have a look at it. After he did, he said there was no way to fix it since the douchebag had bent the reinforcement bar inside the door and compromised the structural integrity. If I ever got T-boned from that side I'd be fubar. So it's not only an aesthetic issue, but a safety one as well.

That being said, I'm planning on getting some quotes from dealerships this next week and then hopefully getting a new car by the weekend after (I've settled on a 2009 Mazda3 Touring Value with no options). Thing is, I have no experience whatsoever and don't really want to go there with a deer-in-the-headlights look. So, does anyone have any tips on dealing with salesmen?

If you're still looking to buy new, spend $14 at the Consumer Reports website and print out their data sheet for the car you're interested in. It will show both retail and invoice prices for all the options. Take that and a calculator to the dealer.

I just bought a new 2008 Toyota RAV4. They were offering $1000 cash back off the sticker -- I totalled up the invoice prices for the options the car had, subtracted the $1000 and offered them that. They're hungry to sell cars right now, and it took them about 2 minutes to agree.

[gaba]

Don't buy a Chrysler. I really like my van, but Dodge absolutely CAN NOT make a f*&king transmission. I had a trip planned to visit some out-of-state relatives, but now my trip budget is going to put new guts in Jellybean... again.

Roughtly 150,000 miles and it's on the fourth transmission.

[MamaBear]

Ack Gaba! FOUR? That is messed up! I had to replace the engine in my 2001 Durango last summer. Hope the tranny isn't the next thing to give up the ghost!

Sorry about your trip.

[gaba]

Chrysler transmissions are notoriously poor. For one thing, the design is just poor and they've made no attempt to improve it. With few minor exceptions (a new valve body here and a gear there) they're using the same design that has sucked since the '80s (maybe earlier). Hell, it's not even just the same design. In some cases it's the same f*&king transmission. They can deny it all they want, but Chrysler puts rebuilt transmissions into new vehicles. I guess it's cheaper to just keep repairing the things until the warranty expires than to actually design and build a decent f*&king transmission.

That's why a used Chrysler vehicle is almost always significantly cheaper than a comparable vehicle from any other maker. You can get a damn good vehicle (and aside from the transmission, I still love mine and it's the fifth Chrysler product I've owned) for a low price. You just have to kind of figure transmissions into the regular maintainance, like an oil change only a little more expensive. Figure an extra $1000 - $1500 every couple years into the cost of ownership. It's not always that bad a deal and there's always the chance you might get lucky. I never have though.

[MamaBear]

Damn! Well so far, I guess I've been lucky. Though I damn well deserve to have the tranny hang in there for a little longer since I had to put a new engine in!