Buying a car ... tips / tricks / advice

Nick · Feb 2, 2012

My wife is really digging the Ford Edge.

I'm having a tough time right now.... I can get a brand new 2011 Saab 9-3 for $21k. That seems ridiculous to me.

Nick · Feb 2, 2012

o3jeff said:
I thought the car was for her?

Well, yeah :lol:

Puck it · Feb 2, 2012

Just bought my second FJ Cruiser. Paid invoice for it. Added other things. My son has the old FJ now.

HD333 · Feb 2, 2012

Puck it said:
Just bought my second FJ Cruiser. Paid invoice for it. Added other things. My son has the old FJ now.

Lucky Son.

Puck it · Feb 2, 2012

HD333 said:
Lucky Son.

His jeep liberty had the check engine come on and pulled code. It was the torque converter error code. And the FJ was a '08 but 110k on it. Less headache for him to have that.

Cheese · Feb 2, 2012

Nick said:
My wife is really digging the Ford Edge.

That's a great choice, IMO. It's on my wish list for next fall.

darent · Feb 2, 2012

those car people know every trick in the book and have no scrupples. so when buying be well informed on the pricing for the car u want, put on your assh&le face and remember THAT YOU ARE INCHARGE OF THE DEAL,{ no deal without your signature} and check your paper work before you sign!! leave wife at home, women don't like confrontation, take wife if she is a natural ball buster. buy towards end of month. salesmen might have had good month and be more willing to deal.. remember they need you more than you need them, they're 5250 guitar pickers in nashville, but only one virtuoso like you !!

hammer · Feb 2, 2012

Nick said:
My wife is really digging the Ford Edge.

We sat in one but didn't take it for a test drive...our requirements included some towing capability and the Edge is really a CUV. Real shame, seemed nice on the inside and a decent amount of space.

Nick · Feb 2, 2012

hammer said:
We sat in one but didn't take it for a test drive...our requirements included some towing capability and the Edge is really a CUV. Real shame, seemed nice on the inside and a decent amount of space.

What do you mean? It has 285 HP ... and awd the ones we are looking at

hammer · Feb 2, 2012

Nick said:
What do you mean? It has 285 HP ... and awd the ones we are looking at

Just 3500 lb rated towing capacity vs 5000 for our Jeep Grand Cherokee V6 which has about the same HP. It's about more than the pulling power...

ZYDECORICH · Feb 2, 2012

drjeff said:
My 2 cents - get something slightly bigger than you think you'll need. Trust me when I say that it's positively amazing at the amount of gear that you find yourself carrying around when you have a little kid!

On a more serious note. Do yourself (and your wife too) a favor and actually look in the back seat to see how easy and/or tough it is to get to the clip in latch for the child seat restraint. Some of them are an absolutely beast to access which if you're going to be switching car seats in/out this can be a real pain in the a$$

I kinda agree with Doc here. Get something bigger than what you think need. We were going to get a Honda CRV and ended up getting a Honda Pilot after following similar advice we got from a friend. It was true, you have more s__t than you think, especially with kids. Remember, your nothing but a pack mule.The car seats went in rather easy with the Pilot. It was also great on gas for the size. Great in the snow.

ScottySkis · Feb 3, 2012

Don't get 1996 honda accord not the best car to drive to Plattekill a lot

Nick · Feb 3, 2012

hammer said:
Just 3500 lb rated towing capacity vs 5000 for our Jeep Grand Cherokee V6 which has about the same HP. It's about more than the pulling power...

Makes sense, I hadn't lookeda t the torque. Not sure what I"ll be pulling but I can't imagine it will exceed 3500lb :lol:

hammer · Feb 3, 2012

Nick said:
Makes sense, I hadn't looked at the torque. Not sure what I"ll be pulling but I can't imagine it will exceed 3500lb :lol:

Think the torque numbers are similar as well, and I'd guess that the Jeep is heavier. My guess is that the differences are due to other factors (chassis, suspension, brakes).

FWIW we tow a 2000 lb pop-up camper, and our Toyota Highlander with a 3500 lb rated tow capacity handles it but it isn't as stable on the highway as I'd like. The Jeep does fine but the V6 is definitely working to pull the camper, think it would have a hard time pulling anything over 4000 lb or so even though it's rated to 5000 lb.

When we went camping in VT last summer there were a lot of Canadians at the campground...they were towing small travel trailers with smaller CUVs and cars. Not something I would do.

If we didn't need a tow vehicle I would have definitely looked at a CUV for the better gas mileage and on-road manners (although the Jeep has real nice on road manners for an SUV).

You seemed temped to get another Saab...what about the lack of any warranties?

Nick · Feb 3, 2012

yeah I'm mixedon it. I guess basically it boils down to having a saab now with no warranty, or buying a much crappier car in a yaer from now for about the same price that does have a warranty.

Apparently you can get aftermarket warranties from AAA and others. That might be OK, as long as I had coverage for major events (like an engine problem) I would be happy. The price savings (almost 13k) can cover a lot of work in between

xwhaler · Feb 3, 2012

Nick said:
yeah I'm mixedon it. I guess basically it boils down to having a saab now with no warranty, or buying a much crappier car in a yaer from now for about the same price that does have a warranty.

Apparently you can get aftermarket warranties from AAA and others. That might be OK, as long as I had coverage for major events (like an engine problem) I would be happy. The price savings (almost 13k) can cover a lot of work in between

Any Saab 9-7's floating around? If you could score a good deal under $30k for one of those somehow it may be pretty sweet.

bigbog · Feb 3, 2012

hammer said:
Beating up and comparing dealers works well when you want what they have on the lot...but if you have a specific option set then it does get harder. When we bought our Jeep we wanted the tow package, a specific trim level, and a few specific colors...which made finding the right vehicle tricky. We even tried to use the Zag buying service, but the participating dealers could not be bothered to work with us so we just haggled over a vehicle with another dealer. Worked out OK in the end but I know we didn't get the "best" price.

Lots more choice out there...the Korean and US automakers have stepped up their game and the Japanese automakers have been resting on their laurels a bit much, so it's not as much of a no-brainer to look at or get a Japanese make vehicle as it was a few years ago.

Don't worry about applying mods later, stock materials/components for SUVs/4wds are the same as for computers = the cheapest for the money. Dealers don't want to hear about part quality, just price.

hammer · Feb 3, 2012

bigbog said:
Don't worry about applying mods later, stock materials/components for SUVs/4wds are the same as for computers = the cheapest for the money. Dealers don't want to hear about part quality, just price.

Think our biggest problems were that we didn't want a black, white, or silver vehicle and that we wanted the tow package (not just a hitch) and we wanted the touch screen audio system because it included the back up camera (which has been almost indispensable for backing up to the camper). Adding any of those after purchase would have been cost prohibitive.

I would admit that if you want the lowest cost it's best to be flexible about colors and options.

ALLSKIING · Feb 3, 2012

Scotty said:
Don't get 1996 honda accord not the best car to drive to Plattekill a lot

I bet it would have been better to drive to VT.

o3jeff · Feb 3, 2012

Nick said:
I'm having a tough time right now.... I can get a brand new 2011 Saab 9-3 for $21k. That seems ridiculous to me.

Where are you going to put 2 dogs, gear, a wife and a child in there?

Buying a car ... tips / tricks / advice

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