<p>Another big fan of ‘newer’ used cars here.
We use ebay to search for cars (limiting the distance to 25 miles), then visit the car to check it out. Have never completed a car transaction on ebay.
My ‘new’ car bought last August, is a 2008 Scion XD with 5000 miles on it at a local car dealer.
The price was listed as $16,999 on the windshield, wishful thinking on their part.
The ebay price was 13,999, which is what we got it for. They also bought my REAL clunker for $1000 on the spot. No way I was selling it to anyone and sleep at night.
Same approach will work for cars.com and autotrader. Ebay just has a larger listing.
We’ve used this method successfully for 3 cars over the last 8 years (3 car family).
Best of luck…it is no fun to HAVE to find a car in short time.</p>
<p>My s bought a Mazda 3 and loves it! We’ve had 2 Honda civics - one stick and one automatic. The stick shift one had transmission problems but that was a long time ago. I also heard that Toyota wasnt selling cars until the pedals were replaced, but havent heard todays news yet. </p>
<p>DadII started a thread a month or 2 back on buying a new or nearly new car. Of course once he got what he needed from all the helpful posters, he left the thread and never reported back what he bought, but there is a lot of useful info in that thread. Good luck, and let us know what you get!</p>
<p>Here’s that thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/800093-help-my-car-just-quit-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/800093-help-my-car-just-quit-me.html</a></p>
<p>I have had Toyotas but have German car now and it will be hard to switch to Toyota / Honda after German car if I have to do so because of price. I never knew that I would even care how car drives, driving is not my favorite thing to do. But there is that special feel driving German car. Both my H and S confirm the same, but H had to buy Toyota because of price. He is happy with it.</p>
<p>Went to the dealers last night, and now I remember why I hate it so much! I hate to bore you, but maybe you will find the experience as sad as I did.</p>
<p>Honda was our first stop. After entering the showroom and peeking into an Accord, a nice gentleman offered to help. I told him I wanted to see a 4 door Civic with stick. You would have thought I ask to see a Lamborghini by the look on his face! He said they don’t get 4 door sticks very often, but after checking the inventory, he realized they did have just one. After offering to go bring the car around the front, my husband and I stood around and played in the Civic on the showroom floor. It wasn’t the trim level we were interested in, but it gave us a feel for the size. After about 10 minutes the salesman returned to let us know he was still looking for the car. After another 10 minutes he came back and said he can not find the car; he has the keys but doesn’t know where the car is. We still want to get to a few more dealers, so we thank him and say we have an idea of the size and that will do for now. I then ask what rebates/incentives and financing they are offering; here is where I was floored. He goes to Honda.com and searches for rebates; the same place I had already checked that morning! Actually I also checked on Edmunds.com, but I was surprised he had no idea what they were offering. When I asked about 0% financing, which I knew Honda was not offering, he said that has great rates, and when press for the percentage he told me in the single digits. Now I don’t know about you, but I think there is a big difference between 0% and 9.9%! When I pressed him for the actually rate, I was not able to get it. We left without him getting our name and number, something that in years past you couldn’t avoid giving.</p>
<p>Next stop to Toyota across the street. I knew that inventory might be light due to the recall, but again I was a bit surprised. The saleswoman said they did not have the Corolla we were looking for, and had none with stick, but she was happy to show us a Corolla. Unfortunately, the one she showed us was not the trim we were interested in and they did not have one on the lot. It is hard to get a real feel for the build of the car when you are looking at a trim of a different level. The saleswoman did offer to ask a manager to locate what we wanted, but we told her we wanted to see it today. My husband posed a couple of questions to the woman, but she didn’t know the answer. I guess they were out of brochures as what she gave me was a xerox of a brochure.</p>
<p>We now head over to VW where a salesman is opening the door to the showroom as we are getting out of our car. Back in the old days the salesman were like sharks, racing to be the first to get to you before their associates got to you. I thought this was what was about to happen. Was I ever pleased; this man knew his stuff, wasn’t pushy, and quit pleasant! There was a Jetta right outside the front door that she showed us while he went in to get the key for the car with stick. As we are walking to the correct car, he is rattling off features of the Jetta, some information we didn’t care about, but he knew his car! He had us sit in the car, offered to let us drive it and showed us the acceleration and handling while he was driving it. I could not have been more pleased with the experience, and after Honda and Toyota, it was like night and day. My husband had a 1982 Jetta and loved it and he really likes this current Jetta. While it is about the same size as the Corolla and Civic, it seems bigger and the trim is more like a sports car. When we went back inside the salesman asked for our contact information, something neither of the other two sales people ask for.</p>
<p>It looks like we can get the Jetta with what we want on it for a similar price as the Civic and Corolla. And guess what; VW has 4 door cars with stick, on the lot!! There is a new Limited Edition that is going to replace their S trim; it has more features than the S and almost everything of the SE, for less money. My job for today is to research the Jetta as in the past the reliability on the Jetta has taken a hit. I don’t think anything will last like a Honda, but hopefully if we get the Jetta it will be good to us!</p>
<p>My husband and son are car freaks; if we had the money my son would be driving a used BMW, but the time is not right. At 26 and in medical school, my husband has offered to pay for the first two years of the car and my son will pick up the payments when he starts residency. My husbands father bought his car when he finished medical school and we were married at the time, so he wants to do the same for his son.</p>
<p>Besides researching the Jetta today I have to find out what to do with the dead Accord. The mechanic in my son’s city said he thought the Salvation Army would come get the car or he could sell it for scrap metal. The mechanic said he could leave the car on his lot for a few day, but I know he would like it gone soon. I would like to get the tax break if possible as I can’t imagine we would get much cash for it. I am thinking I will be on the computer and phone most of the day; it is a good thing I do not work outside the home!!</p>
<p>If not the Jetta, I think we like the Civic better than the Corolla; but without seeing the correct trim of the model we want, it was hard to compare. I will have to call around and find a dealer with the car on the lot so that we can go look this weekend. While we were thinking the Accord again, I was surprised to see how much bigger the car is compared to his 1997 Accord; it is a family sedan and I think my son will be very happy with the smaller car. If he needs a larger car for when he gets married and has children (ok, wishful thinking on my part,) he can upgrade for himself!</p>
<p>My FIL drives a Jetta diesel with a manual transmission. He loves it and it has not given him many problems. My BIL’s kids have a Jetta also but it’s new and they are leasing it. I’ve not heard that it has had problems but I’m sure it’s still under warranty.</p>
<p>My H just bought a new car, we gave his old Acura CL to our college age S. It has 230000 miles on it and has run without problems for him. We looked at VW but Consumer’s Reports has such reliability problems with VW’s. They are rated very low. I know my BIL had a Toureg and had a lot of problems with them but my FIL has driven VW’s for years with not a lot of problems.</p>
<p>We have had a lot of luck buying used Acura’s. They have a nice blend of luxury and the reliability of a Honda.</p>
<p>I would definitely rent a car to give yourself more time to look. You know what they say, “Marry in haste; repent in leisure.”</p>
<p>It was the transmission going out on my 11 year old Toyota that got me to replace it finally. </p>
<p>The beauty of any manual car that I had was that if the battery was dead and needed to be replaced or recharged, I could start the car by pushing it. It came in handy a number of times over the decades…</p>
<p>However, now I only buy automatics for myself. I, too, got sore knees from driving in stop and go traffic on the freeway.</p>
<p>A friend of mine just bought a used Acura TSX. He went to the Honda dealer to buy a specific new car but they didn’t have it. The inventory levels at his dealership were surprisingly low. I said that it might be the Toyota recall. He then went to the Acura dealer and bought the TSX which is their low-end car (runs $33,000 to $45,000 new). His is one year old with 20K miles. I’ve been looking at the car myself. It is loaded with electronic stuff which is something I usually try to avoid in cars as all that stuff can break down the road. At any rate, it looks like a wonderful car and he gets to drive for our weekly tennis game this week.</p>
<p>He spent $26K for it and was nervous because he’s never spent that much for a car before. I just told him that the per-year cost wouldn’t be much and that he’d get a lot of enjoyment from the car.</p>
<p>My mom has a Jetta. It is a lot of fun to drive. However, one thing she wishes that she realized before buying it is that hers requires premium fuel. She said she would have got something else had she known. She used the Costco service when getting it. It took some time to get exactly what she wanted but she was very happy with the purchase price through Costco.</p>
<p>^Yep, Audi needs to be filled with the most expensive one…however, great mileage and superior German engineering (according to my engineer H.)</p>
<p>
I don’t know - my Dodge Durango with over 170K miles outlasted your Honda with 138K miles. ;)</p>
<p>Just one anecdote - a colleague of mine had a Jetta and couldn’t wait to get rid of it because of all the problems it had along with expenses incurred as a result. That’s just one anecdote though and hopefully not typical.</p>
<p>The mileage on the Jetta isn’t as good as the other vehicles unless you get the diesel for a hefty cost over the standard engine, but mileage isn’t everything.</p>
<p>We have two 9yo Hyundais. Love them. One has 180K, other 130K. We bought them used and have no problems. I think we’re gonna give the 180K car to our son–as a college graduation present–and H is gonna get a newer car. Most likely another Hyundai.</p>
<p>Anyway, check out the Hyundais!</p>
<p>BTW, in case you were wondering, I don’t sell Hyundais</p>
<p>You may want to check into the reliability records for the Jetta. My niece has one and really wishes she didn’t. Repairs are uber expensive.</p>
<p>Yes, the reliability of the Jetta in the past hasn’t been good, but it looks like that is turning around one can believe what one reads! It seems the models after 2007 have improve in reliability and the 2010 seems to have some changes that me as a non car person do not understand; or rather I didn’t listen as it was discussed!!</p>
<p>No decision has been made on what car to get; we are still thinking about the Honda Civic and maybe the Accord. I have been reading about each car for 2 days now along with getting prices together. If one more sales person tells me how hard it will be to find a 4 door with stick, I will tell them what they can do!</p>
<p>Just to update-My son ended up going with the Jetta; he felt it drove more sports car like. The Honda Civic had a blind spot that he didn’t like; I don’t know it is was due to the way he sat or what, but he didn’t like it. The Accord is just too big now, more like a sedan than a compact car. The Jetta just had all that he and my husband wanted.</p>
<p>I did the Costco pricing and then did the online with local dealers. It ended up that a 4 door with manual transmission, without the iPod docking, in the few colors he liked was next to impossible to find. He did not want the iPod dock only the adapter as the dock meant you had to control the iPod through the radio; but you could only go forward and back, not actually pick a playlist. One of the dealers was getting in a car in 3 weeks with all the requirements and offered to match my lowest price and give my son a loaner car for the 3 weeks. Not only did he get the loaner, it was a brand new Jetta! </p>
<p>The car actually came in 2 weeks early and my son could not get into town to pick it up for about a week so the dealer had it driven to him. This purchase from this dealer was easy; other than the finance manager, it was pain free. </p>
<p>As my son is driving his new 2010 Jetta, I am driving my 1999 Navigator with almost 200,000 miles on it. As I type it is in the shop so that tomorrow morning it can get rear brakes and a new radiator; this will not be the first replacement radiator for this car either! Oh, the things we do for our children!!</p>
<p>I had to replace my car last year, 1991 Civic for 2007 Corolla. It cost less than my EFC for 1 year of school (and I plan on keeping it for a decade). </p>
<p><<oh, the=“” things=“” we=“” do=“” for=“” our=“” children!!=“”>> AMEN</oh,></p>
<p>Wow, I’m really surprised to hear about a Honda that is DOA with only 120,000 miles. I own a 2003 Honda Accord LX 4 cylinder with a manual transmission and the original clutch. I’ve put almost 180,000 miles on it, it’s still a pleasure to drive, and it has been relentlessly reliable – have gone through one battery, a set of front brakes/rotors, a tune up at 110,000 miles, several sets of tires and wiper blades, numerous oil changes and a few light bulbs, but not a single major repair.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update Snowball. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the new Jetta. Maybe your H will also
;)</p>
<p>According to my mechanic, while it is unusual for a Honda transmission to go out with mileage in the mid 100,000, it is not unheard of. My son feels maybe when he first was driving he was a bit rough with the car; I am not sure that was the problem. Whatever the case was, we knew we would get him a car by the time he graduated medical school, so he just got it a bit earlier. Of course now I panic when my car needs work as we will NOT be a two car note house!</p>
<p>Oh, and the car had 138,000 miles on it, not that it makes that much difference; I thought I updated the mileage in a later.post,</p>