Wanted to seek out the collective wisdom of this board – I’m moving from a city where I couldn’t have a car (NYC) to one where I need one. Given that I’ve never had a vehicle – and would love to buy a new one that I could keep for years (whether I buy it or lease it to start and then buy at the end of the term) – could I get some suggestions on what cars to consider?
I’m looking for a small-ish 4 door sedan, and the top of my price range would be 30-32k. I don’t want anything super expensive or flashy – I’d be ok with a regular vehicle or a small luxury car. I could consider an SUV it falls into that price range, though it needs to be something that feels “small” when driving and can be parked in relatively small parking spaces. My only ideas right now are – an Audi A3, a Hyundai Elantra, or some kind of Honda. Obviously prefer something that is considered safe and requires little/no upkeep besides taking it in for servicing.
And more practically – any negotiation tips? I know people always say to check prices somewhere before going in to a dealership – is there a website that is the “standard” that will list MSRP? Will take any help you all can offer as I need to figure this out in the next week or so.
We just celebrated having our Prius for a year, which would fall in your price rice. They last for years-we know someone who just traded in his old one after 12 or 13 years for a newer model. They now come in 3 sizes-we have the larger “V” model, which is a 4-door. The mileage is amazing. Even though we’re paying more per month than our other car, we are more than making it up on gas savings. We have never had a single problem with it. We love it and we did get hit last summer-it was very safe-no one even got a bruise and we were hit on the side, pretty hard.
My sister had a Hyundai Elantra and HATED it. It was always breaking down. And I owned 2 different Hondas and both developed oil burning problems early on. Nice looking cars, engines not so good.
What we do when we look for cars is go on cars.com and search dealers for the car we’re looking for. Then we visit the dealers that have our model, try them out, ask lots of questions. If one dealer is listing the same exact one for less, we see about price matching. We left one dealer standing there ready to sign when he wouldn’t come down on the price when we knew another dealer close by had a better price even before negotiation.
The only negative I can think of with the Prius is that if you’ve stayed in the NYC area, you may find that the Prius has too low of a clearance for a snowy climate. We get mostly rain in Seattle, so that isn’t an issue for us.
Keep the suggestions coming – but to answer questions. I am staying in the northeast, so snow may be a factor – which has driven me away from a Prius. As for whether I’ll be driving a lot – mostly to/from work – 20-30 min each way; and then some weekend driving around town and driving to visit my family every month or so – that is about a 3 hr trip each way. So I don’t think that’s a LOT of driving, but certainly enough; it won’t be an issue of keeping the car parked and just using it on a weekend.
Hasn’t Toyota had a number of recalls in recent years? I feel like they were in the news a lot in recent years for brake and steering problems.
OK- the new Honda HRV will be coming out soon and should be about 175 inches- AWD- looks very interesting to me, the Subaru Impreza 5 door and the Subaru Crosstrek are both AWD and about 174 inches. All the above have great safety features and reliability. Just test drove the Subarus. Neighbors all own them and love them. They’re reasonably priced. It is very hard to find a small AWD. Minicooper makes an AWD but there is not a dealer near here. Volvos are a little bigger now. I have a Honda CRV with 90000 miles that had no upkeep. It is probably going to a D. I am holding out to see what the new HRV will look like- should be released in the next week or so.
Not to inject a “political” statement in here but why is everyone (with one exception) suggesting foreign made vehicles when there are so many well made, reliable and attractive American made cars available the purchase of which will support the existence of manufacturing jobs, a working middle class and our tax base in the United States.
Having said that, take a look at the Ford Fusion or Chevy Malibu. In SUVs look at the Ford Escape or Chevy Equinox. When shopping for price, first go to Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds online and get the dealer invoice price for the vehicle equipped the way you want. When you go to the dealer, first find out what manufacturer and dealer incentives and rebates are available.Then tell them you will pay invoice minus those amounts. In this day and age, there should be no secrets about pricing. Ignore the questions you may be asked of “How much do you want to pay each month.” That’s an attempt to divert your attention to monthly payments instead of the actual price of the car. First get the lowest price possible and then address the best financing arrangements available.
If you intend to keep a car for more than three years, carefully evaluate the merits of leasing vs purchasing. With a lease, which is typically of a 36 or 39 month term, you have lower monthly payments but at the end will have no equity in the vehicle and will have to decide whether to come up with a large lump sum to buy the vehicle off of lease at financing rates that are usually higher than new car purchases. Leases also have mileage limitations which can be “bought up” which will increase your monthly payment, so know before you lease whether you will need more miles. Paying for overages at the end of a lease is expensive in cents per mile. If you “buy up” your miles up front, unused miles at the end are usually reimbursed but find out what the rate will be. Purchasing a vehicle will usually result in a higher monthly payment but interest rates will usually be lower than with a lease and at the end of the financing term you own the car and have trade in value for when you are ready for your next vehicle. If you intend to keep the car longer than the available lease term, compare the cost of the monthly lease payments plus the end of lease purchase price (taking into account the term of any additional financing) with the cost of all the monthly payments on an up front purchase and decide what works best for your current budget and cash flow needs.
I wanted to comment that my H drives a Hyundai Elantra and we’ve been very happy with it. I have a Subaru and so does my S’s gf and both love them and they are great in the snow.
Lots of people in my neighborhood drive Ford Escapes and they look really nice. My S drives a Ford Focus and he loves his car and my mom has a Ford, can’t remember which model but both have had very little trouble with it. Ford I think has made their cars very reliable.
Our cars we bought but we have leased in the past. We drive too many miles to lease. My sil and sister lease their cars and are happy. I know my sil says she has purchased extra miles for a car they leased well into the term but I have no idea how that worked but it might be something to ask.
I am in the Boston area and own a Prius. Love it. I have not had any issues in the snow. No it wont give you the traction of 4 wheel drive and there were times I wished I had my old SUV with 4 wheel drive, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. If you drive like a sane person when it is snowing and you will be OK. The money I saved on gas going from a 17mpg SUV to the Prius pays for my car loan. I bought this car when it was 2 years old. We never buy new, but try to get something a year or two old.
I get around 30mpg highway on my Subaru Outback. My H averages somewhere between 30-35mpg in his Hyundai Elantra. We felt it wasn’t worth the extra to buy a hybrid. If you have problems in the snow you can buy snow tires also. We found that they help a lot.
My H had an Infiniti when we moved where we are now, which gets quite a bit of snow. Most Infiniti’s are rear wheel drive unless you spring for the awd. He put snow tires and it was fine in the snow. Got terrible gas mileage and he drives a lot for work so his next car was the Elantra. Downgrade in luxury but upgrade in gas mileage.
Have fun buying a new car!
Basic negotiation tips:
Research: Read consumer reports (but don’t make it your bible) while picking.
Know the msrp and the going price in your area.
Find the internet users forum for owners & enthusiasts discussing that kind of car & what issues they are having.
When you test drive, say ahead of time that you are not ready to buy yet.
Transaction:
Get pre approved for a loan before talking to a dealer. If the dealer can beat the loan terms that’s great.
Remember that to any salesman, time is money, and also timing is money. If he can make a quick sale he will be more flexible and he will be motivated more towards the end of the month / quarter to meet quota.
Use email / phone to keep you out of the dealer’s lot initially. The easier it is for you to walk away the more bargaining power you have.
Say no to any dealer installed stuff like undercoating, etc.
We are on our third Subaru over 25 years. Great cars. I highly recommend them for a small AWD that’s fun to drive and reliable. We also have a used Prius. Very nice. Smooth driving. If you have a long commute, the Prius is a perfect car.
We’ve had poor ownership experiences with Ford, which is too bad because their cars are fun to drive and nicely appointed. I rented a Ford Focus recently and I liked the way the car handled. I also like the Escape. Ford seems to come up with innovative devices that make their cars comfortable and practical. We just seem to always get lemons. So I’ll always rent them but not own them.
My current car is a VW Golf TDI. I love it. Fantastic mileage but diesel is more expensive than regular gas so the Prius is more economical over the long run.
Our mechanic recently told me, “If everyone drove Hondas, I’d be out of business.”
We’ve had Hondas for 30 years and have never been disappointed.
ETA: Once you’ve decided what car to buy and you’ve agreed on a price with the salesman, they turn you over to their finance guy. That’s when they do the hard sell to get you to buy one of their extended warranty packages. Even if you’re interested, never buy it at the get-go. If you say no, and you tell the guy it’s because it’s too expensive, he will offer the same thing to you at a lower price.
In my experience, sitting with the finance guy – even if you have zero interest in his products – will eat up a good (or bad) hour of your time.
I became a Toyota fan after owning my first in 1980. I’ve owned five others since and haven’t ever been disappointed. I’ve also owned a Subaru, Infiniti, Mercedes, Saab, Chevy, and Buick. Toyota’s quality is head and shoulders above the other cars I’ve owned. And I came from a blue collar family that always drove GM, until they demonstrated over a series of three cars why I shouldn’t take that path again.
As far as buying and negotiating, you can find forums where people discuss prices paid and buying experiences. Edmonds has some of those. Use them to get a sense of what’s going on, and find a dealer online who has the car you want with the options you want. Deal over the phone or via email. I bought my last two cars using email and it was much more efficient and painless than meeting with a salesperson.
There are some buying services that claim to get you a great price, but I tried “Truecar” or whatever it was called last time and the dealers seemed to not want to honor their membership commitments in the group. It is useful for getting a feeling about what you might be able to negotiate. So-called “factory invoice” numbers are available online to give a (false) idea of what the dealers cost is, but its useful to find those numbers and the comments about them. Many car deals today are evaluated by the purchaser as to how much he paid above “invoice”, or in some cases, below invoice.
While I haven’t had experience with the A3 model specifically, I currently have an A6 and A4 and had another A6 before that. All have been fabulous cars that have only needed regular service. The Quattro all wheel drive system is quite good in the snow and I’ve always found the service at the Audi dealer to be outstanding. Good luck.
Last fall I test drove an all wheel drive Buick Encore and thought it was a very well designed and fun to drive car. Just make sure that the car you end up with has ALL Wheel Drive.