Buying a new car - lessons learned

[Resonator]

On pretty much every car made the gas gauge will have a symbol (picture of a gas pump) with a triangle (arrow) next to it, pointing left or right indicating which side has the gas cap. Some car makers claim on left hand drive cars the right side filler is safer. Thinking if you run out on the side of the road, you can pour gas in from a can without standing in traffic.

[Magicman]

A right side gas filler certainly fouls the traffic flow up at the gas pumps.  The great majority of the vehicles are going one way and then there is the poor soul trying to squeeze or back in to get to the nozzle. 

[JJ]

One of the things I very rarely do, is bring in a trade.  Normally the car is driven into the ground with only scrap value (knowing what a head gasket blow-out smells like), or sold in private sale.

My last car shopping trip was 2 months ago, shopping with my daughter who was needing a commuter car, and was looking for a 2019'ish honda civic, similar to the 2019 sport I bought 18 months ago for $16K.

My 2019 civic sport:


 

Today a used 2019 car similar to this is $26K (dealer price), while brand new starts at $27K -but none available.   I tell my daughter never buy used for new car price.  Just driving the above civic onto dealer lot (where there are more salesmen than cars!), I was getting cash offers for $20+K : for my car as is.

So I sold my civic to my daughter for remaining balance on loan, about $9K, she is thrilled, and continued to add on to the after market tricked out interior.

So Im looking for brand new car, preference is 4 cylinder under $30K brand new...   Still no 2022 civic si in my future >:( all bait-n-switch advertisements, and lots of 3-5 yo BMW's being pushed on me by salesmen :-\..   Don't like being chained to dealer service, which is what owning a late model BMW is about.

In poring rain storm I find the unicorn smiley_gorgeous, Toyota GR86 on the showroom floor where the salesmen are peeling off the shipping plastic protection:



 


 

Keys literally fell from visor into my lap, when I sat in the car, $28K factory sticker price, 228hp boxer engine and rear wheel drive..
smiley_bouncing
"I wan to test drive this one",  sales floor manager looked about to cry, but pushed it out anyway.

Nice thing about no trade, everything is nice and up-front.   They kept adding on stuff, Seat protection, paint protection, extra warranties -NOPE, I tell them -if not listed on the sticker, I don't want it smiley_contract..

Finally salesman making no progress with me, introduces me to pit floor manager, who tells me bottom line -they will not sale me the car without 10% 'inventory' markup -normally would have just adjusted the trade-in buy price to to account(Hide) this fact, but if I want to walk out with the car, will need to pay the dealer $3K "door package", otherwise leave!. but I can pick from many things to add to this door package..  So:

• Doughnut spare & jack instead of fix-a-flat
• Toyota road repair kit
• Nitrogen tire fill
• Toyota first aid kit
• 1'st year free oil changes

Doesn't come even close to 3K, but is something... and I take the car on 3 year lease with 45K miles and $18K buyout option.
By the time lease ends, Biden will not be president anymore, and hope car shortage is memory of past.


 

It is super fun to drive, and not a Honda lol !   Never had this trouble with being charged over sticker price, but to get a brand new car, it had to be done.   Loving how simple the engine is, thinking I will keep it after the lease, but will see.

By the way, the back seat is just a suggestion, why do they even put seat belts there?
say_what


JJ

[GRANITEstateMP]

back seat and belts are in it so it's considered a 4 seater. Insurance on a 2 seater is NOT something you'd like!

[Southside]

I am glad you think that engine looks simple.  To me an '80s 350 Chevy pickup engine was simple since you could set a lawn chair between it and the fenders to work on things.  

[GRANITEstateMP]

One of the Master Tech's at the dealer had the Scion version of that car. When he wanted to do any kind ofin depth mods to the engine, or even just paint parts to match, he'd put the car up on the lift and drop the engine and trans out the bottom! It wasn't unusual to show up to work at 8, and find that he'd come in a bit early and the power plant is sitting on the ground!

[JJ]

Friends are telling me that I am in my mid life crises.  But I am very pragmatic person, and only buy a Neptune Blue 86 because it was absolutely necessary in a post covid world, having a shortage of cars  :.

By the way, I can change the oil filter from my lawn chair on 3 sides of the hood with this car.  
Couldn't do that with my 1980 K5.

       JJ

[barbender]

I was going to say, we gave a different definition of simple😁 That looks about as simple and accessible as my 01 Duramax that is parked out in the weeds because it needs head gaskets. 

[Ianab]

Just out of interest it's actually a Subaru engine. The 86 is a JV with Subaru, and built in one of their factories. Subaru sell a model with only cosmetic differences. 

Not that this is a bad thing, Subaru make good cars as well.

[21incher]

Subaru and Toyota are working  together  on the new electric Subaru  bring released next year. The platform will also be used by Toyota.  Sounds  like a great  collaboration for all wheel drive electric. 

[Southside]

Drop an '06 / '07 LBZ into her instead BB, less work and a much improved version.    

[barbender]

That's what I hear, I just don't know if the ol girl is worth the time and effort. If it's not worth it to pay someone else, then it's probably not worth it to do it myself, either. I just don't want to end up with a $12,000, $4000 truck😁

[Tom King]

I thought my '01 LB7 was needing a head gasket, but the leak turned out to be the coolant line to the turbo under the plastic cover on top of the engine.  It was dripping off the rear of the left head.  I just happened to see rust up on top, and pulled the cover.

367,000 and still kicking.

Some puppy visitors this weekend showed up in an interesting ride.  It's much bigger than they look in pictures, and what I thought was a compact car is an SUV.  I had never glanced at a KIA before, but it was a pretty impressive car.  312 mile range.

That's our 2004 WRX Farm Use car in the background.

[aigheadish]

That's pretty sharp @JJ! I'd have trouble keeping fresh tires on the back of it though, I'd want to slide everywhere!

My 2017 Civic Si Couple had no spare tire either, I hate it. There's not even space for it. I considered buying a spare and just stuffing it in the trunk, but then I thought about if I were to ever get rear-ended I'd hate to think of what that loose tire would do to a kid sitting in the back seat. 

[barbender]

I got lucky the first time I thought my LB7 had a head gasket leaking. It ended up just being the fittings off the back of the engine that go to the heater core. It would drip on the exhaust and evaporate immediately, so I though the engine was burning it when my coolant was always low. The second time, not so much. Blew the plastic top apart on my radiator from a little too much pressure. Replaced the radiator, and cap hoping that the tank pressure cap had failed. It still continually leaves the upper radiator hose rock hard, uses quite a bit of coolant. And then an injector hung open, too. I look under the hood once in a while and think, "nope, not today". I'd really like to have the old girl running again, but my project list will have to be way shorter before I start on that thing.

[JJ]

Umm..
This is a New Car 🚙 thread🤦‍♂️

[Wlmedley]

Had just about forgotten about this thread.I told you all I would let you know what happens on ordering new car .Subaru forester was supposed to be here in August.Dealer called August 1st and said it had came in.Went down and got it.Price was what website said it would be.Have had it a month.So far so good.28 mpg local driving and has plenty of power for me.

[21incher]

Had just about forgotten about this thread.I told you all I would let you know what happens on ordering new car .Subaru forester was supposed to be here in August.Dealer called August 1st and said it had came in.Went down and got it.Price was what website said it would be.Have had it a month.So far so good.28 mpg local driving and has plenty of power for me.

Glad you finally got it. My wife loves hers and is a little over 30 mpg now. This past week my new Ranger was at the dealer for a recall that came the week after I got it and they gave me a brand new Escape for the week. Now I am really  glad we bought  the Subaru. Good luck with yours. 

[JJ]

I had my 5000 mile dealer service, and they tell me they are selling cars without all features on sticker (seat heaters, backup camera, single key fob) and sending recall notice once dealer receives the electronic part.

I have friend who ordered a Ford Maverick, and waited 7 months to be told the truck will not have several of the features he ordered, and his choice was to take a stripped model, or reorder for next model year.  He took his deposit back.

     JJ

[Wlmedley]

The car I got was not the high end model and wasn't the base model either.I guess you could call it middle of the line.Got more gadgets than I actually wanted but they all seem to work although some will probably get little use .Thought dealer might try to add extra charges but after I told them I wasn't buying extended warranty or anything else I paid sticker price and taxes and figured that was enough.Overall pretty satisfied with deal the way things are today.Only new cars on the lot had sold written on windshield.My old car had only liability insurance on it yet full coverage on this one was cheaper.Hard to figure  :laugh:

[kantuckid]

Had just about forgotten about this thread.I told you all I would let you know what happens on ordering new car .Subaru forester was supposed to be here in August.Dealer called August 1st and said it had came in.Went down and got it.Price was what website said it would be.Have had it a month.So far so good.28 mpg local driving and has plenty of power for me.

I think I read once that WV was the Subaru capital of the USA. They are lots better cars than once was the case as they no longer rust out 2 or 300,000 miles before the rest of the car quits for good. They don't match mpg with many other cars but have a VG AWD system and the rest of the car too. In today's world a month's unbelievably fast delivery. They are great cars (I've owned two and worked on them a lot) but my 346hp Lincoln gets nearly the same mpg and my 5.0 v-8's not far behind. 

[Greenie]

One of Reagan's best Jokes. Soviet apparatchik: OK you can have a new car. Pay for it now and you can collect it in 10 years from today. Russian asks: Morning or afternoon. Soviet: why would that matter. Russian: the plumber is coming in the morning.

[bigblockyeti]

It seems some (but not all) cars/trucks are becoming more available and some (but not all) can be had for MSRP or just a tiny tick less.  Bro got his '16 Sienna smashed by a texter on the highway and totaled it.  Insurance lowballed and he's still on the fence about what to do about that, between the Accord & Sienna totaled the guy hit, twas a bit more than his $25K property damage coverage.  New Sienna was a bunch down, 4 month wait and ~$51K OTD, new Odyssey was $48K and available in 6 days with next to nothing down.  It took several Honda dealerships around the NW Atlanta area to find one that wasn't chock full of bait-and-switch but he did and still paid what seems like too much to me for a mid-level minivan.  I'm casually shopping for an Odyssey, Kia Carnival or Sienna (least fav due to no V6) and they're still playing games.  One Odyssey was advertised for $38,696 including a $594 "Dealer Discount" and when I asked about the amount to bring a check or wire transfer for, I got "Starting At $38,623" (What) in my in box.  I can't wrap my head around why asking simple questions confuses so many people that otherwise I might have deemed intelligent.  She let me know it's enroute then asked if I could come in and drive it to which I replied "apparently not."  She said I needed to fill out a credit app, the response "Why, there will be zero financing" further confounded her (he/she/it/?).  

Last fall I was chatting (online) with a guy from one of the local Kia dealerships and he had what I would be interested in if I were planning on buying, for what I thought was an acceptable price, but they required me to finace it for this deal.  I told him that's fine but I don't want to finace it for more than 50 seconds and my hard limit is $5.00 total finance charges.  That threw him for a loop but he agreed, I then asked for a picture of the sticker, that was 6 months ago and I'm still waiting.

I don't buy when I need to, I do it when I want to avoid being taken advantage of and after seeing that someone was actually allow on the road legally with only $25K worth of property damage insurance in 2022, I'm concerned.