As far as dealing....don't tell them you're trading in. Negotiate the price on the new car first; that way you know what the real price is rather than having them wave their hands around and play games with the trade-in. You can always come back later and ask what they'll give you on a trade-in.

Meanwhile you can shop the car around and sell it outright to another dealer or to CarMax. We've always gotten a much better offer from CarMax than dealers were willing to give us on trade-in.

We have also shopped cars around to sell outright to other dealers. When my mom was buying a new Camry to replace her Honda Accord, the Toyota dealer offered $2200 on the trade-in. We took it to CarMax and they offered us $3200. On a whim we went to a Honda dealer down the street from CarMax. They bought the Accord for $5600.

It pays to shop.

Why do you need to trade In?

Isn't there plenty of time to private sell?

I had to trade in this last time...state would age me back up the car value if something went wrong within their allotted time and I new the bottom was rusting...low mileage but no garage and two heavy snow years.

WTG, wow!!! We will definitely shop around then, yikes!

quote:

Why do you need to trade In?

Isn't there plenty of time to private sell?

LL, good point... We don't "have" to trade in. Except, if we don't trade it in, that means I have to drive it home from the dealer when we get the new car. And I don't like to drive!

But jeez louise, for a difference of $2000 (or potentially more), I guess I can drive the d*mn thing home myself!

(One of the reasons we want to get a new car is I hate driving the Fit on even a medium sized highway, it's so small and these *ssh*le pickup drivers..... anyway, enough of that)

If you're thinking Rav4 and CRV, you probably should consider the Subaru Forester. Subaru is leading the way in saftey technology. Toyota has bought into Subaru and hopes to adopt some of their technology in their vehicles. I tried out the Rav4, CRV and Forester last year when I bought my Forester. The one thing you'll feel regardless of which you choose is that you are in a much LARGER car than your Fit.

Our Toyotas and Hondas have all been good cars, especially the 4Runner I am driving now, which just rolled over 265K miles. I would certainly buy another.

That said, if you’re looking to save a few bucks have a look at a Mazda - maybe a CX-5. I think you’ll like the ride and it’s a hatchback. Our 2014 has been largely trouble free.

Another car to look at might be a Kia. My Son in law’s family drive nothing but and when I drove theirs I was impressed with how quiet it is and how nice it rides. There appears to be a considerable cost saving vs. Toyota and Honda.

Steve - I'm looking at the CX-5. THere's a 250HP turbo option.

And they're putting the same engine in the CX-30 next year. Will be another fun one to look at.

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
Steve - I'm looking at the CX-5. THere's a 250HP turbo option.

And they're putting the same engine in the CX-30 next year. Will be another fun one to look at.

I’m sure I’d like the performance but overall I’m not a big turbo guy. My experience is with turbo diesels and the turbos all seem to require a lot of maintenance. Weird stuff like condensation and internal rust kills them and fixing one costs more than I paid for my whole car.

They may have improved, I don’t know.

I think they have. Also I might own the car for 7 years and put 50k miles on it in that time.

Klurrs, Steve thanks for those recs. I’ll add Mazda and Subaru. Well and Kia but I know Mr. SK will not even want to even consider it!!

I test drove a small Mazda in japan before getting my Subaru, have zero recall of it now though!

Six year old 2015 green mini two door hardtop.

I still love it and have never had a mechanical problem.

Life is short and getting shorter every day. I want to have fun, and I don’t care as much about safety as I used to.

Consider what kind of support there is in your town or nearby. If you have to drive a long ways to get your car serviced, you may have to strike that brand off your list.

When we moved from Seattle to Corvallis, the nearest Volvo dealer was in Salem. One or twice a year, my dad would drive the car to Salem then take the Greyhound back to Corvallis and my mom would pick him up. Then a couple days later, reverse the trip. Ahh... the old days.

Funny that no one here has mentioned Nissan. For years, they were "just a step below Toyota with a very similar lineup". Now, they seem to be a "don't bother" unless you really want a Leaf or a 350Z.

There is a veritable dearth of entry-level used cars at the moment. It seems that a lot of people who used to take public transit have bought cars -- and the cheapest cars they could get their hands on that would reliably get them from Point A to Point B.

If you are concerned about yokels in pickups, getting something taller like a Rav-4 or even a Forester (which became pretty tall a few years back) in a bright color would be a good choice.

They are no longer made, but I agree with the assessment of the Honda Element. Now I know what Consumer Reports means when they describe a car as having a "punishing ride" (same for my ex's Jeep Cherokee). The Element and CR-V are built on the Civic platform.

So... ummm... is there any chance that you will be transporting children in the future? That brings forward several things to consider... access to the back seat, carry capacity, and like that.

One place that used to be ripe for finding affordable used cars was the repo lot of banks and credit unions. It's unfortunate that some folks have had to turn their cars back over if they can't keep up with payments. But if you are still liquid, you might be able to take advantage of this. My credit union went to an all-online "lot" several years ago. YMMV.

I’m on the phone, so please forgive me for not excerpting.

I think the Element was the most cynical vehicle ever offered to the American public. It was pitched to the kids, mostly, as kind of an alternative to the ‘70s surf van. Noisy, crude, under powered, under geared, cheap. Reliable enough but not a competitive vehicle. Average age of buyers was something over 60.

Nissan fell off the radar when they moved out of Torrance and settled in Tennessee. They haven’t made a competitive vehicle since. They now trade on price with limited success. Even rental fleets don’t want them, and the truck line is a disgrace.

Toyota is following Nissan’s lead, vacating what was the Nissan campus in favor of somewhere in Texas. I look for them to go by way of Nissan in the near future as the best and brightest have no interest in living in Texas. Indeed, the exodus from Torrance has not affected local real estate values - no one is selling their house because they know if they do they can never come back.

SK, I doubt you need to worry about any of this because you’re not considering Nissans (no one really does), and the cars you’re looking at we’re designed some years ago. 5 years now the market will be different, IMHO.

Ford/Lincoln never made a competitive car after the wildly successfully Taurus and the Panther group was moved from Irvine back to Dearborn. In fact, Ford has announced they will no longer manufacture cars except the Mustang.

Kia and Mazda are still here. They’re worth watching.

I think you should treat yourself...

You would look marvelous in a new 2021 C-Cabriolet

quote:

Originally posted by markj:
I think you should treat yourself...

You would look marvelous in a new 2021 C-Cabriolet

Perhaps a bit $pendy, but what a beautiful car!

We buy our cars new, Jon-nyc style. Decide what we want, email dealers for price, and go with the low one.

We have a Toyota Camry hybrid; I really like the ride. The trunks are a lot bigger than they used to be; they’ve figured out how to not have the hybrid battery take up all the room!

We also have a Subaru Impreza. It’s not what you want. It’s my little bopping around town car, but it has all wheel drive, so it’s our inclement weather car. You want something bigger, and nicer ride-wise. Maybe you want a Forester? My mom-in-law has one, but she is no longer able to drive, so it’s sitting in St. Louis until we can deal with it post-Covid.

Have fun trying out cars!