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I could not sell my 99 contour to save my life. I advertised it for 5 weeks got 2 calls and 1 offer. The offer was $3500.
However, the Toyota dealership here was looking for a sale and they didn't know that I wasn't having success at selling my Contour. Anyway, they called me and asked if I would come in. The salesman said they would take another look at my car. One month ago they offered me $2500, I said no deal. When I went to the dealership I had a rock bottom price in mind ($4000) and I was not budging. At first they said $3000, then $3200. then $3500, then $3700. After that they sales manager came over to talk to me and explain how worthless my Contour was. I looked in straight in the eyes and said "If you offered me $3999.99 I would say no deal" He stared at me for about 5 seconds and extended his hand and said "Ok, we have a deal" You could call it haggling, but I knew what they were trying to do, they wanted an extra $300 out of me and I wasn't giving in. It was fun, especially when you're an informed buyer. I was never this informed before. I probably got ripped off when I bought that Contour back in 2000.
After having my Rav4 for a few days, the one thing I notice is the quieter ride. It is much quieter then my Contour. The auto Transmission is very smooth.
BTW The price of the Rav4 was already agreed upon before they had my trade-in. So they didn't try to add more to the price of my Rav to make up for what the were giving me for my trade.
I also noticed the quiet ride immediately, very good for a smaller SUV.
first off, i would like to thank everyone who posts here for all the invaluable help given me (indirectly). i read up so much information from the internet (and mostly this site) before my purchase i thought my eyes would bleed from staring at the screen.
a few weeks back i was rear-ended while stopped at a light and my van (a 2000 Chev Venture) was declared a write-off. i was a little bitter that i would have to go out and find a new vehicle while injured (though not bed-striken thank God). however i decided that i could use this as an opportunity to find a safe, fun, vehicle that meets my needs. here it gets interesting though. my height is 6'8, so my options are severely limited when it comes to vehicle (and home) purchases. after sitting and pricing many vehicles i narrowed it down to a Saturn Vue or a Toyota Matrix (as i a side note: the edmunds article on vehicles for tall people should be taken with a grain of salt. most of the vehicles they recommend seem to be people AT LEAST under 6'8. i realize there are not many of us, but just in case). after reading this site and others about the horrible problems plaguing owners of Vue's i decided against it, despite the plentiful headroom. so i went and test drove a matrix, and thought it was the "Bee's Knee's" aka, i loved it. however i will soon have a family and wanted something that is a little more flexible, so i asked the sales person if there were any used RAV4's available. lo and behold he said that they had just gotten one in the day before and it was just being cleaned up. i sat in it in the service bay and again, lo and behold it had tons of headroom! what shocked me even more was the price, especially for a toyota dealership. to confirm i went home and checked out used RAV4's with the same year, km's, and features and found that it was under what many were going for privately (but not too much to make me suspicious). i also came to this site and read tons of info from this town hall discussion. i then grabbed the wife, we test drove it, and loved it. we went inside the dealership, haggled on price, and got approved for financing.
now this all may seem fast, but unfortunately i had limited time anyways since the rental was back a couple of days before and needed a vehicle for physiotherapy and the doctor (let alone when i go back to work). in essence you all saved me a lot of time and hassle. i am fully informed on many of the "nuances" like the the cowl creak. speaking of which ive found a nice site for fixing it.
http://members.tripod.com/ri_rav4/rattle.htm
ill be doing this in the near future, since it is slightly annoying, but not a big deal.
again, thanks for all the help. we love our 'new' RAV4. hopefully i will be able to contribute to the forum in the near future.
Now I'm looking for a better stereo, but not something that will blow your ears off. I just want better sound and a little bass. The factory audio system isn't up to my standards.
Anyone have a recommendation? I'm looking for a sub-woofer and a head unit.
another selling point for tall people about the RAV4 is the rear door. i know many people may not like it, but its great if your 6'0 and over. no more hitting your head on that liftgate!
cheers
Best of luck to ya.
Dave
What have others paid?
Other vehicles we considered:
Escape--we have an Explorer, wife refused to be a Ford family
CRV--uncomfortable seats, slow pick-up, firm pricing
Used RX 300--refused to go used
Equinox--interior CHEAP looking, V6 refinement issues
Everything we looked at we compared to the RAV.
Why we bought Toyota?....
--We love the look, interior and out.
--Excellent pick-up, good MPG.
--SAFETY.
--My wife looks HOT (I mean MORE HOT) in her new car.
Anyone know what "RAV" stands for?
(see my post in RAV4 prices paid discussion for other details)
See my post in the RAV4 Prices Paid/Edmunds Town Hall section for details.
I will be taking my dogs with me some times. They are well behaved but do move around sometimes.
Thanks, I would appreciate any information.
Like dowen, we have two dogs and I just don't believe that the leather will hold up as well and I would expect that leather will require more upkeep to preserve the appearance. Bottom line is that it's $600 more for leather and it isn't likely to be anymore comfortable than cloth, but for many it is worth the extra expense and labor. Unlike most luxury vehicles most buyers won't expect the Rav4 to be equipped with leather should you decide to resell it at some point.
Heated seats might be worthwhile, particularly up north, but we live in the south so refrigerated seats would be preferable for a larger part of the year.
Have had leather seats and cannot understand why anyone would want them. In my opinion leather seats are a worthless down-grade. Why pay extra to get seats that are hot/sweaty in the summer, cold in the winter, slippery and will crack in a few years if not cared for properly. Also the dogs will have a hard time staying in place and slide around on the seats.
She loves the vehicle. We have no regrets.
The guy who runs the site is burnt out after about 7 years, so it is on hiatus, maybe never to return.
But you should still be able to use the search feature there for previous posts, for a little while longer.
Some guy posted a pretty thorough do-it-yourself fix for the infamous dash rattle. I didn't have the rattle (except one time!), so I never needed a fix, and can't personally vouch for its effectiveness. However, feedback was that the DIY fix really worked.
Good luck. Hope it saves your sanity.
If true, are they available in Northern California with side impact airbags?
He also went on to say factory leather was not an option in this area as well. Is this also true?
My one reservation with the Rav (as well as any other smaller car) is the safety aspect. I have a toddler so I'm concerned about the thought of a side impact.
Thanks
1. Northtown Toyota
2. Culligan Toyota
3. West-Herr Toyota
4. Zigrossi Toyota
5. Gambino Toyota
I purchased my 2004 Toyota RAV4 L loaded for $225.00 over dealership cost.
My dealer did a check to see what was available in the 5 state region and found exactly 0 (zero) Ravs listed on any lot that were equipped with the side airbag, except for one which was special ordered for a customer last fall.
This begs the question: why doesn't Toyota feel this is a necessary option--or more accurately why the distributors that order the vehicles equipped with "desirable" options don't seem to package the side airbags with other options more regularly.
It would seem logical that Toyota would want to be competitive with the Honda CRV on this safety issue although only the CRV EX comes equipped with side airbags. It would be interesting to know how many contributors to this site have any info about availability of side airbags in their own regions.
I was also told, even if the option was available, these side airbags are more like small pillows, as opposed to a side curtain, so I'm not confident they would be effective in a more serious accident.
Despite this, I may still get it.
Best deal so far without really haggling has been $1100 under invoice regardless of options and trim (which includes the $1000 customer rebate promotion going on through 5/3/04). Seems like a good starting point. These dealers must have more room to come down (even at $100 under invoice without factoring in the $1000 rebate).
Anyone else have a recent purchase experience to share.
The creaking sound in the winter (if you live in a climate that gets below 32 degrees F) is the first one you will notice. This is the easiest to correct since it involves the glass. The other two TSB's are for the center of the dash and to the right of the dash.
Let me tell everyone, that at least 98% of the 2001 thru 2004 will encounter one of the three rattles if not all of them. Toyota service techs, service writers and managers know of this problem. It just takes time to get all the rattles fixed.
good site. went to pep boys on the weekend to buy the parts needed and it wasnt more then $10. ill post again later when i try it for myself.
(It also shows Echo due for a plug change every 30k, and 60k for the Camry and Sienna).
Dunno if they changed the recommended intervals since '01.
It sounded like it's possible to get a vehicle at or just above invoice (including destination charge). After finding that all dealerships have the same RAV4s with nearly the same options, I did some calling around and talked to the fleet managers getting price quotes (actually, I found an article in my AAA periodical that listed fleet manager working with AAA providing a "no hassle zone", and it happens to list special numbers to call which the fleet managers answer).
Anyway, in the San Fransisco bay area, seems all the fleet manager quoted me between $300-$600 over invoice, and claimed that there was a $300 charge for advertising that had to be added on. I finally talked to a dealership that I had to drive over an hour to get to, and he quoted me $100 UNDER invoice (no advertising fee), and eventually said he'd give it to me for $200 under invoice since I was driving so far.
I've had it a week now, and am real happy I spent the hour+ drive each way to save $500!
Thanks in advance
I mostly notice the noise because it muffles my music and I have to turn it up.
Good luck.