Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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That black interior would be something of a concern in Florida but you won't be driving it in the summer so it would be less of one for me.
I wouldn't worry about the fitting four adults. You've got the 5er for that. How often are you going to need to seat four adults and not have the 5er? How many of those times would someone else's car do for that day? My guess is if you really needed that it would be very short term and you might as well rent a car for the day or two. Maybe I'm crazy but that's what it looks like to me.
All went well today. I'm good to go unti Monday when I'm back in New York.
While I am on medical issues I'll be nice and post what I did somewhere else and it will receive the same reaction (crickets chirping). What do you get for the guy who is going to be laid up for 100 days or more and getting bored silly? My thought is iTunes and B&N cards.
It is very strange getting this close to things. I imagine it only gets stranger....
My .02, FWIW ... I think the GLI would be a better choice than the Passat S. Yes, the GLI is more money, but you get more creature comforts in return. You could, in theory, step up to the Passat SE to get more goodies.
However, if your wife likes "the feel of the road" with the BMW, then I suspect the GLI might be a better fit than the Passat, especially since the new design of the Passat is tuned more for American tastes (read: floaty).
Drive both and then make a decision.
Black cloth shouldn’t be as bad as black leather although the ’11 Genny my SIL got (lives in Delray Beach) in May has black leather with a metallic gray exterior and it wasn’t bad at all even when the temp went well into the 90s while we were there in June. With an A/C that works the way it should you’ll never know the difference after a few minutes.
All of this is coming from a guy that just bought his wife a silver on black leather Subie. I better be right about what I just said. :surprise:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
NOTE TO EDMUNDS!! We need an attachment server here, storage is cheap... C'mon!!
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
What are B&N cards? Other than that a few books or even better an e-reader, a DVD player, a subscription for Edmunds to name a few.
I understand why you would choose the Accord if reliability was a concern, and it is to me too. The Passat might be pretty good though, built in a state of the art factory in Tennessee...mostly by robots.
I called the salesman to go up for a test drive but they didn't have any standards in stock. He will get one from their other dealer next week if I give him a days warning.
Both, the Accord and Passat have lots of room for 4 people, although people in Florida tend to be larger...ha ha......that includes me, impossible to lose weight when 6 can eat a turkey dinner for $40! Tonight it is fish dinner (baked, fried, or beer battered), baked potatoe or fries and coleslaw for $6.50!
My instinct tells me we, and my wife in particular, will like the Passat more. I just couldn't buy it without testing it against something else.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Thanks for joining in Michael....every comment helps to get me closer to an answer, and the opinions and comments are welcome....I have come a long ways in the last few days since thinking of getting a used car or bringing the 335 down here.
My wife liked the idea of the GTI when we went to look at the Passat. The salesman pointed out, they are made in Germany and are true VWs, heavier steel, solid clunk when you close the door, nicer materials on the inside. They just couldn't get the price to where it could compete with the competion.
My wife had no problem with it. My problem is psychological. I would probably love driving it. I grew up loving 1958 T-Birds, Corvettes, Impalas etc., so I find it hard to drive, let alone own a car that doesn't have a hood (it does have a hood) or a trunk. I just can't get over that chopped off at the back look. I agree, it is probably a blast to drive, but that just turns me off. I mean, if I am going to spend $25k for a car, I really want it to have a trunk. It makes no sense, but it is like being afraid of heights or something.
That being said, if they have one there I wouldn't be against giving it a try. 2 things though are a concern, not sure how it would be for 4 people, and the price is getting up into a one or two year old bmw or Audi territory.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
lol and good luck! I agree, it isn't a deal breaker at all, and probably isn't a big factor. We could come down for a check up though in June or July and it is supposed to be unbearable here, so there is a slight preference for a light exterior and interior...but not a major factor.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
B&N = Barnes and Noble. I have a Nook. Way better than an actual book for that period of time when my immune system essentially doesn't exist.
That's incredible information tjc! So, if I am reading it right, I should get an Accord for almost $2000 under MSRP plus dealer prep and advertising fee if any. And about $100 over invoice.
That's a lot more than I thought. I have to go back and check on the Passat, but it seems there is a bigger discount on the Accord if my memory is correct, and almost none on the Passat.
Thanks tjc
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Like I say, it's a psychological thing AND, I can't imagine making friends or relatives sit in the back of a car without a trunk....especially with the drivers down here. I like a trunk, even if it is just my imagination making me think there is a layer of protection.
I drove a Rabbit in 1984 and the engine and standard transmission were a lot of fun. The body seemed pretty weak, with doors that were about a quarter of an inch thick.
On the other hand, I might take that GTI out and think it is such a blast I'll ask them if I can trade in the 535 on one for myself. :shades:
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Go for the double beer battered.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Thanks, I am already taking Crestor to lower my cholestrol level.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I was on that for a number of years but my doctor took me off when it seemed by cholesterol fell well into the OK range even after reducing teh dosage. I have to get that checked before heading into the hospital as well....
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Hmmm, must be a generational thing. I've gone back and forth between 4 doors and 2 doors several times over the years.
I'm currently driving a sedan (Saturn ION) and the next car for me will be either a hatchback or a coupe. I've already got a family truckster (Mazda CX-7 crossover - oh, silver with black leather that the wife doesn't like so much in the summer) so space isn't as much of an issue for whatever I end up getting.
I've test driven both and certainly understand the 'feel of the road' thing that y'all are talking about.
For $25K I can get a new GTI or a 4 year old BMW 3-series coupe.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Our Alabama attorney who deals with our farm property charges $325 an hour. Our local attorney charges $175 per hour. I can understand your caving in when you don't know the number of hours your case would have taken. It's easy for people to say,"I'll sue them." Reality hits when the invoice arrives!
Richard
I've reached my goal---lost 30 pounds! I met three old high school buddies at the beach today for lunch. They said that I looked great. I'm so happy.
Richard
That is great, I give you a lot of credit. I don'tknow how you did it...I have my base ideal weight, and I reach it but am 3 or 4 pounds over shortly after.
I try to be careful, but all the eating out makes it difficult. Restaurants use lots of salt as a cheap way to enhance the taste...then you retain water to balance the salt. But to put together a 30 pound weight loss is terrific.
Now, put your two cents in about the Passat-Accord debacle.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
My last car was a convertible so it was a two door. But, we had the 4 door to carry passengers when necessary. I have got the 2 door thing out of my system, loved the ones I owned. Now, easy access and carrying passengers when necessary is more important.
Hatch backs....my wife had a nice 2002 Saab hatchback that was the best car for her at the time...carrying paintings around. Her Saab, a manual was a terrific car. It was a Saab when Saabs were really Saabs. But, now, for the few times I could use the hatch, I'd prefer a trunk. No noise from sloshing window washer fluid or groceries rolling around.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
1. For now, you may visit Florida four months total out of a year. The car will sit in your garage for eight months.
2. Leasing a car and asking for a low mileage limit would be fairly cheap.
3. You could turn in the leased vehicle every 24 or 36 months and try different brands and models over a period of say ten years.
4. The newly leased vehicles will stay under warranty all of the time.
5. Make the leased vehicle your company car for doing business in the United States and give yourself the tax deduction.
6. Some good lease deals would yield a smaller cash payment than actually buying the car, if you factor in the total cost of operation.
Richard
The car will sit in your garage for eight months. The car will sit in front of fezo's house for 8 months.There. I fixed it for you.
Some excellent thoughts! In our case, I don't think we could swing a tax break very easily since we would really be stretching it to try to do business in the U.S.
The other big problem is I don't think they would give us Canadians a lease. I don't think they would have enough trust just in case we left the car and didn't come back...or we would take it across the border and not return. Nothing for them to really work with in case we took off.
It could be worth looking into though, especially with a buy back. My BIL leaves his car here for about 7 months and he has had no problems with the 2008 Impala. I think my neighbor would be happy to take it for a spin once or twice a month.
I might ask what the lease rate would be and if they would let Canadians do a lease. Thanks for the thoughts.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Forgot about that...that should solve the problem.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Normally I would say that the dealers wouldn't care that you are Canadians as long as your money is green and then I remembered that your money is all sorts of funny colors.......
Gee, I have a place in Clearwater nicely accessible to your place..... (Actually my brothers and I have this inherited coop that my dad had as his cheap place to crash in Florida...)
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
Clearwater isn't that far away. You could come down and take the car for a spin once a week.
There are a few other problems with leasing. Lets say for example, one of us has a health problem and we can't come down to Florida. If you own you have more control, you can sell whenever you want to. If you lease it is hard to get out of a lease, especially if we have to go through a big process to get someone to take it over, if they allow it.
Probably cost a lot more to lease a standard gear shift car too, a bit of an oddball.
Over 3 years the lease cost would probably be about $2400 a year or $7200. I usually find owning will cost less overall, especially if you keep it for say 5 years. Our last cable box cost us $500, and last 5 years, monthly cost was $30 a month. Few would buy, but we actually come out way ahead by owning.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
You must be really enjoying your 335. I think that is still a big possibility, especially if the Passat and Accord don't measure up. Since my wife likes her 335 a lot, I would prefer not to trade it in, and I would consider the 3 year extended warranty on it.
But, that only works if she thinks she won't be happy with the Passat or Accord. That's a big unknown until we take them out. We may not like them at all.
I guess I also think that sionce cars are more expensive in Canada, it's better to eventually trade in the 335 for a new BMW (hopefully she'll like the 4 cyl 328) and take advantage of getting a car here for $4000 less than it would have cost in Canada.
You haven't given us an update lately, how is your car?
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
If it's the Fusion would you still be interested in taking it for a spin once in awhile?
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Buyer for the Accord finally got the insurance money she was waiting on and came to pick the car up tonight. So, 1 less unit clogging up works. And I recliamed the garage bay for my new car.
sad to see it go after 6 years, but time to move on.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Where did she go? I'll offer her $500 more than she paid to get a good Accord.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Blue Bird No. 1
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Richard
I am glad you watched the first school bus. It was quite a story.
This is a short clip about 2 cars being reviewed at the Toronto Auto Show. He praises the styling of the 2013 Fusion, and the value in the $16000 Dodge Dart. Some good pictures of these two cars.
2013 Fusion and Dodge Dart
One thing that I thought about while watching. They said the Dodge Dart would cost about $16k. I remember my 1992 Chev Cavalier 6 cyl cost me $15k! Seems cars are a pretty good value unless you get into the luxury market.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
One was an ad for a Nissan Altima. In big letters it says lease for $99 a month. There was a tiny 2 next to the $99. I tried to read the fine print but it was really small. Somewhere I found $5000 down and somewhere I could make out 72 months, but not sure how it all worked.
My second rant is about getting $500 off for loyalty programs. I would be pretty upset if I was trading in a different brand, switching to this new brand, and I didn't get an equal discount. Lots of manufacturers offered this loyalty discount. I suppose the car maker doesn't want to lose a customer, but it isn't a good way to find new ones...unless they give it to you any way somehow.
Finally, I did see a Ford dealer who gave the MSRP and their discount. Very nice.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Do car dealers in Canada not have the deceptive ads that you see in the US?
Actually the description of driving a Model T cleared up something my mom told me ages ago. She wants to learn how to drive so my grandfather gets her in the Model T and basically says "go ahead." Never occurred to him that you had to explain planetary gears. Once mom had a car with a regular old stick shift she thought this was as good as it got and never did warm up to automatics which she thought of a frivolous.
I love both the Fusion and the Dart. When it comes time to replace the Camry those will get attention.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I think I would have been upset too, if I lost out on a $500 discount. I would have thought the dealers would work out a way to give an equivalent discount for new buyers. They would call it something else, so current buyers wouldn't know, but why put off a potential buyer.
I think the ads in Canada are more regulated, I don't think you could do some of the things I have seen here. I have seen some of this bi-monthly payments on buying or leasing but it is not done too easily. I actually think we get turned off more easily by hucksters.
More about this in a few posts down.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
as long as I get the discount, I don't care what it is for!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Huckster: One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product.
There are two Auto Auction sales going on within 5 miles of where we are in Florida. I thought it might be worthwhile to see a few different models to get some ideas of what we might buy.
It is kind of a carnival atmosphere, this auction is held in a shopping plaza lot with a big balloon.
There are Johnny on the Spots, a big tent with free drinks and about 100 cars and trucks. The first thing I noticed was the cars had phony high prices on the sticker in the window, and these prices were crossed out, so you had to ask about their great reduced prices. I saw an older Passat and I openned the door to see what it was like, but (no offense to any smokers) the car just smelled like an ashtray. I told my wife not to bother. I wasn't going to buy from these guys but I asked if they were associated with a Hyundai dealership because they had lots of Hyundais. He said no, they were out of a town in Florida and they just sold cars that were repossessed before they go to auctions.
To try to get out of there I said my wife wanted a manual car, and she was used to European cars. He didn't have many manuals, but he had a Dodge Calibre stick. It sounded like the door was going to fall off when he banged the door shut.
They had a 2011 Kia Optima that he said he could give us a good deal on (lol). I sat in it, and it is ok, but just not as sophisticated as the new Passat...more glamor over substance, but even it smelled from cigarettes and wasn't that new looking for a 2011.
There was a 2006 bmw 325 that had $22995 crossed out on the windshield. That's not much less than what they would give us for my wifes 2008 335 bmw that's like new with 36000 miles on it.
The last attempt was they noticed they had a mini with a stick. I said no, we wanted a 4 door car.
The salesman were nice guys and tried. The whole thing is a scam though, and I don't know how you would ever find these guys if you had a problem. In fact, the sticker on the window said "Sold without a Warranty". How many of these cars came from New Orleans and were flooded? Were these cars the dealers didn't want? Did they buy them at the auction then resell them for $400 or $500 more? Who knows....and who buys cars from these guys?
And, I doubt if this would even be a viable business in Canada. It reminded me of the hucksters at the circus or state fair. It was an experience though...you had to be there to appreciate it.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I'd actually like to see if that is what happened. I sure don't want to spend $500 more just because I am switching brands. Why not call it a "Loyalty and New to the Brand Discount - $500!"?
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
We all get some kind of an attachment to our cars when we've had them for a while. Lease people just don't understand us. When I got rid of the '80 Park Ave. in 1997 I almost didn't know how to act. Heck, I was sad when we got rid of the '05 XG350 a couple months ago. In fact, I was down right upset about it. :mad:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I have had a few cars that didn't last long (like the Scion tC I traded for the Accord after about 16 months of ownership) that I was happy to see go.
I do still miss my 1991 Mazda 626. never should have sold that car. Danged rat belts just drove me nuts.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Repossessed cars? Swell. I'm sure they were painstakingly maintained....
That Dart is going to be a real temptation. My wife loves the fact that they resurrected the name. Way back in the days of actual Darts her dad was the sales manager at a Dodge dealership.
We have the Celica getting a new timing belt. Was supposed to be done today but the water new pump they were putting in had a leak so Monday.... Fortunately we have an extra car for that time frame.
Having trouble signing in. I think kirstie_h put me on the no fly list or something. I swear I paid my dues, gave them to jmonroe. Didn't he send them in?
Anyhoo, nice article on the school bus. We have Bluebirds in our fleet but most drivers prefer the old Internationals or Freightliners. Bluebirds are the cheapo buses.
I haven't had the time to post much recently. The district is so short of drivers that I've been driving up to 13 hours a day. Seems the new generation has a problem with being on call morning noon and night with no garuntee of being called to work and waiting up to 5 years to get health insurance and benefits. They all quit. Go figure. I'm glad I had the farm for my main source of income until I built up enough senority to get some hours.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible