Looking at new cars

[Sphexi]

We have a Mazda Protege 5 from 2003, it's my wife's car, we're looking for something larger now that we have two kids. We're sick of the backseat being useless once we put in the two car seats, and having zero trunk space in it.

Plus little things that cost a lot of money keep breaking, like the power actuator on the drivers side door lock is busted, and the driver's seat belt just went (as in it won't go into the socket anymore, something is jammed inside). The dealership will cost an arm-and-a-leg to get it fixed, and there's very few reliable places to get work done here either.

Even though it's a 2003 we can get $8-9k for it as a trade-in, even in the condition it's in, it has barely 40k miles on it and is in great shape mechanically, body is pristine as well.

Two cars we looked at today:

1) Ford Escape - 2008 XLT model, FWD V8 3.0L, better package on it so the MP3 player and the door combo lock button things, all that jazz. They gave an initial offer of $20,916 plus tax, with 60-month 7.99% financing. With tax and trade-in we're looking at about $293 a month on that, no penalty for paying off early (which we would definitely do, within a year or two at most). Total loan of $14,799.

2) Nissan Rogue - 2008 model, but higher end, so it has all the bells and whistles. Sticker is $33k, they offered for $28k with 60-months and 1.9%, same trade-in amount. That'd come to $412/month, total loan price of $23,519.


My father-in-law drove both, he's got far more experience than I do buying cars, he likes the Nissan purely because of the comfort level, driving, and extra options/safety. I'm leaning towards the Ford only because of the price. We don't mind paying the extra, the loan my wife had on the Mazda was $550/mth because she had no down-payment or trade-in when she got it, it was her first ever car. We plan on looking at more vehicles, the Ford salesman was the typical pushy guy, he kept leaving the room and coming back with a "better" deal which was just a lower price with higher interest, or higher price for better model, junk like that. Chevy is offering 0% on 2008 models, no matter what price they offer you from what I've heard from someone who just bought a car there.

Anyone own/experience either of these two vehicles, have any opinions? I liked how both drove, and I could care less about options if it saves me 8 grand.

 

[iamwiz82]

Couple of things. First, Two baby seats make any back seat useless, unless you are talking about a 1971 Cadillac. Second, I would amazed if you got $6,000 for your car. the price of used cars has collapsed along with new car sales. No one is buying cars right now. Third, I think (hope ) you typo'd the price of the Rogue.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Couple of things. First, Two baby seats make any back seat useless, unless you are talking about a 1971 Cadillac. Second, I would amazed if you got $6,000 for your car. the price of used cars has collapsed along with new car sales. No one is buying cars right now. Third, I think (hope ) you typo'd the price of the Rogue.

1. I know, I'm not expecting to get extra people in, unless we go for a mini-van, which is a possibility. I'm mostly looking for more trunk space, as just one stroller kills what little there is in the current car, so we have no where to put grocery bags, or things like that.

2. They've already given us a signed offer for $8k. Come to the island someday and you'll know what I mean. It's like the Florida of Canada for high priced cars.

http://www.viautos.com/getcar.php?cid=3863

There's a used dealer up the island a bit, older model with more than twice the mileage, they want $9k for it. Obviously it's priced higher than they would sell, but I would expect they wouldn't take less than $6500 for it. Ours is newer, better model, half the mileage. Foreign cars are horribly priced here, it sucks trying to find a beater to drive to work.

http://www.viautos.com/getcar.php?cid=3622

A 1992 Mazda Protege, with 304k KM on it (189k miles) and they want $1300 for it, and will probably get it. It sucks, but I'll use it to my advantage here.

3. Nope, I hadn't even considered it an option until my father-in-law grabbed it. He actually left us at the Ford dealership to talk numbers, then he shows up IN the Nissan in their parking lot, with the salesman from Nissan, to pick us up. Talk about cutting off Ford at the nuts. We said "Sorry, our ride from Nissan is here, gotta go" and walked out after grabbing the guy's card. He thought it was funny, but his manager looked kind of upset.

Remember, everything costs more in Canada, and WAY more in the island. Hell, a gallon of milk is $5 right now. Gas is $.97/L, which comes out to about $3.50/gal (with the exchange rate). A loaf of damn bread is over $3, and that's for the shitty Wonderbread crap from Walmart, not even the good stuff (which is half the size and twice as much, no kidding).

 

[ponyo]

minivan. Can't go wrong with Odyssey or Sienna.

 

[Vette73]

If you want a car look at the Impala. Good size and very large truck. Can get them pretty cheap and they are reliable.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Naustica
minivan. Can't go wrong with Odyssey or Sienna.

I was thinking more Chevy or Dodge. Both have great deals on the 2008 models right now.

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
If you want a car look at the Impala. Good size and very large truck. Can get them pretty cheap and they are reliable.

Kinda goes against the whole, wanting more than a car thing. No point in that if we're not really gaining any space.

 

[Dman877]

It sounds like all you really want is more trunk space. If so, any hatch should do, as will the aforementioned Impala. How about a Pontiac Vibe? Don't buy an SUV because you need space. If you really want space, get a minivan. With the big 3 going out of business, you should be able to write your own terms.

 

[jhu]

how about a mazda 5? it's a mini-van that you can get with a manual transmission!

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Dman877
It sounds like all you really want is more trunk space. If so, any hatch should do, as will the aforementioned Impala. How about a Pontiac Vibe? Don't buy an SUV because you need space. If you really want space, get a minivan. With the big 3 going out of business, you should be able to write your own terms.

Yes, that is the primary reason, but the ability to use the backseat would be nice too. Right now my mother-in-law is the only person who can cram back there between the seats, and she weighs all of like 100lbs or so. More leg room means that someone bigger could be back there, which is something we want.

I don't see a reason to settle for a car when the crossovers get better gas mileage than we do right now, are bigger, and don't cost all that much more.

Originally posted by: jhu
how about a mazda 5? it's a mini-van that you can get with a manual transmission!

Not going to happen, there's only one Mazda dealership nearby and it's crap. My wife went in for a recommended "checkup", and ended up paying over $400 for them to LOOK at the car. They didn't rotate the tires, top off any liquids, change the oil, nothing. They did offer to flush the transmission fluid for only $120, so nice of them. It also took all day, and we didn't know how much until after they were done, too late to argue it. Overall Mazda makes a decent car, but I refuse to deal with the assholes at this dealership.

Hell, one of the managers there quit to work at a Ford dealership, we know the guy quite well, he said the owners of the Mazda dealership have policies about not telling customers prices before doing work, giving lowball estimates then not sticking to them, real fun stuff.

 

[CU]

We sold our old Corolla for the same reasons. One Stroller used up the whole trunk. We traded it in for an Envoy XUV. Now with two car seats you can fit another person back there, but not a very wide person. Like the other person said two carseats just about takes up the rear set of any car. Also we have plenty of trunk space now which was are main issue. We can have a large double stroller travel system back there and still go to SAMS and stock up. I also like the fact that the XUV has the retractable ruff to haul larger stuff. We have used it to haul furniture before that would not have fit other wise. You can get a used one for around 10-12K easy I would think. I will tell you mpg is not that great though. Ours says it averages 19.2mpg. One other think, they don't make the XUV or 3rd row seat Envoy anymore. Only the short wheel base Envoy is still made and it is ending soon also.

 

[vi edit]

If you looked at the Escape, then be sure to check out the Chevy Equinox or Pontiac Torrent. Not sure what models/names those fall under up in Canukistan but you should be able to find at least one of them.

You can get one of those for around $19k USD. Better space than either the Rogue or the Escape and better milage than the Escape.

 

[desy]

Saturn Vue
Honda CRX
Toyo Rav
Sub Forester
Hyundai's

Keep shopping

 

[Knavish]

BTW, The Ford has a 3.0 V6, not an 8!

I suspect the Ford would be at least as reliable as the Nissan and definitely have lower repair costs when the time comes. For the price you're getting on the Rogue you could practically get a hybrid escape.

If you're shopping new, does it make sense to compare a loaded Rogue at $28k to a non-loaded Escape at $21k? Either you want all the options or you don't. I'm sure you could also compare a loaded Escape at over $28k to a base model rogue at $21k.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Knavish
BTW, The Ford has a 3.0 V6, not an 8!

I suspect the Ford would be at least as reliable as the Nissan and definitely have lower repair costs when the time comes. For the price you're getting on the Rogue you could practically get a hybrid escape.

If you're shopping new, does it make sense to compare a loaded Rogue at $28k to a non-loaded Escape at $21k? Either you want all the options or you don't. I'm sure you could also compare a loaded Escape at over $28k to a base model rogue at $21k.

My mistake, I meant V6.

I honestly don't care about fancy options, especially when they're horribly overpriced and we'll never care about them. An AM/FM/CD unit is fine with me, I have my own GPS (plus our two cells have GPS built-in), I don't need a nice digital dash, dials are fine, I don't need special $100 floor mats or an On-Star system, as nice as it all is. At this point in time price is what is going to push us one way or the other, what we're probably going to end up doing is calling the guy up, telling him we got a nice offer at another lot and that if he can do xxx for us then we'll stick with him, otherwise not. If he bites then great, if not then I'll move to the next almost-bankrupt domestic dealer and try again.

 

[Sphexi]

Went with the Rogue, but a 2009 basic model, not the loaded 2008 he was showing us before. Got a decent deal on it, sticker is $25,433, he gave it to us for just under $23,500, plus they're giving out a $600 visa card which we used as the "downpayment", plus we get a $1000 rebate on the taxes from the provincial government for buying a fuel efficient car. Got $8100 on our trade-in car, so with taxes and everything we had to finance about $16,400. We also slapped on the extended warranty, as it gives us free oil changes every 6 months, free tires every 30k KM, and bumper to bumper coverage for a total of 7 years. Just having the oil changes alone is almost worth it, throw in one change of tires at $400-$600 and we've made back our money. Plus if we trade-in or sell privately in 5 years then it'll be worth way more with leftover warranty on it.

The Ford was good, but the only thing it had going for it was slightly more cargo space, and it was a little cheaper. Not a lot though. It came down to $332/mth for the Ford, and $336/mth for the Rogue, the Rogue just drives smoother and has better mileage. Also, the Ford salesman was pretty pushy and when I tried asking for a better deal acted like I was being a total dick to him.