How the heck do you buy a new car?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Volkswagens today a a thousand times better than they were when they were made in the US in the 1980s

The trick is you have to know what VW does well.

Diesel.

VW makes the best diesel cars in the world, bar none.

Their Gasoline cars are just about equal with Toyota now though.

[The Lost One]

A lot of new cars are equal to Toyota now. Most used cars are not.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Karen has a Kia Rio and it doesn't give her any problems. But I have also heard very good things about Toyota Corrollas.

About certified used vehicles you should be warned: they often come with something like a 45,000 mile warranty...but that does NOT mean you can drive it for 45,000 miles under warranty--it means it's under warranty until the TOTAL on the odometer is 45,000--so if you buy it at 40,000 miles, you are screwed. But the salesmen will not really make this clear to you, and I think it's very misleading--if it says "comes with a 45,000 mile warranty" I think that's exactly what it should come with. You can get an extended warranty, but it costs more.

[The Lost One]

I've heard good things about the Kia Rio. Particularly the warranty in which Kia will pay for almost all repairs for 10 years or 100,000 miles. The warranty almost insures that the car will last 10 years or 100,000 miles. That is something a a Toyota or Honda is likely to do but isn't warranted.

[fuzzyoctopus]

 In recent years, Hyundai has made a huge turnaround in their quality.

From what I've been reading, consumer reports, edmunds.com, Kia has done the same.

I priced "certified used cars" from Honda, from the Honda website - it will still cost me 12- 13,000, for a 4 year old car, that I will still have to drive at least half an hour to a dealership to get.

I can buy a new car for that price and have the 10-year factory warranty.  I am very confused how a used at the same price range is better than a new car.

I am taking Old One's first-hand experience into consideration, though.  My first-hand experience with Pontiacs, for example, means I will never buy another one, because they're expensive to fix.  Used cars are out. We are going to shell out money for a new car with a warranty that we can not worry about for a year or two - but brand-wise, I am open to suggestions.  My mom loves her Saturns. The low-end Hyndais look pretty nice.  Anything else I should look at?

Oh, and they stopped making Metros in 2001.  :-/

[stacer]

I was told that Nissans and Mazdas were about the same quality as Hondas and Toyotas, but weren't as well known, so they tend to be a little lower price. You might want to check them out. I had a roommate who drove a 20-year-old Sentra that had like 200,000 miles on it before it conked out. Most of my experience is with American cars (my CRV is my first Honda ever), so I'm not much of an expert.

But I would say--you're doing well to do your research. I tried to do research, but I was in a time crunch because I had no car and needed to get to work, plus it was the holidays, so I went the "easy" way and made a quick decision.  I still think I got a great deal--I'm SO glad my brother came with me and checked the car out, because he found a leaky transmission on one car I test-drove, and confirmed my suspicions of major electrical problems in another. Make sure you take someone who will be hard-nosed when it comes to price negotiation, too. There's no reason whatsoever to pay the price they first ask for, or even within a couple thousand of it.

[Spriggan]

If you want a car who's engine will never die then get a Saab, their engines go for like 200k+.  Problem with Saabs is they can be expensive to fix if they do break down.

[fuzzyoctopus]

I'm leaning toward a Corolla at the moment.  My dad has a subscription to Consumer Reports and is helping me research with it.  The Nissans and Mazdas look nice, but the fuel economy of a Rio or a Corolla is very appealing right now.   :-/   (go figure!)

Oooh, or a Civic.  Civic is a nice reliable car.  Oh, who am I kidding. It takes me half an hour to decide what to wear in the mornings, how am I going to pick a car?

[The Lost One]

Posted by: Make Love the Spriggan Way Posted on: Today at 1:22am
If you want a car who's engine will never die then get a Saab, their engines go for like 200k+.  Problem with Saabs is they can be expensive to fix if they do break down.  

You know someone actually put 2,000,000 miles on a volvo! Still with any car, it depends on how well it is treated in addition to how well it's made.

Also, in addition to Consumer Reports (which has a popular bias towards certain brands) you should check out J.D. Powers rankings.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=buy&subject=most_depend&story=topDependBrd&referer=advice

[Tink]

Oooh, or a Civic.  Civic is a nice reliable car.

If you care about fuel economy, I'd go for a civic hybrid, but I think they're a little more expensive.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

try a lot more expensive.
You have to drive the car for 10 years on average before you save the amount you spent extra. Which would be fine if you have a lot of money right now and plan on holding it for a long time.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

plus there arent a lot of used ones yet.

[Spriggan]

Though if you buy a Hybrid you get a tax rebate from the Feds.  Not sure how much but I think its around $2k.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Karen's mpg is very good in her Rio. It's a manual. (I still haven't learned to drive it...)

In case you want a USED Corrolla, also look at Chevy Prizms, since they are the same car--but they have lower resale prices because that fact is not super-widely known. Of course, if you want a new one, get the Corrolla instead of the Prizm...for the exact same reason.

My certified used 2001 Ford Escort ZX3 (with a mere 9,000 miles, now long since used up since I drive 60 miles every day, left on the warranty) came in at around $7,000 all told. I agree that paying $12,000 for a used car is nuts.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

NERD ALERT!

I was trying to figure out how Karen's Rio displayed multimedia data files.