Buying a New Car
 

US-centric thread, sorry.

I hate it. I need help. Yes, this is our second new car this year. Yes, the minivan, yes we need a new van. Must have slidey doors.

No more info about needs/lokes/wants b/c everyone ignores them anyway. Test drove the Town and Country today, quite liked it.

We're (apparently but it kinda surprised us given our upbringings.....) "buy new, run for 10+ years" kind of people.

need advice about buying new cars, current minivans, test-driving, dealer-speak etc.....

But before all y'all tell us how to bargain...... Beest is "in the industry-ish" and we get 1% below invoice on the T&C So if you want to advise on the price aspect, there's a starting point. (and again, all advice welcome, thanks)

oh and getting finance is not an issue -focus is on total $ paid, not monthly payments, if that makes sense.... Although not complaining about a good deal -just hear that some people pick their cars by monthly payment regardless of final cost......

I do adore our MPV. Which they are now apparently calling a "Mazda5" instead. But the thing that has always made it awesome is how the third row magically collapses completely flat into the floor, leaving a whole truck bed's worth of space in the back. I can't tell from the Mazda website if the damn thing even does that anymore.

tx. the t&c does that too.

Minivans are called MPVs in the UK

This is actually a rather timely thread for me--our previously mentioned MPV is displaying 175,000 miles of hard use right now. We are expecting it to be dead in another year or so, and need to start getting an idea of what's out there.

Brother's family likes their Honda Odyssey...often hauling three kids and a large dog, and various other eccentrics, um...relatives.

It's sharp. State o' the art.

My understanding is the MPV is a different vehicle than the Mazda5. The Mazda5 is smaller and more fuel efficient and maneuverable with fairly cramped seating, and the MPV is a standard sized minivan with the fuel economy you would expect from one.

We're actually replacing our 2000 Venture too. Probably next year.

Front running candidate for the new vehicle is the Toyota FJ.

By all reviews Odysseys are the cream of the crop, with a price tag to match, I don't get any deal on them. :sniff:

Give me a call tomorrow if I can help, monstah.

OK so I'm pissed right now. I just got this email and I call BS. Am I right?

This sound very familiar, having just bought a Fit in January. Is that a rat I are smelling?

I call BS. Classic car (and other type) sales M.O.

We had a T&C for about ten years; it was a pretty good car. Every North American vehicle we ever owned had major issues, though (the T&C had chronic A/C problems and the struts dissolved in rust; other cars were worse). Every Toyota we owned was great - driven to 200,000 miles with regular maintenance and no other issues.

If you drive a vehicle 10+ years, as you said, you might want to look at Toyotas.

"Yeah, buddy. You go ahead and show the car to that 'other customer.' Have fun with that."

Unimaginative, blatantly lying. Do not buy from a liar.

It's just offensive, really. Did I really appear that dumb? I told him I'd walk away if he messed with me. Will he now have me on file as "his" so no other chrysler dealer can touch me? Ugh. Now I just want to pump more money into my 12yo Windstar to keep it running some more. I told you i hate car shopping and this is why.

I mean beest saw several of these models at the other dealership...... it's just this one is closer to me. And she said she could transfer between dealerships, yet he's all like "it's this one or nothing...."

*shudders and feels dirty*