Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (Cars, vans, SUVs, Lexus, Scion, and brochures)!

Yup!

 

I know they aren't; I call them El Cheapo Plastico...

 

I'd say this is a better deal than the "Stormtrooper" 2020 LE, as it is a higher-end SE model with about 14K fewer miles of the same year for almost the same price, but still overpriced...

 

I think ya'll just beat out the California Wankers by over-wanking on the Corolla. My wife and I were at the dealer last Tuesday and test drove a 21 C-HR, a 21 Corolla Hatch, A '21 Rav4, and the '21 Corolla SE, all brand new. I believe that SE is somewhat of a level above or close to that LE. It's a nice little ride and I can get that for $26k msrp. We checked out the brand new Cross, also. They just got in an LE and IIRC, it was about $26k msrp, as well. Everytime we went to jump in it, another customer was in it so we never got to drive it. It's just a tiny bit smaller than a RAV and looks a lot like one. Runs all the old Corolla motor, trans, and other BS. AWD is pretty tight, too. I'm not sure I'd worry too much about it being the first year because of all the OG componentry.

We're going to continue looking at that but our desire is a new Rav 4 AWD. I'm really torn on Hybrid. Probably won't go that direction because we intend to die owning it as well as my new Taco.

 

And another 2020 SE, with 21K miles, for what would have been new Camry money a year ago...

 

My friend and her daughter wanted to buy a 2022 Corolla Cross LE AWD for the daughter to drive to college since they were staring down the barrel at a $3,000+ repair bill on her 2010 Subaru Forester with 130K miles; The dealer (Thompson Toyota in Doylestown, PA) was asking sticker (over $27K but with $500 off because daughter is a college grad), and the paperwork showed 5.8% APR on a 72-month loan, with the final OTD price pushed closed to $29K due to tax, tags, title, etc...

I test drove this Corolla Cross myself and was impressed; I've been bugging my friends to "join club Toyota" for years now and they are finally listening to reason. Daughter really wanted this red Corolla Cross, but she also has a heavy course load and mother didn't want to stress her out by adding monthly payments to the equation; They walked, and daughter will be driving mom's other 2010 Forester to school while mom drives the '04 Taco they inherited from her late ex-husband...

 

Also, it sorta goes without saying but the Tacos are the same way if not worse. I intended to buy a '18-'20 when I finally went to the dealers. TRD Tacos at that point were about $38k up to $45k asking price with varying mileage. When I saw that, I knew I could dicker on those prices to some degree but I could also buy new at msrp. Ultimately, my TRD OR DCLB with everything on it minus the Premium sound, leather, sunroof...all of which I did NOT want, had an msrp at $42k. Lucky me, I was able to finagle a 2% reduction on that and got exactly what I wanted for my trade. It was the only dealer of the 3 I have <100 miles that was not adding $3500 as a market adjustment.

 

At Thompson Toyota, still overpriced but not as outrageous; 2019 Corolla LE with lower miles than the 2018 for less than $21K...


January 2nd, 2022:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

If you think that's nuts, there's a Ford dealer in Doylestown asking $20K over MSRP for a new Bronco!

 

Make an offer or just go someplace else.

 

That's a shit rate for financing, not to mention a bad loan term. Hell, I was sort of whining at 2.99% but all the good old incentives were gone as the market went to shit. Fortunately, I just financed a small portion of the Taco and they matched my credit union so I went ahead and did it in-house with TF.

 

Broncos are still hard to get, so I can kinda see the supply/demand there. There's like a billion corollas though.

 

Agreed. I believe you should be able to beat the shit out of them on price on a used one....considering they are over msrp for brand new. Some people will, some people won't so they get fat on the one's that don't.

 

Corollas and Camrys are still Toyotas bread and butter in the US market.

 

I know, and there's tons of them in the market. Broncos, not so much.

 

I was shocked too, because my friend has good credit and one of my neighbors just got 0% APR on a brand new Jeep Gladiator...

 

I don’t think a specific coast is worse at this point… they all seem to be doing it. Really just depends on the dealer. Sure there are dealers on both coasts, and anywhere in between, that will still sell at MSRP.

But with these used prices, well dealers have always taken every penny possible, and now that they can get these absurd used car prices, we’re in for it.

Can’t say I’m opposed at this point to a new car being dropped at my doorstep for a fixed price.

 

@GrizzledBastard

Why did Texas fight Tesla's business model so hard? Pretty sure Texas is the only state in the union where it's actually illegal to sell new cars directly to the customer...

 

I can't name them but I'd swear I've heard of other states. I was thinking Michigan was one of the first that Tesla took issue. That seems to stick in my feeble memory because the absurdity of the majors being based there.

 

Were you the one who said that the car dealers are gonna become a thing of the past and Tesla's business model will reign supreme?