Almost bought a new car---need opinions

My wife and I are planning to buy her a new car. Currently she has a minivan that sucks up gas and she drives 80 miles to work and back. We owe $8k on the van with 2 years remaining at $340 a month. I was planning to fully detail the van this weekend but we ended up at the dealer tonight. Our plan was to get a used '06-'08 car with around 50k-70k miles under $12k which would put us around $250 a month or so. This would save us almost $100 a month plus we'd be buying a compact gas saver.

After looking at a few used cars we came upon a new 2012 Nissan Versa, 30-38 mpg. Sticker price is $15,800. After wheeling & dealing and trading in our van the dealer offered us $312 @ 5 years or $263 @ 6 years, zero down, 1.9%. This is without running our credit but we have great credit so it shouldn't be an issue. Previously I told myself I'd never go 6 years on another car again which I'm doing with our current van but $263 a month sounds damn good. I tried to get that dealer under $300 for 5 years but he wasn't moving. He told us to think about it and come back tomorrow but I'm hoping he'll call me tomorrow.

I'm trying to figure out 1) 6 years @ $263 which I can always pay more per month but 6 years sucks. 2) Should I stick with a used car for a cheaper 5 year payment but has 50k-70k miles? 3) Should I buy a Nissan?

Obviously a new car is the way to go but I'm just looking for opinions and suggestions.



Thanks.

 

Ya, the van my wife drives now is a Hyundai and the car before that was a Hyundai. Hyundai has come a long way and they offer great warranties.

 

A Corolla similar to this Versa costs about $18k which is way more than we want to pay. We can continue to look for a used Corolla but it's going to have 50-70k miles.

 

I'm going to take a look at the Hyundai Accent tomorrow which is very similar to the Nissan Versa. Hyundai's 10 year/100k mile warranty is hard to beat plus 30/40 mpg is awesome.

 

Ya, you really can't go wrong with a Corolla but I have to stay within my budget.

 

my dad has an '08 accent with the auto. the drivetrain on it has been great but the interior is pretty horrible. Rattles everywhere, plastic everywhere, and the rear window almost fell out when it had about 3k miles on it. Other than that its a good cheap car.

 

I drove both a Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra as rentals, and the Elantra is far superior in quality to the Ford. Hyundai > Ford.

 

Hyundai has come a long way over the past 7 years. They're really holding their own and are really starting to compete with other major brands.

 

sheesh really? My dad paid 8k for his brand new in 2007.

 

Ford has good build quality and quality control, Chevrolet does not.

Ford would be a good value if you can't get into a Honda or Toyota.

Also look at Mazda, I had a Mazda3 before my Tacoma, exceptional car, very reliable, refined engine and handling, great MPG with the new engines they rolled out this fall, and their price point is lower than Honda/Toyota because they lack the same brand recognition.

 

Go see if there are any rental fleet sales locations near you. I bought that Mazda3from a Hertz fleet reseller. It was in pristine condition with 22k miles, and they price them to sell fast. They had quite a few on their lot also, and I picked the exact one I wanted. Price was no-haggle for 12K and the blue book was about 14,500 on it at the time. Put 70k miles on it before I bought the Tacoma, and I had no problems at all from it. It was a new car experience for a used car price.

 

Majored in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Automotive Manufacturing. Pretty much spent the last couple of years in school focused on the problems Toyota and others have been going through though... I agree with you about Toyota's recent decline, but I believe they have the culture and administrative systems in place to correct the trend before it cripples their brand (cough Chrysler cough).


Truly though, if Honda made anything similar to the Tacoma I would buy it in a heartbeat. They are the unique marriage in the car industry between brilliance in functional design, and applying that beauty to mass manufacturing. They could use some cosmetic help on some models, but what is inside is almost without equal in every segment they compete in.

 

If it were a sedan I was in the market for, I would consider the following...
Nissan: Altima
Toyota: Camry
Subaru: Impreza
Honda: Civic/Accord
VW: Jetta/Passat - BTW, when I saw the new Passat in person, I was truly impressed..
*You can almost get all of these for under $20K.

 

Well, what did you decide on? (Or have you yet??)

My wife and I were in roughly the same boat a couple months ago and ended up buying another Camry. We got a Silver 2009 Carmy LE for $15,500.

I've looked at other cars, and for my money I keep going back to Toyota. Sure, they cost more these days, but I know they're going to last me 200,000+ miles. I'm the type of guy that doesn't lease cars, because I know that I'm going to put a crap-load of milage on them. In fact, I'd rather take my chances with a certified-late model Toyota than I would with a new car by some other companies.

 

Sorry for the delay. We had a few issues with the car we bought.

Originally we bought a 2010 Hyundai Elantra. It was in our price range and it's a nice compact car with great gas mileage. A few days after we completed the deal I received some paperwork in the mail for GAP insurance. I agreed to GAP insurance with the finance manger which was an extra $2 a month. The GAP insurance contract had the finance managers signature and my signature....however, it was not my signature. The finance signature forged my name and I also noticed they went 3 months longer on my terms. He basically added 3 months to the contract to pay for the GAP insurance which was $800. I contacted the dealership and expressed my serious issues with them...the finance manger was going to redo the contact for the original terms we agreed to and he wasn't aware who forged my name(liar). The day I was headed over there someone from the dealership called me up asking if I was going to go down there to resign. I told them I had a few other issues with them signing my paperwork. I did a lot of research and decided I was going to get out of that contract. I went down there and I met with the GM of the dealership. He immediately apologized and practically begged for my forgiveness. He let me out of the contract without a problem and offered to fix any problems with the van that we traded in free of charge. I also told him I wanted them to pay for the January monthly payment of our van because it's 2 weeks late. He agreed to that without a problem. He also gave us a letter stating that we're not obligated to any contract with them. The owner of the dealership showed up and apologized for everything that happened. She was pissed off and ready to fire someone. We got our van back, a check for January's payment and a letter stating that we're free and clear of the contract with them.

Last week I contacted a distant cousin who's a sales manager at South Coast Toyota in Coasta Mesa. We went down there today and bought a 2007 Prius. We got a waaaay better deal, shorter terms and he gave us an extra key which normally costs over $200. He also gave us less than wholesale cost, we got a Toyota Platinum warranty and gave us what we owed for our van which was a $1k more than anyone else.

The only problem now is my sons are pissed off because they don't have a tv in the Prius like they did in the van.

 

Good looking gal in that car.

Glad everything worked out for you.

I would have raised a shit storm if a dealership forged my name on any documents. Lawsuit for sure.

No idea why a mad face is in the title of this post.

Stupid iPad.

 

whose the hottie in the car???

 

Just some hottie I met 14 years ago, married for 7 and 2 kids.

 

I thought they were going to put up a fight and I was ready to submit complaint paperwork to the DMV and the BBB but they were very apologetic, admitted all guilt, the owner was there, they paid my January payment so I was satisfied.

 

X2

Damn shame about the Prius.