Laughed my way out of the dealership

Even a Jeep dealership offered me 31k for my 15 Sport with 5k miles on it for a Rubicon. That's sad a Toyota dealership wouldn't do anything more than that.


Note: I did not get the Rubicon

 

They are trying to get you on the new truck and your old truck, they will turn around and sell your 15 for $31-32k. Im starting to despise Toyota dealers, there's some good ones out there, but far more slime ball ones.

 

I'm happy with my 2004 Tacoma. Got my tape deck in there still. Basic and easy to use interior. Nothing distracting me from driving. There is to much crap in the new vehicles that I don't need. Why upgrade. I won't even go test drive one. pointless.

 

HOW DARE YOU GO LOOK AT A VEHICLE AND NOT BUY IT

 

I too thought that persons response was a bit funny.

 

My thoughts on this.
First off, you can't compare a 6 speed auto transmission operation to a 5 speed auto. That is apples to oranges there. That is like comparing the 4 speed automatic from the 1st gen to the 5 speed automatic of a 2nd gen. When you have a 6 speed automatic transmission, the 6th gear is programmed for cruising ONLY, not acceleration. So of course it is going to immediately drop into 5th so that the engine can accelerate the truck. That is how it operates. If you don't like that, that's fine. Just saying you can't accurately compare two TOTALLY different transmissions and expect the same results. Now a transmission is paired up with an engine for best performance, so let's look at that part. The 4.0 generates 236HP and the 3.5 generates 278HP. And that is where most people stop. "Well it generates 42 more horsepower! It should be way better than the 4.0!" Well that is where one would be wrong. The 4.0 generates IT'S horsepower at 5200RPM. The 3.5 generates it's horsepower at 6000RPM. an 800RPM difference. Since most of the HP curves are pretty equal, having an 800 or so RPM difference in the engines would actually fit into the horsepower numbers.

As for trade in, you can't expect right off the bat for ANY dealer to offer you the discounts and then offer KBB+ on your trade in. This is a company just like every other. Their job is to maximize profit. So they don't offer incentives and discounts until you ask for them. They also don't offer the best trade in without negotiation. Why? Well, if you DID walk in and they offered you $27k trade, and a price of $39k, then they profit (not counting TTL, etc) $12K on the final sale, plus when they sell your truck for $32k they make an additional $5k. After negotiation their profit dropped to $10k. Welcome to the real world. It's not about, and will NEVER be about "let me REALLY get my customer the absolute best deal I can get them, period, the moment they walk into the door.

Anyway, that is my $.02 worth there.

 

So true but unfortunate. It really needs to be a price point like every other consumer good (sorry to those salesman out there). Just like an iphone or TV I should pay a set price or a sale price. Not have to deal with holdbacks, invoice, etc. Remove the middleman, but realize this is also not feasible due to trades, etc.

 

I wonder if we will ever see a post about someone trying to trade in there 2016 for one of the remaining brand new 15s since there so much better looking and all.

 

Is that necessary? Seriously Im the pot calling the kettle black but trying to improve on the conversations/attitude in the 3rd gen section. We each have our preferences, leave it at that. Guy just wanted to discuss his test drive, was it right or wrong, who cares its his opinion, just leave it at that. Relax and lets try to not keep throwing stones at each other. My 2 cents.

 

Was it just a little bit funny? If your answer is absolutly not i will apologize and delete.

 

I guess its all about delivery and interpretation which is tricky with the interwebs. To a 15 owner it implies the 15 is ugly or not as good looking to a 16 owner its funny. All about perception and audience. Doesn't bother me tho.

 

Not as free as it was when I was born.
You younger fellas may not realize it.

 

After living in Illinois, growing up in PA and being stationed in AZ (miss that place) and now NJ (F this place), you grasp a better sense of this. Sad but true.

 

There IS a set price. It's called MSRP. There are also negotiation free places like carmax. There was automakers like Saturn that did this too and it didn't work. Despite so many people hating the auto business for not having set prices (even though they do), it's the customers who always want to haggle.

 

I get that but no one (well some) but most don't pay MSRP and the manufacturers set it accordingly. I'm simply saying if there was a way to cut the middleman out it is always better for the consumer. There's a lot of moving parts when buying a car and ways they can make more money off the consumer.

 

However. If you have been contemplating getting into a 2016 I would slip in during some free time. The worst that happens is they make you an offer you don't like and you say no.

My dad traded in his BMW that had like 250k on it, engine falling apart, inside was about the same as the engine. ALL dash lights on (lol), 2000 X5. Kbb put it at like 2000$ and dealer gave him 6 or 8 (I forget) and dropped the price on a jeep gc.

Sure it's not a 27k offer like yours but you never know.

 

How is it always better? Don't people need to be able to get help in choosing a vehicle? Not everyone does their own research online. Not everyone knows exactly what they want/need. How would they go test drive vehicles? Evaluate trade ins? Do credit checks and shop said buyer around banks to work out how to finance buyers with bad credit or who are 5k upside down in trades? There is way more that happens for the customer behind the curtain than most buyers realize.

Also, would this be true for real estate agents? What about stock brokers/investment managers? If these are all jobs the average joe can do on their own, why do people still do business with them then?

 

Believe it or not some dealerships are going the non negotiations route and I found one. They looked up my trade on autotrader and gave more than it's value and then I paid the advertised internet price which was below the sticker price. No whining. No swearing. Just a fast and honest deal.

 

Around town I would think the 6th gear would be totally unnecessary. Using the "S" side or sequential shifting option and keeping it in 5th as the top end gear, I would think it would perform better. Using "S" mode on my 4runner I get much better acceleration and none of the tranny hunting when driving lower speeds in town.