Au contraire, having a fixed price is a huge benefit to the consumer. If more dealerships had fixed prices, we could comparison shop and not have to act like we’ve entered a Zambian spice market to buy a commonly produced durable good.
Might as well say that Lowes is saying “fuck you” to consumers by selling dishwashers at $499, or whatever price is marked.
I agree, but it would only be a benefit if everybody worked that way. As it is, nearly every other manufacturer negotiates, which makes Honda an outlier: “Pay our price or go somewhere else.” I choose to go elsewhere. You do realize that most high ticket item prices are at least somewhat negotiable, right? We’ve gotten discounts on both furniture and appliances just by asking, or by offering to pay cash.
I just bought I Chevy Spark about 7 weeks ago. I love it. I wish it were a manual, but I didn’t have any luck finding manuals on the lots. I was definite I wanted a small car-- I even checked out the Smarts, but their rear-mounted engines are loud. I love having a tiny car to park. When I’m looking for a spot, and there’s one of those where two people have both parked right up on the lines on each side, my car will still fit.
I’m still getting used to having an automatic, and I have occasionally put it in neutral while going through a stoplight, but mostly I’m doing OK.
That makes sense if you’re not digging the look of it, although you can throw quite a few M parts at the wagon and have the diesel option as well. I love sporty wagons and I’d happily drive an E63 AMG Wagon or a tarted up M3 Wagon as a daily driver if I had the means>
I’m saving up for either a Focus RS, WRX STi or a Tesla 3. I suspect SWMBO is probably going to get a new Ford Edge or an MKX later this year though. at least the 6 cyl is still an option with them and decent towing capacity.
Just bought a gently used–pardon me, “certified pre-owned”–Honda Accord. It was basically a coin flip between that and a Toyota Camry, but I ended up liking the look of the Accord better.
I buy new … drive for 20 years … buy new again … the rig is just another tool in the toolbox; break your hammer, buy a new hammer; break your truck, buy a new truck.
Currently a 2013 Toyota Tacoma … I treat it as a motorized wheelbarrow that’s street legal.
I’m a Nissan fanboy and always have been, so in March we traded in my 2000 Frontier KingCab and bought a 2016 Rogue. The salesman was rather surprised when I handed him the keys to the truck and said “Here, you can have it back.” I had bought that truck from the same dealer 17 years ago. The owner got a real kick out of that.
So far we are loving the Rogue. It handles well, has plenty of room for the pets and equipment and gets lots better gas mileage than the Frontier ever did.
I’ve half a mind to negotiate with my landlord to get a 240VAC, 30A circuit run to the garage. Some of the (retail) lease deals on the C-Max are unreal.
Just so you know, there’s very little reason that a C-Max would need a 30 amp EVSE car charger. The C-Max has a 3.3 kw charger in it, so from zero to full on the battery takes about 5 hours on a normal 120v outlet.
It can charge from zero to full in two hours on a 240v/16 amp EVSE. But with a 240v/30 amp EVSE, it takes… two hours.
I know a lot of people want Tesla/Bolt style long range electrics, but the kind of nice thing about the smaller batteries in the Energis is that they’ll completely charge with regular, plain old 120.
I know in another thread you complained how people keep blocking the chargers. Here’s hoping I have access to one in my building an hour or so each day!
actually I’d rather have a full EV like the Focus (which makes a 240VAC charge source pretty much mandatory) but those are just compliance cars for California and other areas, no deals on those here.
I bought a 2016 Mazda 3 i Touring in March. My previous car was a 2007 Mazda, same model. I’m enjoying the added safety features like the backup camera and the blind spot monitoring system. I did end up getting black cloth interior instead of the lighter color because the lighter color is apparently really hard to find these days
Here is a trick to negotiating your new car price. Once you decide what car your looking for go to autotrader.com then search your car within a reasonable radius, let’s say 200 miles. Most dealers list their cars on that site. Then click price from low to high. That will show you the dealers offering the biggest discount. Print the biggest discount you can find and take it to your dealer. Most will price match or at least come close if they think they are going to lose a sale. Just saved my friend 4 grand after finding a dealer with a large discount. Keep in mind they won’t match if the dealer you find is 1500 miles away. True car website is a joke. Paid for by the dealer that sells you a car. Good luck. Least expensive new car listed as of now is under $8000. You can find it by not entering a model then click price low to high. Ignore the typo cars for $1.