BUYING A NEW CAR?

[Bill Greenwood]

I just wondered if anyone here has bought a NEW car in the last year, or will in the next few months?
If you did buy/plan is it an American car, ie GM, For, Chrysler? I was tempted to buy some GM or Ford stock in 07 as a turnaround and for the yield, but luckily I never did.
And no, I'm not asking about WWII tanks in Brazil. Thanks

[MX304]

I never buy new, but I do plan on buying a barely used Chevy truck this year. My current GMC has 275k miles and still runs strong. It has never had any major mechanical problem. I figure I can find an 07 that got dumped for a prius and save some bucks. I would like to buy a small car to save gas back and forth to wortk, but I can't justify two vehicles and an Accord won't pull my race trailer.

[Obergrafeter]

Gas down to $1.39 today should get truck sales going again.

[Cvairwerks]

We've got to replace both of our trucks with a single one in the next year or so. Unfortunately, for what we need, a new one is way out of the question. There is no way we can justify spending 50K+ on a new truck that isn't going to last a minimum of 10 years. We will probably end up with a 10 year old KW or Freightliner and mod it slightly to handle our needs and still come out spending less money.

It's too bad that the car companies have taken the attitude that they need to build vehicles as cheap in quality as they can get away with and charge the prices they do and think that the consuming public is ok with it. It's time to take the decision making back away from the bean counters and go back to producing top quality products at a fair price.

One of the local dealers was offering Escalades $28K off the other day. If they can make those kinds of offers, why price the vehicle so high from the start?

[bdk]

Not answering your question directly, but I don't know that I will be buying anything new very soon. They are planning to triple the vehicle license fee (registration) shortly here in California. Can you imagine paying $1K/yr or more for auto registration?

My last two vehicles were an '84 Ford Ranger and an '03 Toyota Tundra.

The Ranger was a great truck, but because of the financial problems Ford has been having over the years they have not changed the platform. Thus the performance and handling are a bit antiquated by today's standards. It wasn't adequate for the towing needs I had either (a post purchase discovery after I bought a trailer) because the V-6 didn't have enough power. At the time it was a much better value than either the Toyota or Nissan offerings for the small trucks.

The Tundra is a great truck and has about 65K miles on it now, so it is only about halfway used up (if that). One of the reasons I liked it was that it had a smaller feel than the comparable domestice trucks. Now that they have supersized the Tundra, I doubt I would buy a new one. They also had some terrible design related problems when they came out which I'm sure they have corrected by now.

I still have a bad taste in my mouth from a GM product I bought in '87. Powertrain was great, but the paint, interior and fit & finish were pretty bad. I sold that car with 7011 miles and bought a Prelude which gave outstanding service.

I did do my part to help stimulate the economy though by replacing a bunch of consumer electronics (Plasma TV, cameras, etc.) that were stolen from my house a few months ago.

[Bill Greenwood]

Thanks guys, sort of what I thought. Looks like not even WIX guys rushing to Detroit with open wallets.
BDK, my Son had a Ranger which he liked ok, but now has a Tundra which pulls his trailer better that he carries his race motorcycle in.

[bdk]

I think if my mid-life crisis was better developed I might have one of the new Challengers or Vettes in my driveway. For now though, Lance Aircraft and the County of San Bernardino Airport Commission gets most of my disposable income.

[Planebeach]

Can you imagine paying $1K/yr or more for auto registration?

You are lucky to only pay 1k, in Norway you might pay uptowards 3k+ for registration of a new car For a used one between 1k and 2k.

I am planing on buying a used SAAB 9-3 1,8T 2004 model, it costs here in Norway 30k. Am american truck has always been on my list, but to expensive. Take the pirce you have in US and triple it and then you get close to what here.

[bdk]

Can you imagine paying $1K/yr or more for auto registration?

You are lucky to only pay 1k, in Norway you might pay uptowards 3k+ for registration of a new car For a used one between 1k and 2k.

I am planing on buying a used SAAB 9-3 1,8T 2004 model, it costs here in Norway 30k. Am american truck has always been on my list, but to expensive. Take the pirce you have in US and triple it and then you get close to what here.

Your numbers are USD? Wow!

[Ontario-Warbird]

Just bought a 09 Toyota Corolla XRS, built right up here in Ontario.

Would be nice to see people in North America buy cars that are built in North America and stop supporting countries like China, India, South America ETC.

Makes me laugh when you get people that think just because it is a big three auto that the think it is built here in NA. Lots of the Big 3 autos are built off shore and I feel that is why the quaility has gone down the tube.

Cheers Dave C

[Old SAR pilot]

Would be nice to see people in North America buy cars that are built in North America and stop supporting countries like China, India, South America ETC.

When looking at a "Big 3" vehicle, look at the sticker - it'll tell you where it was built. Have a '99 Dodge 1500 that was built in Mexico City, and a '91 Honda Accord that was built in Ohio. (Used to have an '88 Civic that was built in Canada).

The Dodge is holding up well at 95K miles, as is the Accord with 155K miles. As long as they keep working well, with low maintenance costs, why buy a new vehicle ?

..Based on what Planebeach said about costs of American vehicles over there, just curious as to what their tariff rates are compared to ours. If they're anything like I saw in Germany in the early '80s, you couldn't afford to own a European vehicle if we had the same tariff rates as they do.

[Planebeach]

[/quote]Your numbers are USD? Wow![/quote]

Jupp USD! I can give you one of the extreme examples of Norway idiotic car tax system.

A Chevrolet Suburban 2008 model 5,3 LT as a 3 seat cargo van costs $ 101.000. But if you want it as an 8 seater, get ready to be shocked its yours for only $202.000. Convertion rates from NOK too $ is from today.

Guess you are shocked now

[Bill Greenwood]

CNBC has a piece on used car bargain. While Toyota and Honda are best quality, for bargains look a little farther to 2003 Mazda, Buick, Subaru, and 2004 Scion. My son has an older Subaru that has been used hard and keeps on ticking.
Of course, buying used does not help Detroit directly.

Does anyone avoid buying Japanese or German cars? Just on emotion, I don't really like to buy Japanese, but I own a 91 Mercedes so it is not wholly logical. I also had 2 Porsches, another Mercedes and a BMW.

[Rod Schneider]

CNBC has a piece on used car bargain. While Toyota and Honda are best quality, for bargains look a little farther to 2003 Mazda, Buick, Subaru, and 2004 Scion. My son has an older Subaru that has been used hard and keeps on ticking.
Of course, buying used does not help Detroit directly.

Does anyone avoid buying Japanese or German cars? Just on emotion, I don't really like to buy Japanese, but I own a 91 Mercedes so it is not wholly logical. I also had 2 Porsches, another Mercedes and a BMW.

Well, I've got one built in the USA (88 Pontiac Fiero), one built in Japan (92 Nissan Maxima), and one built in Germany (66 Porsche 911), so I guess I don't avoid Japanese or German cars......
I've only ever bought one car brand new--a Fiero in 1984. I'll probably never buy another new car since I'd rather let someone else take the depreciation hit and since I enjoy doing car work I don't mind used cars. My "newest" car, the 92 Maxima, just rolled over 300,000 miles this week. As long as it remains dependable I probably won't replace it.

[Cvairwerks]

I've driven quite a few different manufacturers....Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, Ford, Chevy, GMC, Caddy, Olds, Buick, Porsche, Mercedes, Suburau, Datsun, Mazda and VW.

Hands down the best was the '62 Surburban with the straight six. It had well over 400K on it when the odometer quit and we drove it for another 10 years or so before we sold it. The Mercedes was the worst of the bunch. I only kept it about 4 months before dumping it. Right now I drive a 2001 New Beetle TDI and other than some problems with the sound system and an intermittant battery drain, the 50 mpg average is wonderful.