A friend of mine was in the market for a new car after her MKV Jetta 2.5 was totaled.
We looked at many cars: Accord, Civic, Matrix, Equinox, Camry, Altima, Sonata, 2011 Elantra and a CPO Acura TL. Among those cars, I think she liked the Sonata and Camry best. The Elantra was the least favorite car due to unacceptable NVH and poor ride quality. However, her friends steered her towards the Accord for a number of reasons-- some of which were justifiable, some not.
After deciding on an Accord, she was adamant about getting a V6. Due to her budget of about $20k, she had to pick between a new 4-cyl or a CPO '08-09 Accord EX-L V6 lease return. She was smart enough to realize that although she wanted a V6, it was not worth having to buy a 2-3 year old car with 45k miles in order to be able to stay within budget. Therefore, we went with the choice of a new 4-cyl.
I suggested an Accord LX-P, since it comes with the power driver seat, alloy wheels, auto up/down windows and security system for less than $1000 more than the base model LX. Somehow the planets aligned that day, and I was able to get the LX-P in the exact color combination she wanted (silver/grey interior) for $19,700 + tax. This was $1891 under invoice, and $4030 under sticker. Part of the reason why this deal was possible was because of the $1250 dealer cash that is currently going on. She also financed the car for 5 years at 0.9% APR through the AHFC program.
The dealer we worked with was great. Although another dealer could have beat the price by a few hundred bucks, I felt more comfortable working with this dealer. In this situation, it is worth sacrificing a few hundred bucks for a smoother buying experience and at the end of the day, it IS okay for the dealer to make some money.
The dealer did not pull any nasty tricks on us and had the vehicle prepped, finance paperwork processed and features explained in about 75 minutes. This was simply the quickest transaction I have seen considering the complexity of the finance situation. And on the way out, we discovered that the car had a trunk tray and wheel locks on there (the dealer that originally had this car put these on as an add-on), but our selling dealer did not notice these so we got $195 of accessories for free.
Overall, it was a long shopping experience with a happy ending. She ended up with a practical, decent car for a good price. After looking at all of the cars that I did, the reputation, conservative styling and more refined designs of the Camry and Accord will allow them to be more easily resold in the future. Their designs will also age a lot better, as opposed to the overstyled Hyundai and Nissan products which change drastically with each redesign. The Accord also had the largest interior of the segment, which is what matters most to the buyers in this segment, not the number of speeds in the transmission or the type of fuel injection that many enthusiasts focus on.
I think the #1 most important thing I learned from this adventure is to look past the media and forum hype and to think critically about your true needs for the car. It is too common for people buy "more car" than they need and this results in needlessly high lifecycle costs. Sometimes, the newest and most technologically advanced car today will not be the best car to own after five years.
We looked at many cars: Accord, Civic, Matrix, Equinox, Camry, Altima, Sonata, 2011 Elantra and a CPO Acura TL. Among those cars, I think she liked the Sonata and Camry best. The Elantra was the least favorite car due to unacceptable NVH and poor ride quality. However, her friends steered her towards the Accord for a number of reasons-- some of which were justifiable, some not.
After deciding on an Accord, she was adamant about getting a V6. Due to her budget of about $20k, she had to pick between a new 4-cyl or a CPO '08-09 Accord EX-L V6 lease return. She was smart enough to realize that although she wanted a V6, it was not worth having to buy a 2-3 year old car with 45k miles in order to be able to stay within budget. Therefore, we went with the choice of a new 4-cyl.
I suggested an Accord LX-P, since it comes with the power driver seat, alloy wheels, auto up/down windows and security system for less than $1000 more than the base model LX. Somehow the planets aligned that day, and I was able to get the LX-P in the exact color combination she wanted (silver/grey interior) for $19,700 + tax. This was $1891 under invoice, and $4030 under sticker. Part of the reason why this deal was possible was because of the $1250 dealer cash that is currently going on. She also financed the car for 5 years at 0.9% APR through the AHFC program.
The dealer we worked with was great. Although another dealer could have beat the price by a few hundred bucks, I felt more comfortable working with this dealer. In this situation, it is worth sacrificing a few hundred bucks for a smoother buying experience and at the end of the day, it IS okay for the dealer to make some money.
Overall, it was a long shopping experience with a happy ending. She ended up with a practical, decent car for a good price. After looking at all of the cars that I did, the reputation, conservative styling and more refined designs of the Camry and Accord will allow them to be more easily resold in the future. Their designs will also age a lot better, as opposed to the overstyled Hyundai and Nissan products which change drastically with each redesign. The Accord also had the largest interior of the segment, which is what matters most to the buyers in this segment, not the number of speeds in the transmission or the type of fuel injection that many enthusiasts focus on.
I think the #1 most important thing I learned from this adventure is to look past the media and forum hype and to think critically about your true needs for the car. It is too common for people buy "more car" than they need and this results in needlessly high lifecycle costs. Sometimes, the newest and most technologically advanced car today will not be the best car to own after five years.
