We have been casually looking for a replacement car for my wifes 2014 VW Jetta SE for a couple of months now. The first serious contender was a 2017 Accord LX. We ended up backing off of that particular one due to more wear than either of us wanted on a car we would be making payments on. I continued to look for used Accords (new is out of price range, and the current 10th gen has it's own set of issues anyway), but used are few and far between. When I first started looking a couple of months back it wasn't uncommon to see used 2017 Accord LX models going for $15K-$16K with 30,000-40,000 miles. Now you are lucky to find a base LX with 40K miles for under $17,000 regardless of condition. The used car market stinks!
Fast forward to the beginning of last week. I found a 2017 Ford Fusion SE with appearance package and only 13,000 miles equipped with the solid 2.5 4 cylinder. They were only asking $16000. The pictures looked good besides one curbed wheel which I decided I would have replaced since the car was priced so aggressively. We ended up driving 2 hours yesterday to go test drive it only to find out the front end was littered with spots where the clear coat had etching due to bugs not being washed off in time. We test drove anyway to get a feel for it and we both thought it was acceptable. We just couldn't get over the paint damage, so we passed. They showed us a hybrid model while we were there, it was also in poor condition (by our standards) and also had clear coat etching!!! Ford, what is going on with your paint?
Since we were already 2 hours away from home and felt defeated we decided we may as well check out other lots in that area. My wife has always loved her VW's (as have I, despite their quirks and problems) so I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if we could at least take a look at the current model Jetta. I called up the closest VW dealer and they said they had only 2 Jetta S models on their lot. The sales manager told me they were offering $1000 off new Jettas and $3500 off new Passats. They only had 1 Passat on the lot and it was black, so that was out. Besides, I'm not a fan of the new Passat styling anyway. Once we got there we saw both S models, one in white and one in Silk Blue Metallic. We have always liked the Silk Blue color so we requested a test drive. Both the wifey and I liked it so we decided to talk numbers. Long story short we were able to get $3000 off MRSP and a fair trade in offer on her 2014 Jetta SE. So as of last night we are the proud owners of a new 2020 VW Jetta S with the driver assistance package in Silk Blue Metallic.
The last picture is a small part of the Fusions front bumper showing clear coat etching from bug damage.
