Shopping for a new car blues

Ford Focus,
have you looked into leasing.....

Corolla baby. My 2003 has 208k miles. I've done my own work on the car. $500 for struts on 4 corners, $90 for a starter, $100 for O2 sensors and $10 for an intake manifold gasket. Changed the oil every 5k and flushed the coolant once. Easy car to work on DIY.

No, as I drive 100 miles a day to and from work.

dfwgambler - I intend to go all cash if I can swing it....

chef, are you male or female? I ask because those four tiny cars you are looking at are mostly aimed at young girls.

That said, the Honda Fit is an absolutely terrible looking car, and it would be a wonder if it performed anywhere even close the Accent.

What job is worth driving 50 miles each way? I hope at least the traffic isn't bad, and that you're well paid for your effort.

You need to check how all of those cars are geared. For example the Fit's 6th gear is tuned for urban driving that is they don't want people in urban driving environments to have to down shit as much. However, it hurts the HWY MPG you get in return. So if you buy a Fit and drive that much on the HWY you are likely to be disappointed by your real world MPG. If I were you I would consider one of those new 2015 VW TDI Golfs that are just being released on a long commute like that 50MPG is possible. Plus the resale value is outstanding.

I had to drive 700 miles each way for a job two weeks ago. I don't care if anyone thinks small cars are mostly aimed at young girls. My daily driver is an old Astro van that gets low teens in mileage. I rented a new (777 miles on the odometer) Prius that got an honest 45 mpg for that trip. I wish I could have kept it.

....and I'm pretty sure Tony is a guy.

well you can do a smart fortwo ?

But for under 20,000, I'd say Honda Civic.

IF you are going to do cash....well that will give you ALOT of negotiating room.

That is not true anymore. Now that most of the car pricing is available on the internet the margins on new cars are very slim. The dealership actually makes more money by signing someone up for financing. The finance companys pay the dealer a fee for each loan originated.

1. I am male and the #1 issue is price followed by gas mileage.
2. I really don't care as long as it fits #1 and 2.
3. One that pays more than $10/hr and has some benefits.
4. I don't have $2 mil to blow on a car that goes 250+mph for about 20 miles until you have to fill it up again...

Btw, the last car I had was an Aveo before everyone else bought one.

I'm also shopping for a new car and wish I wasn't. Not sure if this is just limited to Toyotas and Corollas but no one seems to want to give you an honest final price. They'll throw a figure out there and it'll either be without sales tax or some part that isn't optional anyway.

Tim