Here’s my problem. I fell in love with a car.
Right now, my friends, family and those who’ve read this blog are probably laughing. Me, the chick who hates driving, who hates cars, who would rather walk from Solana Beach to Del Mar than take a bus (only 3 miles, not bad), the woman who adores her bike so much she likes to bike in the cold October rain, has fallen for a car.
And it’s the freakin’ expensive Prius. A fully loaded Prius is $35k, and honestly, that’s more than I was thinking of spending. The worst part is even the used ones are around $20k, which is the upper end of where I was looking.
Yesterday we went to a very nice dealer, not a Honda/Toyota dealer, but a “Dodge” dealer that is pretty much an American dealership. I have nothing but nice to say at the guys from Sherman Dodge. They let us test a few cars, all SUVs but that was our choice, and we sorted out a couple things about our car wishes, wants and needs. The part where is sucks to be them, and I do feel for them, is what happened when we went home.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, they pushed the hard sell. We both had expected this, and were prepared to walk away. The MSRP on the 2010 Jeep Liberty is $24k even. The first price they offered was $21, and then right away they said “But we can start at $17k, and throw in extras.” Extras like oil changes, car washes, etc. Then we got into warranties and such. They tried to say you could only get extended warranty on a new car, so I upfront asked “Can’t you get that on a used car?” He hesitated, but said you could and then proceeded to pretend I never asked that. Fine, I understand why they do that. They kept pushing “What can we do to sell you a car today?” Finally they got the hint after we said ‘Nothing, we’ll let you know.’ Information was traded, hands shook, and we caught a ride from Rae (who is fast becoming BEST friend for the lifts she’s given me!).
Rae and her sister like American cars. And I understand why. There’s a feel to an American car that really feels … American. I don’t agree that American cars are the best. That said, I think that if you get an SUV, you should buy American because we understand exactly what goes into a big car. The comfort, the layout, etc. On the other hand, if you get a sedan, it should be a European or Asian car, because they understand the meshing of small size and big functions.
We got home, and I said “Bet you anything they call before Friday.” They just called and asked to work out an lower price. They were already $7000 off MSRP on a new Liberty, so I was amused. Still, we had to tell them what had happened when we got home. See, I went to FaceBook and posted that I’d been car shopping. Immediately my friends jumped in with comments, suggestions, advice, and ‘yay!’ I realized I’d yet to tap into the greatest source of help I had, and re-posted right away with an outright request for advice, as I am a newb.
Well.
My friends rock. They explained how to use Kelly’s Blue Book and other such tools to price compare, get reviews, and such. One friend swore by used cars, another said she only bought new. Obviously your mileage may vary (you see what I did there). It was enough to get me started and sort out that there’s a reason the Liberty was being offered at dropping prices. The resale value and 5-year cost to own on it are utter, total, entire crap.
The Liberty would be about $16k, lets say. A Prius would be about $25. Over five years, the Liberty would cost us about $45k. The Prius would be closer to $25… That’s $10k difference. Not to mention the resale on a Prius is double that of the Liberty. It is, simply, a better investment.
So we told the Jeep guys what we’d determined. They weren’t pleased, but understood.
I have nothing against them, and frankly, IF I get an SUV, I’m going through them. The problem is, we’re not. And that’s actually their ‘fault’. Thanks to the test drives, we know the following.
- an SUV needs a v6 engine or it’s pretty much worthless
- power windows are worth it
- if a car has 4×4 drive, it better be monkey simple to use
- if the dealer has to crack the handbook to figure out how to do something, it’s a bad car (Rav 4, I’m looking at you)
- daytime running lights are a bonus
- audio jack for the MP3 players would be nice
- trunk space! the rear seats MUST fold down
- security systems are good things
That’s a pretty short list. The ‘basics’ I consider a requirement are kind of the basics on most cars. Power steering, anti-lock brakes, power windows, automatic transmission, etc. And obviously I consider gas mileage important (which is about 90% of the reason I want to marry the Prius). What we don’t need are things like Sirius radio, leather seats, a built in nav system, and the show boat crap people put on cars to prove their worth.
So why the Prius still? Because I found this on Flikr:
These photos are taken on our return from a $860 shopping trip to Ikea. Two adults, a baby in carseat, his stroller and all our Ikea purchases, all fit in the Prius. Barely.
Shown here: 3 boxes for Bonde shelf with glass doors, 5 boxes for Effectiv storage unit with 2 add-on units and 2 pairs doors, white shelves to fix to walls, storage baskets to put in Effectiv unit, box and plastic storage drawers for simple storage unit, a couple drawer organizers, big plastic storage boxes for garage, driver, baby, carseat and stroller. All this plus the photographer went into the Prius, drove home and came out again safely.
Credit: milele @ flickr
While, looking at our long term plans, that won’t cover everything we need to haul, it’s a hell of a good start, and would do for at least 5 years, easy. And storage? Not as bad as you’d thing.
My man Flynn claims that the Prius has a ton of storage with the seats down (I knew that thanks to Fickr). Next I did a quick search to see how much extra crap we could do. Turns out people like to do things to their Prius like put on a fanny pack, tote around a canoe, haul a couple bikes and even go surfing.
The problem is the lowest price I’ve come up with for a bare bones (with what I want) Prius is $24,279 in Lincolnwood. Since we don’t have a car to get there, I may end up printing that up to bring with us to a more local place and say ‘Well this guy is offering similar for less…’ and see how that goes. I admit, the financing terrifies me a little bit. I don’t really know how much is too much to pay a month. I mean, I know what I can afford, but I don’t know if that’s realistic. I have absolutely no baseline when it comes to this. (Aside: Thank you Ari, for telling me he thinks most people end up paying $400-$500 a month. And Flynn for saying $300 was reasonable. Now I have a baseline. And it makes me flinch a little.)
So … Anyone wanna hand me $25k for a new car?
Hmmm. You’ve already gotten lots of advice. Don’t know what I can add to it. We’ve been buying Kia minivans, mostly because they have the highest safety ratings, a 10 year-100,000 mile warranty, free roadside service (that really works-flat tire from a nail experience there) and they’ve proven very reliable. The Sedona (front wheel drive, V6) has lots of room inside, more cargo space than an SUV if the middle and back seats are taken out. The front wheel drive is plenty good enough in snow, unless you have steep hills like parts of Kansas City. I don’t think Chicago does.
If you can possibly wait till closer to the end of the year, you’ll probably get better prices on any make 2009 models since the lot owners won’t want them on their balance sheets in 2010.
I had not thought about the 2010/09 switchover. Good point! The Prius is only about $1k difference between the lowest end 2009 I’d buy and the 2010 model II (the model I doesn’t come out till mid-year apparently).