All that Coolshock1 and I forgot to mention the F&I man. I believe thats the finance and insurance manager. There very well schooled in what they do. There job is a very high profit for the dealership. I read where some have moved of from being a sales manger so I would think there well paid.

Once we sighted the papers we hear a follow me. We walked from the toyota sales building over to the GM main sales building. We were introduced to the F&I man sitting there behind his desk. We spent about 30 minutes listening to why we need the extended warranty for only $1000. He wanted another $1000 for the cars maintenance. I did not listen how long that would last but I do remember him mention free oil changes and all filters being replace ever so many miles. I kept repeating, I do my own work, that way I know it's done right. I worked as a carburetor man at a Chevy house when I was young. I got to go to a GM school just a few miles away. I also passed there 400/450 hydramatic school. I tried sales for about six months when they needed somebody. Not much fun when your the middle man carrying customer bids back and forth to the sales manger thats sits in his office and actually does near all the negotiating. It's still a lot like that unless you deal with the manager directly.

Anyway you may be interested in the maintenance and extended warranty. Sleep on that one for sure. I bet is very negotiable. I read somewhere where people pay about half the price there asking. I would check out what Edmunds has to say about these extra services. There a good source of information.

Burt

 

I saw another thread on here where people were getting much better deals. I am definitely going to check into that when I am ready. I have had enough time to sit here and soak in the experience and I am glad it didn't work out. I was going to settle for the lower options and in the long run i don't know if I ould have been as satisfied. I do know that I was extremely impressed though.

What's up with the radio buttons on the steering wheel being on the left and the temp on the right. it felt so awkward trying to use them. The mode button for the display on the instrument panel was in a good spot though.

 

As you mentioned in an earlier note even the low-option versions are _not_ stripped down by any means. I have only mats and moonroof as options, but even that comes with leather steering wheel and gear shift covers, nice wheels, chrome tailpipe, the acoustic windshield glass, auto-dimming mirror with compass, heated side mirrors, traction/stability control, nice stereo, bluetooth, connections for satellite and 'auxiliary devices' (ipods, etc), plays cds of mp3 or wma files.... This is a very nicely equipped unloaded car!

And don't forget while you're making your decision, that if you wait long enough the tax credit will expire completely (right now you should still be able to get $650 off your federal taxes, "if you qualify"--not sure who _doesn't_ qualify), and those 2008 models may be taking over soon and those will actually come more stripped down unless you load up on options. And someone here claimed for a $1000 reduction in price for the stripped-down version, to add all those options back on was $2000. So the credit, the nicely loaded base options, and the ability to negotiate may still make it worth your while to keep from waiting too long to buy....

Just a little more food for thought. (And trust me when you buy it, you'll be glad you did, and wish you'd bought it sooner no matter when you buy!)

 

After a year of driving the new Ford Five Hundred I was just getting used to the cruse buttons on the left of the steering wheel. The radio controls on the right. After my first day of driving the new THC I remembered how well the Toyota stick cruise worked in the 2003 Corolla I owned for the 3 years.

Press the button on the end of the stick to turn it on. Pull down once to engage it. Push up to speed up, pull down to slow or pull toward you to deactivate.

Push up once for one mph faster or pull down once for one mph slower.

I found that pushing up once for each mph don't work to well for my hybrid. This could be due to my car not being broke in yet. I find its best to use the accelerator. That may be different at highway speeds. I'm breaking mine in at 45 mph and slower. I have been doing some 50 mph speeds today.

I may be wrong but in our area the end of year prices are usually $400 over invoice if you work with the manager. Early in the year they might go $800 over. I'm talking about the Corolla. I was surprised at him going $400 over on the hybrid. He also surprised me when he was so low on my trade compared to Edmunds and KBB. My wifes idea to trade the last two cars. I think this time she learned we lost about $1500 by not selling it ourselves. I much prefer to buy a car outright with no trade. Its much easier to compare dealers price quotes.

If they do charge tax in your state then you can save about $500 or so by paying the tax difference between the trade and new car.

Those $400 and $800 over prices may be completely different in the large cities. I remember many years ago I wanted a Honda Accord. The dealer said sticker price only. So we left them and went and bought our first Toyota Corolla. That may have been in '77 but i'm not sure.

I have always snooped new car lots on Sundays when the dealers are closed. Make notes of extras on the various cars. Come home and then figure the cars approximate invoice for that particular model. Thats easier to do today with the cars coming out with so many standard features.

 

It probably all depends on your build. I've got maybe 1 1/2" to spare in headroom (at 6' 2" tall), while my son, at 6' 4" is brushing his head on the ceiling. We both have plenty of legroom and don't need to move back the seat all the way at all. My wife is 5" shorter than me, but we have the same leg length. She doesn't move the seat forward but moves it up! I'm not used to being up against the ceiling because I've been driving vehicles with high ceilings for all of my life (currently have a Ford Ranger which gives me about 4"). I would have been very happy to not have the moonroof. The only real dimensional difference of the hybrid is it is about 1/2" lower to the ground.

 

I was the one who said that, but the price list for the option packages was not released at the time. The $2000 was based on what the options would cost individually on an LE. When the price list was released, the package is actually $1150, for a $150 increase over 2007. Of course, as you mentioned, the $650 tax credit (if applicable) is going away the end of September. Also one needs to consider that the resale at any point in time of the 2008 would be higher. On the other hand, depending on the part of the country, there might be end of year discounts on the 2007. This is something each individual must calculate for themselves!

I do think that in Coolshock1's case, he should wait solely because he has a negative equity in his current car which jacks up the effective price of the new car, only building up more negative equity. Even now he could do much better selling his Bonneville privately, but he would have to somehow pay off his loan. Not a good position, IMHO.

 

I am actually going to pay off some bills in the next 6 months and put some money away on the side at the same time. I have looked into trading my car in several times over the last year at CarMax and what they offered vs what I owe has always been about the same. I realize that I will always have negative equity in it unless I keep it throughout the loan. I did the math based off of the current gas price/my avg mpg on my car and the avg mpg of the TCH reported by many on the net (low of 30, high of 40 = avg 35mpg). The first year of owning the car I figure I should theoretically save around $1700 (remember I am putting in premium fuel right now). That would in essence cover the cost of paying the difference of my car from what I have been historically offered by CarMax. When I am ready to buy I will go to CarMax and hopefully see the same ratio for my car (CarMax offer to what I owe on the loan) and then go to a dealer. If the dealer won't meet the offer then I will probably just go back to CarMax and sell them the car and the go back and buy the TCH. Let this be a lesson to anyone else who thinks about making an impulse buy like I did. I love the Bonneville but wish I would have done the research that I have done this time.

I realize that i will be missing the end of the hybrid credit but I am not gooing to rush into this just to get a credit. I will be getting a much bigger tax break when my child is born right at the end of the year.....a whole years worth of credit for 1 week of life :-) As I get older I am realizing that if I take my time and wait I can usually get what I want not what I will settle for. My car is not broke down and they are not going to stop producing this car anytime soon so I can afford to wait. I do appreciate everyones opinion as it is good to hear both sides of the story.

 

I just re-read my last post and the way I worded some of it confused me on the savings part so I added in the chart I had completed. All I had to do is change the mpg avg and it will changed the entire chart thus showing me what the savings would be at various mpg avg. The miles were strictly based on my work commute for a year.

Boneville Camry Hybrid

Fuel Capacity 18.5 17.4

MPG Avg 23 35

Price Per Gallon $3.22 $3.02

Cost to Fill up $59.57 $52.55

Total Miles per Tank 425.5 609

Total Miles for work 20800 20800

Amt of Tanks Needed 48.88 34.15

Total Cost of Gas $2,912.00 $1,794.74

Yearly Savings $1,117.26

 

Coming to this conversation late, but let me see what I can add:

- Child seat in rear: I bought this car last year specifically because we were about to have a baby. My old Paseo convertible was not going to cut it. Infant seat fits with no problem in the rear, on either side or in the middle. If you use the actual seats (not the middle), then the car is equipped with the new LATCH system to clip in the seat base.

- XM radio: I installed the Terk XM-Direct integrated tuner, and it was my first XM radio. I love it. Sound quality thru the non-NAV JBL system is the best I've heard in a stock factory system, and that include my Cadillac STS JBL system.

- Cloth seats: I've seen better cloth seats, but these aren't bad. My wife thinks the seats are extremely comfortable and she prefers to take this car on long trips (fuel mileage non-withstanding), and she actually prefers this ride to the Cadillac with leather seats.

 

Thanks for the info. I have been bookmarking many different posts so that I can refer to them WHEN (not if) I buy this car. I really like the design of the backside of the front seats how it curves to give some extra room. When I test drove the other day I moved the front seat all of the way back and then sat in the back seat to see how much room there was and there was plenty.

As far as the XM, since I will more than likely be getting the vehicle in the winter months I will live with my SkyFi2 and then follow your instructions for installing the Terk tuner (as long as XM ready head units are still being installed in it) when it warms up.

I've decided that I want the leather seats so unless something strange happens will be getting one of the more loaded packages.