Ever stopped at a dealer to confim how great your current car is?

[99LeCouch]

I was passing by a local Honda dealership today and got curious if there was any 2010 model that was significantly better than my 11 year old rolling couch. In a word, nope. The cars I looked at had fancy, whiz-bang drivetrains and cabin gadgets. They got the same or worse fuel economy for the same size car, and had less interior and trunk space. Yeah, these were gleaming and new. Then I got into my dented, scraped, well-used car and realized there's nothing like a well-padded bench seat with a flip-up armrest that's had many thousands of miles to conform to my backside.

I know I'll have to get a different car someday. With any luck that day will not be for a very long while. This current car of mine is great in many ways, so it's staying around. And the ways it's not great in are highly subject to driver control!

[luvit]

i have talked to a lot of dealers for many years.
i've only liked one guy. he was square. his name is Andy.

VanDervere Auto Outlet
3155 S. Arlington Rd.
Akron, OH 44312
800-218-7109, ask for Andy.

really, 99% of dealers suck. maybe 99.99%

[Red Lion]

99LeCouch, I know how you feel. There are many reasons I would never buy a new Sentra SE-R over my old 93 B13, from inferior engine (SR>QR), to inferior suspension design (beam axles???), to heavier weight, to the fact the newest Sentras look like taller, narrower Altimas.

And most of all, the price! $1900 for my old SE-R with 188,xxx miles and still running strong!

Originally Posted by luvit

really, 99% of dealers suck. maybe 99.99%

I love being a car guy and talking to salesmen who don't really know anything.

I once had a dealer try to tell me the intercooler on a Subaru STI was actually the radiator, that "they put the radiators on top the engine on these cars for better cooling!"

Ignoring that obviously silly reasoning, I simply pointed to the actual radiator and asked, "then what's that?"

He stuttered a bit then walked off

[RobertSmalls]

The only point I'll disagree with you on, LeCouch, is the fuel economy. The 2010 Accord has a higher EPA FE rating than the 2000 Accord or the 1999 LeSabre. That is despite it being more full of gadgets and airbags, and larger overall than the 2000 Accord.

I recently helped my mom shop for a car, and we spent a lot of time at the Honda dealership. I sat in all the cars, and none of them wowed me. I prefer my own cars' familiar, broken-in interior over anything new.

[MadisonMPG]

Dumb salesmen make me LOL.

[Lazarus]

You need to go by posted EPA mileage of each vehicles not what mileage you are getting in your car. If you are 30% over EPA it's a good change the new car will be 30% over too if you are applying the same mods and techniques.

So if the posted EPA value of the new car is higher then the posted EPA of the LeSabre then apples to apples the higher one wins. Also new cars are usually a lot better on emissions even if the mileage in not that much higher.

Having driven beaters my whole life when I rent a car I always come away with a strong feeling of " I could get used to that"

[luvit]

yeah. i love new cars.
but i'm cheap, i have one new car payment, but my road warrior car is my lovely 1986 accord. -- i put over 36,000 miles on in a year.
new car goes to wife for peace of mind when i'm gone.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by luvit

i have talked to a lot of dealers for many years.
i've only liked one guy. he was square. his name is Andy.

VanDervere Auto Outlet
3155 S. Arlington Rd.
Akron, OH 44312
800-218-7109, ask for Andy.

really, 99% of dealers suck. maybe 99.99%

No joke, my Grandma bought a new 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Classic from VanDevere on S. Arlington.

My Dad still has it, with 88K original miles, mint interior, and ... blown motor. Last year, a relative borrowed it for a while, the oil light came on, checked that the level was fine and kept driving. Apparently the transmission fluid was full. Oil? Dry. Yup, threw a rod.

It's for sale, and for the right price, it can be yours! Less than 28,000 were built of the last RWD Cutlass. Conveniently located in the Barberton Metro Area. Get it before it's gone! (or a new crate motor is dropped in to make it ridiculously inefficient). Serious collectors with serious money will be considered.

Back on topic, I've realized the same over the years after driving many new rental cars and having fun stopping by dealers when out of town (most of them didn't know much of anything about cars). Anyways, they don't make a car like the Integra anymore. We got the Insight out of necessity for a fuel efficient 4-door with some long-term reliability, but Teggy remains. Lots of life left in that car (and still fun to drive)...

RH77

[alohaspirit]

ill never buy new from a dealer

sometimes even used cars feel "too new" for me





the only way ill drive a NEW car is if I win one

(and then id probably sell it, and use 1/4 of the money to buy a really nice used car)

[SentraSE-R]

If I owned an older car, I'd keep it. But no one has mentioned the main advantage of newer cars. They're far safer. Red Lion's B13 SE-R lacks the side air bags and crumple zones that my B15 SE-R has. In the early 90s, passenger air bags and antilock brakes were options on high end cars. Now they and vehicle stability and traction control come on most cars. In a head-on collision, my engine is going to drop down out of the way while high tensile steel crumples to protect me. In the B13, that non-compressible engine is coming straight back into the driver and passenger. Going back to '80s cars, many of them still had non-collapsible steering columns that went right through your chest in an accident.

I owned a B14 SE-R, so I know how delightful the older SE-Rs were. But the newer cars are much safer.