Weird car shopping

[Basement Paul]

FJ's are great vehicles off road, but you might as well get a PT cruiser from a styling standpoint. Plus you the vision aspect.

I like the Pathfinder. It used to be really underpowered, but they've remedied that in the last couple years. And since you're buying new, as long as you keep it away from trees and guardrails, you'll probably be OK. Bring a few oil changes, some front brake pads, and buy a K&N air filter and you should be good. Might I suggest taller tires for ground clearance, or is the off-road package enough? I was also thinking a heavier ply tire to help avoid punctures. It will hurt the ride, but might be worth it when you're driving blind through water and mud.

-BP

[VeeDub]

Does it need to be an SUV or would a pick up with a cap be okay?
An older toyota pick up could be had in the U.S. on the cheap. Plus they sold tons of those things world wide. I think there called hilux in other countries.
Parts should be easy to come by down there. Aren't those the vehicle of choice for militia men and rebels?... they like to mount machine guns in the bed and stuff

Im kinda being funny...but serious also. I would think the worlwide sales of these things would help with parts and an inevitable re-sale.
Somebody would probably love to have a US spec pick up down there.
There super reliable. Im just guessing here... but those guys above dont look like there in factory maintenance intervals, or have the option to take it to the dealership for repair.

[AKROVER]

I like the idea of heavier duty tires as I always felt more secure when I was banging around in heavy duty trucks, but I have never blown a normal light duty tire while off-roading so I don't think I would change out what it comes with unless I decide to buy used and need tires anyway. The off road package does include a slightly taller tire that adds another half inch of ground clearance without any interference issues. It is effectively a 32" tire so it isn't a bad size. I will probably buy a couple extra tires matched to the set to get me through my two years.

Does anyone use tubes anymore? I am thinking that could be an easy way to get an extra spare that is easy to carry (break the bead with a jack, carry some sort of inflator, even my bicycle pump would work). Tubes worked great for demo derby - rarely got a flat with a tube in.

I like little pickups, especially Toyota and Rangers, but we might actually get visitors and we might actually make friends so a back seat is much more desirable than an empty bed. Also, even the regular cab pickups tend to be longer than I want.

I have moved into the negotiation phase and am having fun walking out of dealerships. I haven't experienced such deceitful practices before so I am a little shocked. They like to show you MSRP and then show you something they call the price so you can see the big difference. One of many tricks they employ, though, is that the MSRP includes freight and their 'price' does not (to be added back in before reaching the bottom line). They also similarly employ a 'processing fee' that they add after showing you the 'price'. With this amusing practice, they could theoretically charge me $30K for processing and show me a 'price' of free. I am not to be fooled with numbers so their games are no big deal, but it does disgust me. Unfortunately, the real price of the Xterra has moved upward about $2400 from the advertised prices. I will probably go back to one of these sharks and offer them the advertised price in hopes that sitting on a manual transmission off road truck at the end of the model year in the middle of the city will motivate them to sell for cash flow rather than profit. They probably won't, but it can't hurt to offer. I also keep checking used listings in similar hopeless hoping of finding a great deal.

[Basement Paul]

Now that you know what you want, just shop them online. It's easy and usually gets you the best deal while sitting on your butt. That way they know you're shopping price and they're forced to get you the best price.

Good Luck,

-BP

[MostMint]

For me, negotiating always has to be "out the door" price.

I beleive dealerships don't want smart customers because the profit is too low.

[AKROVER]

The painful shopping saga is over. After having a Nissan dealer call it quits in negotiations yesterday (as opposed to me walking out) a couple thousand away from where I wanted to be, I was getting discouraged (I have never seen a dealer ‘walk away’ before). I wasn’t sure what to do when I headed back out for another day of trying new dealers and looking for unexpected finds.

I knew there was something different about the day when I got a phone call right as the dealerships opened. I had previously clicked through on a stripped down Jeep because its MSRP wasn’t too far from where I wanted to end up. The dealership had emailed a quote that was a joke – they ‘discounted’ the price about $2000, but then added back in freight and a processing fee that totaled almost $1500 giving me a real total of merely $500 below MSRP. Well it was the salesman who called first thing this morning and when he asked me what I thought, I told him. He asked if he could call me back with a better price and then stunned me ten minutes later with an almost $2000 drop from the previous quote. I was tempted to change course and head over, but I wanted to check a used one at a different Jeep dealer.

At the other Jeep dealer, I ran into what can only be described as desperation. They didn’t have anything I wanted, but they were trying everything to prevent me from leaving. I even let them talk me into taking the used one for a test drive even though it was going to be too expensive by the time I put a hardtop on it (they used a stock photo with a hardtop on their vague web listing). When the salesman tried to pull one last delay tactic, I explained that I had to leave. He looked like I had stepped on his puppy. While I was there, I did take the chance to study the Jeep line better and realized that the stripped down Jeep at the other dealer wouldn’t have adequate tires and that even the rims might need to be replaced to accommodate a reasonable size. Suddenly the stripped down model was getting more costly.

Not wanting to give up on Nissan, I went to yet another dealer for one last try. I explained that I didn’t think there was any way I would get the off road version for what I was willing to spend, so I talked about getting a stripped down Xterra and adding a few off road pieces aftermarket. He kept reminding me how much value there was in the off road package. While the fancy stereo system doesn’t mean much to me, just the off road gear pretty much pays for the package. I acknowledged the value, but explained that it didn’t matter when it all adds up to more than I want to spend. He explained his simple approach to pricing and since he wasn’t playing the shell game with freight charges like everyone else, I said, “let’s take a look at your bottom line”. He quickly printed a simple looking breakdown that was right around where the other dealer had been after serious effort. I thanked him for the straightforward approach, but explained it just wasn’t in the cards for me. I headed out to the car and backed out of my parking space. I started to head the wrong way on a one-way driveway, so I had to maneuver back into the space before heading out the other way. When I did, my way was being blocked by the salesman. I rolled down my window and the price dropped $1000. I told him that I knew that was a really good offer, but it was still more than I wanted to pay. I was frozen in the parking lot, blocking the driveway thinking about what to do. He finally asked what would make it a no brainer for me. I had been mentally prepared to make an offer had I thought we would even be close so I knew the number, a thousand less than his new good offer. To my surprise, he agreed to meet me halfway. I blocked the driveway for a few more seconds before pulling back into the space and agreeing to buy it at $27, 100 out the door (MSRP is $31,200, $2500 rebate so dealer discounted about $2500 to cover tax, about $1000 below invoice).

In my extensive lifetime of car shopping experiences, I don’t think I have ever been shopping and ready to buy on the last day of the month before. I can only say it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. There was definitely something in the air today.

[GMJohnny]

Nice job Tim! All of this haggling he's been doing with dealers is hilarious.
What everybody doesn't know is that Tim and I have coined a deal on the sale
of his old car. It took 2 emails and one phone conversation. I have to find a
method of getting it back from Washington, D.C., but that's now in the making.
The funny thing is I said I'd buy a car I've never driven, and I've only seen twice.
I sure hope Tim isn't secretly a used car dealership manager!!!

GM

[Fred32v]

We are all looking forward to a picture of the Nissan in its' new habitat.