Did Some Car Shoppin'

[cabinetman]

LOML and I dropped off my Explorer for the recall work. On our way out looked at a few new cars. They had a couple of Shelby Mustangs (cool, but overpriced). Salesman approached with the "Can I help you?".

Showed us the new Taurus "Limited". If that car had a Mercedes or Lexus badge, it was in the wrong dealership. I've gotta say the car is one cool car. It's got all the bells and whistles for about $20K less. It rides great, and is very quiet. A few of the goodies that may clench the deal are; backup camera, outside mirror blind spot graphics, push button start, turn by turn nav, satellite radio, multi-speaker sound, heated/massaging seats, leather, automatic with paddle shift manual, and more.

One feature that she loved was the close ratio steering for pivoting turns. It seems to turn with the back wheels being the pivot. I mean it turns a very tight circle. She may get parallel parking down after all.

So, now starts the negotiating games.
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[germdoc]

heated/massaging seats

Hmmm--I usually fall asleep during massages (rather embarassing, I might add)--that might not be a good thing.

I have been VERY impressed with some of the new American cars coming out. I particularly like the Taurus, the Chevy Malibu, and the Buick La Crosse (obviously). If I were looking for a family sedan, I would think about those. Or a new Camaro...

Having said that, I may end up getting another Subaru Outback (made in Indiana, BTW) because I need a 4WD recreational machine that gets good gas mileage and drives fast and smooth. It's been the most practical car that I've ever owned.

[Mr__Bill]

You live in the F state! what do you need the heated seats for? Is there something the rest of us need to know that we have been missing out on?



Bill
over here on the big ocean

[JimD]

It's probably a great car but one of the comments in Car and Drivers unintended acceleration article is that the Camry with the gas floored stopped from 70 mph one foot shorter than a Taurus with the accelerator "off". But the Camry was only increased by 16 feet from having the gas pedal floored.

My standard procedure when I decide it's time for a new car is to make up a spreadsheet of critical to me data. I'm above average height, for instance, as are my kids. So I care about headroom and footroom. And engine size just because I care. Any features I want go into the sheet too. Then I go to Edmunds and start looking around at what is available.

My last purchase was a convertible. I started out thinking I wanted a Miata or maybe a Mustang. I test drove a Miata and found out how unusable the trunk is and crossed it off. Then I found out I could buy a BMW 128i for not that much more than a mustang. BMWs have lots of nicer features too. There are multiple threads on the BMW forums talking about how much performance you get in the mustang for how much less but if you price them up on Edmunds, it is not $20K, and not $10K, it's closer to 3-5K. And you can't get all the BMW features on the Mustang. Your list for the Taurus didn't mention automatic wipers. Another thing you don't really need but is quite nice to have. It comes standard on BMWs these days.

You may end up with the Taurus but I would do a little "shopping" at least on the internet just to make sure it is what you want. A Buick Lucernne (sp?) is also pretty nice. I don't know if it's big enough but a BMW 318i starts at about $30K and you can do european delivery (a free european vacation paid for by a 7% discount on the car). A Taurus is probably more similar in size to a 5 series and that would be more money. And you may be more of a Lexus or Infiniti person.

Edmunds will give you the invoice, the list price and what they call the TMV or true market value of the car with your features in your area. It's a nice way to figure out about what you will pay and what represents a decent deal. I paid a little less on my BMW but it was quite close (other dealers asked signficantly more than the TMV, however).

Sometimes the luxury brands are too much more for me to swallow but this time I decided to go ahead and spend a little more. But particularly in passenger cars, the lines are certainly blurring between the everyday brands and the so called luxury brands. When you really do get essentially the same car without the nameplate for significantly less (and significant is whatever you decide it is), I would do it too.

Jim

[cabinetman]

You live in the F state! what do you need the heated seats for? Is there something the rest of us need to know that we have been missing out on?

Bill
over here on the big ocean

Personally I could care less about the heated seats. Wife seems to like them. I do like lumbar adjustment.
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