http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-volt-20100727,0,7059556.story How is this a good idea? Why pay more for less and end up paying more after owning the car. You can get for 14K a Toyota Corolla with good milage and will cost much less over 5 years total cost VS the Volt. And on another note, why are we subsidizing foreign competitors? China and Japan do not. Screw em. I thought California has a deficit. So now they want to give 5K to a bunch of folks so they can buy these autos?
Toyota Corolla is not $14K My friend got one last week fully loaded for $20K Toyota is not cheap, even Toyota Yaris Auto starts around $16K
Note the key phrase "14k with good mileage" i.e. slightly used...which anybody can do, even if the car were listed at $17k.
Your friend is a fool paying 20K for a fully loaded corolla. A Corolla is supposed to be a inexpensive auto, not some Luxury vehicle. You can get a Toyota Corolla for 14 Grand off the lot if you haggle well. A Base model 2010 with not much work can be had for about 15600 off the lot.
OK, 14K is a little low, but I'm pretty sure your friend could've talked down the price. In general, you should offer 12% below sticker price. Do not increase that offer price because the dealer chose to add this and that unless you ask for it.
Huh?? I have routinely negotiated price BEFORE discussing how the thing is to be paid for. Don't let them hang the financing thing over your head as you CAN always leave. That's usually my plan going into a dealership.. to leave without the car..
Smart buyers never look for financing at the dealer, they already have the cash or prepared loan from a bank or credit union etc.. where its pretty much writing a check and driving off. Also smart buyers never haggle from stickerprice down, Stickerprice is Arbitrary and set at the dealer. You negotiate by the invoice and figure out what the kickbacks,etc.. are also priced in and negotiate from there up. Anyhow, The Volt just makes no sense, A Corolla makes more sense for someone trying to save on transportation costs. A volt is so expensive that you will never see the fuel savings by owning one so it makes it a moot point. The Volt is gonna sell to a few limousine liberals who want the smug appeal factor. The Irony that California, a state with a big deficit is going to subsidize the purchase of a toy for the smug well off limousine liberals. Volt makes no economic sense.
Even a hybrid is questionable in value. It takes 7 years to pay off the premium of a hybrid. By that time, the batteries may need replacing, and batteries aren't cheap. I prefer a Corolla over a Prius. Another thing, for those in the snow belt states, batteries don't hold a charge well in the cold.
Agree to all of the above. Still drive my 96 Corolla get 24 and 30 MPG paid off for 10 years. Probably buy a Hyundai this time. Having ridden in Elantra Turbo diesel it was nice and got approx 50 MPG. Don't understand why we don't have better choice of diesel cars. Makes more sense than electric. Just need low sulfur diesel or bio diesel. Why not sugar ethanol. Oh that's right upset the corn lobby since their product is superior, LOL. Heck why not natural gas, guess their lobby isn't strong enough either.