Car Advice

[CombatVet]

So INGO, my wife and I are looking to get our first brand new car. I've been scouring the internet comparing cars on price and fuel efficiency. The cars I think we're interested in are Toyota Prius II: It's about 22k new in Bloomington. Best price I've found online.This is probably my favorite for it's fuel efficiency. It gets 50 mpg city. It has a lot of the options I want as standard. Honda Insight: a better price, I think the best internet price I found in reasonable driving distance was 18k.It gets around 48 MPG city, not as good as the Prius, but still very good. My main issue with this car is that when it "idles" it shuts off the AC/Heat. While not a big deal I suppose, but in the winter time "warming up" the car sounds impossible. The last car we're really looking at is the Hundai Accent. It looks very nice and is only 13k. It's fuel efficiency isn't as good (30 city) but that's not bad at all. It's much better than the 15 I get in my Probe. I don't know anyone who has ever owned a Hundai and know nothing about them. I assume they're similar to KIA's since the price is comparable (better in some cases).

So INGO what can you tell me of Hundai. First hand accounts are the best obviously.

 

[ruger1800]

Prius is nice looked at them long and hard before i got a corolla, am getting 36-38 mpg driving to work, couldnt justify the extra cost of the prius, plus the batteries are a huge expense when replacing. do the math dont think it will save you on fuel unless you trade it in before replacing the batteries. unless fuel goes to 6 dollars a gallon.

 

[tyler34]

hyundai makes 5 cars that get 40 mpg. I would loo at those like it's been said the batteries are $$$$$$$ plus your liable to have the world implode if you put an INGO on a prius.

 

[stilllearning09]

I don't know much about the makes of cars you've asked about, but look into large group purchasing power to negotiate a better deal. NRA, some unions (please no union bashing here) and large groups (like AARP) have car buying programs that will give you a better price than the online price due to the size of the organization. Some of my friends have saved $800 - 4,500 on the online price using these programs, depending on the make and model of the vehicle. Just throwing out another idea to save money.

 

[85t5mcss]

I know little about the Hybrids. Battery life is 8 years IIRC. Expensive, too.

Hyundais? Economical, fuel efficient, good warranty. Too bad GM couldn't follow their lead.
Oh, also reliable. My brother has one (forget model-Elantra maybe) and it has needed very little repairs. We have changed oil, done brakes all the way around, 2 headlight bulbs, brake light, license plate bulb and a battery. The only other work was a trans flush and reprogram. It had a weird shifting issue but since he had done the service intervals required-the warranty covered the repair. Must maintain for warranty to cover problems.

Or u could buy a GM truck that shuts down cylinders to help with MPG

 

[prowland]

My parents have the hyundai sonata and the elantra. The sonata has about 180,000 miles on it and its an 04 I think. Both were bought new.

They really like them both. The elantra only has about 40,000 miles on it.

I have the Kia optima 07. I get a bit over 30mpg driving the highway. IMO a great size car vs mpg. We have taken a bunch of trips in both the kia and hyundais and they have been great.

As far as the prius I have heard that the cost of batteries has come down substantially from what they used to cost.

There was a site that showed total cost of ownership of cars. I can't remember the web address right now but it figures in gas and routine maintenance. Someone else might remember it. Might be worth looking into.


***IMO*** Never buy a brand new car unless you plan on driving it for the next 15+ years. You are wasting money by buying a brand new car!!!! Get one with 15K on the odometer and a year or two old and save thousands of $$$$$ ****IMO****

 

[CombatVet]

hyundai makes 5 cars that get 40 mpg. I would loo at those like it's been said the batteries are $$$$$$$ plus your liable to have the world implode if you put an INGO on a prius.

Carry a big gun and drive a Prius is what I tell my friends lol.

I know little about the Hybrids. Battery life is 8 years IIRC. Expensive, too.

Hyundais? Economical, fuel efficient, good warranty. Too bad GM couldn't follow their lead.
Oh, also reliable. My brother has one (forget model-Elantra maybe) and it has needed very little repairs. We have changed oil, done brakes all the way around, 2 headlight bulbs, brake light, license plate bulb and a battery. The only other work was a trans flush and reprogram. It had a weird shifting issue but since he had done the service intervals required-the warranty covered the repair. Must maintain for warranty to cover problems.

Or u could buy a GM truck that shuts down cylinders to help with MPG

I owned a 90 Dodge Ram, does that count? Sucker got 5 miles to the gallon.

My parents have the hyundai sonata and the elantra. The sonata has about 180,000 miles on it and its an 04 I think. Both were bought new.

They really like them both. The elantra only has about 40,000 miles on it.

I have the Kia optima 07. I get a bit over 30mpg driving the highway. IMO a great size car vs mpg. We have taken a bunch of trips in both the kia and hyundais and they have been great.

As far as the prius I have heard that the cost of batteries has come down substantially from what they used to cost.

There was a site that showed total cost of ownership of cars. I can't remember the web address right now but it figures in gas and routine maintenance. Someone else might remember it. Might be worth looking into.


***IMO*** Never buy a brand new car unless you plan on driving it for the next 15+ years. You are wasting money by buying a brand new car!!!! Get one with 15K on the odometer and a year or two old and save thousands of $$$$$ ****IMO****

You hit the nail on the head with that last part. I plan on giving this car to my son when he gets his license. He's 4 right now, so yeah, I plan on driving it till it's dead. That's the ONLY reason we want a new car, so we can care for it correctly and make it last.

Keep the advice coming INGO. Everything online review I've read gives the Accent good reviews (2012).

 

[indyjohn]

***IMO*** Never buy a brand new car unless you plan on driving it for the next 15+ years. You are wasting money by buying a brand new car!!!! Get one with 15K on the odometer and a year or two old and save thousands of $$$$$ ****IMO****

This...

The statement that the world will implode if an INGOer gets in a Prius is also +1.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

my aunt and uncle have owned two hyundais (first one back in '96 or so). they loved them both.

 

[INMIline]

I say buy a Camry with a 2.2 that's around 100,000 miles (don't care what year but run a carfax to be sure miles are actual) run amsoil in it and save $20,000 plus interest

 

[INMIline]

But if you're out to buy a new car American auto makers have thier head out of their asses now, it's just that the trust is gone

 

[jfed85]

I agree with those who said avoid buying brand new. Ive done it once, and wont ever again. Lets face it, in all honesty why do we buy brand new? So we can tell our friends and family we bought a brand new car off the lot. That novelty wears off real quick, especially when you look at how much money you could have saved.

I just bought a used 08 mazdaspeed 3 which sold for $27,000 new In perfect condition with 26k miles on it and still smells new for $14k. warranty good to 50K and all. Deals are out there to be had and I can tell you 99% of the time they arent on new vehicles.

Another thing to keep in mind, a friend of mine has a honda civic hybrid (im only assuming but I guess most hybrids are the same when it comes to repair cost) and he had to have a catalytic converter replace and they wanted over $900 to do that. If you arent a mechanic and dont know how to do repairs I have heard hybrid repairs are usually expensive. Like I said that needs to be verified Im just letting you know everything I have heard.

If it were me, I would find a used hyundai that you want maybe a year or 2 old with 10-20k miles on it and save a tond of money as stated before. Most cars dont hold value for jack and there are lots of good deals on slightly used vehicles. If you are worried about how something used has been treated you could always go with something certified pre-owned with warranty.

my , that is all.

 

[gunman41mag]

So INGO, my wife and I are looking to get our first brand new car. I've been scouring the internet comparing cars on price and fuel efficiency. The cars I think we're interested in are Toyota Prius II: It's about 22k new in Bloomington. Best price I've found online.This is probably my favorite for it's fuel efficiency. It gets 50 mpg city. It has a lot of the options I want as standard. Honda Insight: a better price, I think the best internet price I found in reasonable driving distance was 18k.It gets around 48 MPG city, not as good as the Prius, but still very good. My main issue with this car is that when it "idles" it shuts off the AC/Heat. While not a big deal I suppose, but in the winter time "warming up" the car sounds impossible. The last car we're really looking at is the Hundai Accent. It looks very nice and is only 13k. It's fuel efficiency isn't as good (30 city) but that's not bad at all. It's much better than the 15 I get in my Probe. I don't know anyone who has ever owned a Hundai and know nothing about them. I assume they're similar to KIA's since the price is comparable (better in some cases).

So INGO what can you tell me of Hundai. First hand accounts are the best obviously.

Please a PRIUS You'll get no respect

 

[superjoe76]

I get that people want to save money on gas, but my truck and van are paid for so getting a new car would cost me more per month than the fuel I would save. The only way to come out ahead is for me to trade either in on something even steven that gets better gas mileage.

However, I would stay away from battery cars. They havent been out long enough to know how long the batteries last and lord knows how much cheese it will cost. Good luck!

 

[85t5mcss]

However, I would stay away from battery cars. They havent been out long enough to know how long the batteries last and lord knows how much cheese it will cost. Good luck!

Why is this? These have been out for a considerable amount of time. Not mainstream due to noone has the plugs to hook them up. Fortunately the manufacturers have realized that and have designed a new system that can run on 240V/120V

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

You can buy a helluva lot of gas with the extra 10K you save buying the Hyundai over a prius.

Personally I dont think you will have much problem with the Hybrid cars, I wouldnt own a Prius because it looks so horrible. I never understood why a super economical car cant look nice too.

 

[VaGriller]

Hyundai gets my vote. They have come a long way in quality and looks.

Tough to justify the extra 10K for a prius, the extra you spend on payments would eat up any cost savings for gas. Insurance is likely higher on the prius and then you need to factor in the main battery replacement on the prius around the 8-10yr mark $2500-4K.

 

[meyer4589]

I dont know too much about the prius or the other hybrids but Chevy makes the Cruze Eco and the gets an advertised 42mpg. And my mom drives a new toyota matrix its a very nice car for the money with lots of room for a hatch back and gets about 40mpg

 

[adam]

The Ford Focus and Fiesta are pretty nice cars as well that get good mileage. I was tooling around a new Fiesta when I was at Tom Wood about a month ago, it was pretty nice.

 

[cbseniour]

I know a little about cars and a lot less about finance but I do know that buying a new car unless you just have money to throw away is not in you best interest. You can buy the same car a year or 2 old with a factory warranty still in place, purchase the extended warranty and still spend less that 2/3 the cost of a new car.
I've had my share of new cars and it aint no great shakes.