Time to update the family car.

Not the VW of course, that stays!

We looked at a demo Lancer with 4 or 5k on the clock, mid range model with the leather and bells and whistles. Normal retail around $30k new, the demo was $24900. My wife really likes it. But it sold. So the guy has offered us a new one, off the showroom, not a demo, for $24600 with a towbar. The only difference being that it isn't an auto.

I'm wondering if its normal for them to try and push to sell a new one for less than the demo price? Is it just the state of the market at the moment?

I also wondered what peoples thoughts are on the trade in vs private sale on our current car, a 2004 Xtrail?

Last new car I bought (long time ago, I reckon they aren't worth it as a car with just 10-20k on the clock can save you mega $) the figures with trade in didn't add up to me so I asked them what they could do as a no trade, made a heap of difference and I sold the old car for a heap more than they were offering as a trade, I reckon it will depend on how bad they want your existing car, what the market is like at the time and how close to the end of the month it is as most dealers try harder at the end of the month to boost sales for the month.

old car and do it up. initially a bit of a pain but once done you're winning!

new cars are a joke. good luck fixing it when it breaks and the services. better have deep wallet

Love my Skoda, have spent less on it than any of my classic cars. I like the best of both worlds (and creature comforts)!

All depends on what options the demo vehicle has, and being an auto its going to sell more regardless. Always try and sell your car privately first if you can. Many don't like the hassles of trying to sell so therefore take the trade in option.

Have you test driven a Skoda (VW in disguise)? They are great, and my car was an ex demo too, can't fault it!

Research what you want and look on line, near new cars are the way to go as as donn stated just search carsales and see what it available, you will probably save a fair bit of money.

Hi

We bought a new car in 2002, a Prado Grande. I cant remember the numbers but for about $4000 more than a few year old Prados we made a good deal over the phone with a Toyota dealer on the Gold Coast, we're in Sydney.

So I caught a plane up to Queensland on Saturday morning, picked up the car and I was home that night to watch the Bill.

We had an Audi 200 at the time which we sold privately.

BTW other Japanese cars are better than Lancers.

Steve

driven quite a few new cares, didn't really like any of them, too much electronic stuff and feels soft spongy performance in all aspects.
I just want basic heater and cooling controls, a radio and electric mirrors are good. thats about it.

hardly any new cars now are traversal front engine RWD. at least RWD is a must for me.


the best new car the felt good to me was VE holden and of of the 2012 KIA. was actually not bad at all for a FWD and didn't suffer the throttle lag all the others do.

All others, especially the new corrola pissed me off big time. Ford focus?

arhh haha I hate new cars. new cars die!! die!!!!!!!

Not a big fan of the Mitsubishi.
dont buy any car with a timing belt.
or diesel.
would only buy a auto these days as they are so good.
wouldnt buy a manual , who wants to be changing 6 gears all the time.
The xtrail if in good order ,have good resale about $10,000. with upto 180000Ks on em
You maybe better, up dating to a new xTRAIL..
Toyota
Hundai are also good.

Don't let them sell you
RUST PROOFING.
PAINT PROTECTION
OR FABRIC PROTECTION
all waste of your money.
the only things worth doing a deal on , are tow bar and reversing camera.

Quote:

Originally posted by ian.mezz Not a big fan of the Mitsubishi. would only buy a auto these days as they are so good. wouldnt buy a manual , who wants to be changing 6 gears all the time. The xtrail if in good order ,have good resale about $10,000. with upto 180000Ks on em You maybe better, up dating to a new xTRAIL.. Toyota Hundai are also good.

dunno!if you are self employed new cars are a capitol investment that is hard to claim on tax. The best way even if you have the cash is to hire purchase the car over one maybe two years and pay it all off no residule while claiming the GST on the initial purchase if you can, second hand may work out better if you can talk the finance company into it, cash is great as obviously you are not paying any interest on the investment however the depreciation schedule on a new car aint great. just my musings, I am not a tax pro.

I'd be warey of anything Mitsubishi, their recall lists are as long as your arm when you compare them to other Japanese and European manufacturers.
Most people I know who have bought new have had problems.

There is a pretty steep price difference between manual and auto (about $2.5K) so they are not really losing out selling you the manual at the same price.

Buy a new Volkswagen or Skoda you won't go wrong, manual or auto it's a matter of personal choice, try not to trade in your existing vehicle , sell private at a price that you would be happy with you'll be way in front.i have just sold my Golf that I was offered $7500 as a trade in, i have just sold it privately for $11500 on Gumtree and it was only advertised for two days..

Quote:

Originally posted by Joel I'd be warey of anything Mitsubishi, their recall lists are as long as your arm when you compare them to other Japanese and European manufacturers. Most people I know who have bought new have had problems. There is a pretty steep price difference between manual and auto (about $2.5K) so they are not really losing out selling you the manual at the same price. Quote: Originally posted by vlad01 Autos are only good for doing burnouts which it a waste of time I hate autos as well and always been an manual driver, I've only owned 3 autos in my life but if I lived in the city I wouldn;t want a manual. I drove back from Brissy in peak hour last week and reminded myself why manuals suck in city bumper to bumper and redlight redlight redlight traffic. I usually update my daily every 3 or so years, been looking at Golfs and Jettas and very seriously considering a DSG. Todays auto technology has come along way, many are now getting better acceleration and fuel mileage than manuals

We bought a new vw tiguan and would never do it again.Its the turbo petrol model in auto and put simply its crap. Its had a few issues and a recall but the worst problem is it developed a knock in the front left side and after several trips to dealership were told that it is a problem known by vw and that we have to live with it .All this after several trips were they pretended to fix something knowing it was some kind of build problem they couldnt or wouldnt fix.the auto is the 7 spd and it changes gears whenever it feels like and most times it never feels like changing gears and by the way we have the car serviced at austral vw at newstead and I wouldnt recommend them to anyone.Just to top it of when the car was being towed there one day the tow truck driver said the vw golf was the most towed car with one new car being towed more than 10 times in 12 months ! imagine how that bloke feels and every time they probably bullshit him about how good a job they did to fix it just like us.Vw and audi love to sprook about their wonderful german engineering but I think someone must be farming out their work to india or china to get it done cheap!

That's a shame about your Tiguan man; I've not had a single issue with mine from new and always had it serviced at VW (bar one) including Austral since moving to Brisbane. If your not happy with dealer service etc.. head to Mike Weber Prestige & Performance in Coorparoo; top blokes and better rates than VW.

Good tips above; and definitely say no to seat and paint protection!!!

Thanks for the tip but the car is still under warranty so we still have to use vw , needless to say that when it comes out off warranty we will get rid of it because I would hate to see what the service charges will be on all the problems later not to mention how much time you waste by getting the run around by the dealership.

Hey Hey,

Mitsubishi are desperate to sell cars @ the moment, so many of their cars, SUVs and utes are being heavily discounted.
For example: in March: a Trition 4x4 dual cab ute was drive away for $30,990. The driveaway price before any discount was $40,000+.

Buy a new car over a demo.
Remember, the demo has been driven by countless number of potential buyers and the dealer... and, who knows how it has been treated during the test drives!

Private sale v Trade - you will always get more money selling privately. This element comes down to what is most convenient for you.

Reasearch is the key.

Quote:

Originally posted by vlad01 Mitsubishi are hopeless, they are the only jap car I can think of that is actually bad. Sure the lancer is quick but like any Mitsubishi they don't last long. God! the dramas we had with them when I worked doing auto electrics. Not just electrics. I don't think I have seen a bitsaremissing that doesn't blow blue smoke or rattle their brains out lol A good family friend got a not so old mitsubishi to replace their 80s pintara and I cringed. now they have heaps of problems their pintara is way better than this heap.

Quote:

Originally posted by Craig Torrens Quote: Originally posted by vlad01 Mitsubishi are hopeless, they are the only jap car I can think of that is actually bad. Sure the lancer is quick but like any Mitsubishi they don't last long. God! the dramas we had with them when I worked doing auto electrics. Not just electrics. I don't think I have seen a bitsaremissing that doesn't blow blue smoke or rattle their brains out lol A good family friend got a not so old mitsubishi to replace their 80s pintara and I cringed. now they have heaps of problems their pintara is way better than this heap. Vlad01, have you actually owned one ? LOL....I currently own three Mitsubishi's. A Pajero since 1996, Awd Magna VR Since 2005, and Evo since 2009. Ive never once had any problems with any of them. Ive also owned a Commodore, Calais and a Epica Turbo Deisel that were all bought NEW..........ALL of them had warranty work, recalls, and trim and other rattles that couldn't be fixed !! As for lasting long, well I seem to see plenty of 20+ yr old magna's, L300 vans and pajero's driving around. Anyway, I have a 10 year factory warranty on my EVO and Magna.......although I know I wont need it

lol.....unlike the Holden Camira of the same era.

I'm always amused when someone has an opinion of a brand of vehicle when they actually haven't owned one.

?? Camira?

lol holden Camira , biggest pos out ,they were either rusty or blew that much smoke it wasnt funny, car yard talked wife into one ,it lasted a week before it went back ,like the Mazda 626 she had ,have an X-Trail now and love it ,if i was after a newer car i would get another Nissan in a flash ,just my 2 cents worth

Hey, Hey, HEY!!!!!

Lay off the Camira will ya,...

It was ok.

My folks had one when I was a kid. Fond memories for me. I learnt to drive in it.

We thought we were rather cool when when got it in 1982 because it had a fm radio and Air cond. One of the first in our neighbour hood.

We got 350,000 odd klms out of it,.. not tooooo bad.

Mind you haven't seen one for ages.

They traded it on a MK3 golf.

I drove a Camira as a company car, went like the clappers, bad points, the first time I bought it home turned into the drive and accelerated up the hill but the steering didn't self center, nearly put me into the front garden then a few days later driving in heavy traffic it developed a bad miss, managed to get off the road and lifted the bonet, fuel spraying every where, one of the fuel lines to one of the injectors or something had come off,, managede to get it back on and tightened the hose clip and the beasty never missed a beat till the company disposed of it. Hated the way it held lock when under acceleration though.

The last of the JE 2L Camiras were good mechanically, the body just fell apart around the engine but then what 80s aussie built cars didn't?
Those Opel engines also used in Pulsars of the era took a beating
It was just that first carby 1.6 JB that was a hopeless engine.

I remember a friend buying an 88 JE and even though it was only 7 years old at the time I thought it seemed like such an old peice of shit.

Hard to consider a 7 year old car these days as an old piece of shit
THey dont age as fast as they used to.