The first and primary one was that the deal on the Corolla was not only reasonable after haggling for a while, but also $500+ cheaper than the best price I had previously been offered on the Civic LX -- and also it was right there in front of me for the taking yesterday. It is very hard to get good deals on these cars right now; some dealers will just offer sticker price and you can take it or leave it. I was able to take my own reasonable credit union financng and also cut the dealer's profit to just under half of that of MSRP. The deal I was being offered on the Civic at the same time couldn't be done with the credit union financing because Boch's monthly sales goals are based on when they get the money for the car instead of when the contract is signed, and the month ended today while my credit union is closed for the weekend and for Labor day.
The second, lesser issue, was that I thought less of the missteps that Honda made with the design changes than I thought of the Corolla's underwhelming acceleration. New Civics are just weird -- the exterior might be somethig i could get used to, but what they did with the dashboard and the instrument panel was really not to my liking.
I'm hoping that I'm still in a "my needs from a car are simple" mindset two years from now. Sure I bought a right-out-of-the-factory new car, but I also bought a car with no history of abuse whose resale value trends downward very slowly. Who knows; in two years I may pay the loan off, resell the car, and find a very gently used '05 Civic (last model year before the major changes), or go for something with even a little more kick to it. Not that I want to sit at the sales desk at a car dealership again for a very, _very_ long time, but I'll do what is right for me.
The first and primary one was that the deal on the Corolla was not only reasonable after haggling for a while, but also $500+ cheaper than the best price I had previously been offered on the Civic LX -- and also it was right there in front of me for the taking yesterday. It is very hard to get good deals on these cars right now; some dealers will just offer sticker price and you can take it or leave it. I was able to take my own reasonable credit union financng and also cut the dealer's profit to just under half of that of MSRP. The deal I was being offered on the Civic at the same time couldn't be done with the credit union financing because Boch's monthly sales goals are based on when they get the money for the car instead of when the contract is signed, and the month ended today while my credit union is closed for the weekend and for Labor day.
The second, lesser issue, was that I thought less of the missteps that Honda made with the design changes than I thought of the Corolla's underwhelming acceleration. New Civics are just weird -- the exterior might be somethig i could get used to, but what they did with the dashboard and the instrument panel was really not to my liking.
I'm hoping that I'm still in a "my needs from a car are simple" mindset two years from now. Sure I bought a right-out-of-the-factory new car, but I also bought a car with no history of abuse whose resale value trends downward very slowly. Who knows; in two years I may pay the loan off, resell the car, and find a very gently used '05 Civic (last model year before the major changes), or go for something with even a little more kick to it. Not that I want to sit at the sales desk at a car dealership again for a very, _very_ long time, but I'll do what is right for me.
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