vader1

I want to replace my 328i at some point in the next year or so, most likely for a combination of two cars that will be co-dailys. One will need to be hugely impractical, the other fairly practical and good in bad weather. So there are cars I have my radar on, but there are other cars I would take if they were giving them away.

For example, I don't really want a Jeep Cherokee, but I kind of like them and sometimes you see they have end of the year discount with ridiculous incentives. Same with some other small SUV/Crossover/pickups. I kinda think we are coming up either this fall or next fall to one of those times where automakers have tons of inventory and are killing themselves to get rid of it.

So have you ever pulled the trigger on something that was not really on your list, or at least near the top because the offer was too good to pass up? And if so, how did you like it or did you regret the decision?

Barrett54

I was just thinking about the same thing with the leftover VW Golf Alltracks. There are some discounts approaching $10,000 on the upper-level trim models (30+% off)! Just trying to wade through the small print...

Elistan

No. Because the pain of effort to get more funds to get what I want is less than the pain of driving a cheap car I don't like.

zeroptzero

I remember the old days when Honda refused to offer incentives and were barely willing to discount the purchase price from msrp. They used to have banners in the dealerships that said "an incentive does not make other makes Hondas" or something along those lines. Back then domestics all offered incentives, but Honda did not. I always chuckled at that and remember it like it was yesterday. That was when I bought my first Honda which was a 91 Accord. I then bought a new accord after the first one, then an Acura Integra, a Prelude, and then two Civic SiR's. At that point it was 2004 and everyone was saying how reliable domestics had become, and they were still offering big incentives. I kinda thought that Honda was losing its way in terms of design and performance so I took a plunge into domestics. I bought two Dodge SRT-4's, then a Ford Fusion, then two Ford Escapes, a Ford Explorer, and a Jeep Cherokee. The domestics were actually much more reliable than I expected, and I never really had any reliability issues with any of them. But the real killer was the resale values of all domestics I owned. Sure the incentives are quite large on some models and at certain times of the year, but man when you go to sell the vehicle a few years down the road you might as well donate it to teen challenge. Don't even think about trading it back in to the same dealer where you bought it, they won't offer you crap for it. They seem like a great deal when you buy them but you will pay the price in depreciation because of all the incentives , its a double edge sword. If you buy the domestics and drive them for 15 years and drive them into the ground then that is fine, but if you plan on selling them after a few years you will get hammered. Not saying don't buy a domestic with big incentives, just understand what you are getting into and what you want to do with it later down the road.

I remember buying my first Dodge SRT4 (which I absolutely loved even to this day and which was very reliable). The sales guy and dealership told me they did not want to discount the price from msrp because it was a very rare car and they didn't expect to get many of them and weren't even sure if they would get more than one due to limited quantities, and it was a very special car, lol. I ended up buying it and enjoyed it very much. About 4 years later I went back to the same dealer and same sales guy and asked about trading it in on a newer SRT vehicle. They offered me a ridiculously low price for it and they told me that everyone just considered the car to be basic neon, like all of the other neons out there and people would not pay extra for the SRT version ! I wanted to kill them on the spot, good thing I didn't own a gun. I never stepped foot in their dealership ever again lol. Overall, all of my domestic vehicles were very poor at resale value. I am now back to having 3 Hondas in my driveway/garage, despite paying a bit more without huge incentives I think I will do better when I go to sell them later down the road. My 18 year old Acura Integra has held much higher resale value than many of my 3-5 year old domestics ever did.

darcyw

maybe the new Accord, 2.0T with manual will languish on the lots and Honda will offer massive incentives so I'll buy one.

The domestics have offered incentives, but not enough for me to buy one...but I do love the mustang.

darcy

ssbfgc

vader1

Well sure, but what I am kind of thinking is get a GTI that would be used as a practical car, and then something with a stick and no practicality that will get 80% of the duty (think Miata, Z4, something used and not too expensive). Now the GTI will be mid-twenties how I want it, but what if they had something like a nicely equipped Cherokee or Colorado crew cab 4X4 that stickers for mid thirties, that is discounted about eight grand and is in spitting distance of a GTI? I would still get an impractical daily fun car, I would lose some fun on the utility car, but get a bunch of capability that could come in handy because I have house that requires constant fiddling, and a couple acres that always need some kind of tree cutting or hauling related stuff. The GTI would hold a bunch of stuff with the seats down, but not really built for anything tough. I tend to rent trucks once in a while for heavy duty. Not a big deal but kind of an annoyance.

vader1

I like the new one, posted a thread about it. Just rode for a couple hours on the last gen in Hawaii. I realize the new one is supposed to be much better on road than the last, but it would have to be like night and day because there is no way I could take that kind of ride on a daily basis. That thing was gawd awful. Capability comes with somewhat of a cost.

Elistan

If you want "a bunch of capability" then IMO you should get a vehicle with a bunch of capability because it has a bunch of capability.
I have a Tacoma, for example - not because it was some crazy cheap deal (it wasn't) but rather because it had a bunch of capability the BMW and S2000 don't.
I never cross-shopped the Tacoma with a GTI or Civic or whatever, because I specifically wanted the Tacoma for what it could do.
I did cross-shop a GTI when I was also looking at the BMW, because they both served very similar purposes.
I've never compromised on the intended use of a vehicle simply because of price. It's only within a segment (sports car, daily, utility) that price then becomes a factor but only among the vehicles that meet my criteria. When I'm shopping for a pickup to take offroad and haul a trailer I wouldn't get a GTI instead even if the GTI was half the price.

vader1

Well sure, but my conundrum is that I pull a trailer once a year and maybe on top of that have a MAJOR run to Home Depot for everything under the sun once a year as well. It has me renting something a couple times a year. Would it be nice not to have to do that? Sure. Would it be nice to always have that capability on hand? Sure. Do I want to spend a couple months of the year driving a pickup in the winter, not really. Do I want to have to use it for a road trip if I need luggage space? No.

Who knows, maybe I would like one because it is different than what I have. But it would really have to be discounted hugely for me to be interested enough to drive one. The discounts would have to be in the ridiculous range where buying new is a little more than buying used lease returns.