Hi, new menber, longtime lurker here.

I'm just about ready to take the plunge and get my dream car. I'm sure I'd love an '03 or '04. I especially like the 17" wheels on the '04's, but I think for the price difference I'll go for the '03.

My local dealer has a new '03 that I can get for $1500 under invoice. This is the best deal I've found so far in So Cal.

Can I do any better, or should I jump on this?

 

I would jump on it.

 

under invoice? so ... 28000? good deal... make sure the car wasn't a demo :-)

 

It depends entirely on what the dealer claims is the invoice price. Be careful! Around $28,000 sounds about right.

 

So it also depends upon how long you intend to keep it. If you plan to keep it for 7 years then the fact that it is an 03 instead of an 04 doesn't matter. However if you plan to keep it for 3 years or so then by buying a 03 you've already lost 2-3,000 dollars in depreciation as soon as you drive it off the lot. MY04's can be had for around 30000, so if it were me I'd want the price to be around 28000 at least. Invoice for 03 according to edmunds was 29300 if I recall.

Whatever the case the car is a total blast to drive. I wasn't sure before I bought it if I would keep it more than 3 years, now they'll have to pry my cold dead hands off of it

 

got mine brand new in VA $29001

 

If the car is NEW (i.e. not 'dealer new', which can mean up to 200 miles or some BS), then that's a GREAT DEAL! Someone in Phx just picked up a BRAND NEW (<50 miles) MY03 for $250 under invoice.

Watch those miles, though. Don't know about CA but in AZ a dealer call sell a 'new' car with up to, I think 200 miles. Odds are those are TOUGH MILES.

 

Yeah, just be careful, sometimes they give you a very low price, but then they want to add the stupid adjusted market value, which is like $2,000 to $7,000 dollars over the invoice or MSRP. Plus any other fees that the dealer may apply. Try other places too, you can probably get lower or better. Never hurts to try, good luck with your buy.

 

seems like a really good deal to me. Well at least if that deal came up here it would be. The market-values tend to be different state to state.

 

check with ricks - he is doing new cars for around 30, which might be about what you were going to spend on a year old model...