What are they thinking at a dealer.

[97explorer]

WE bought 5 cars within 6 years from FRED BEANS in doylestown pa. So when we looked to replace our 05 mdx we headed to look at a grand cherokee. We wanted to lease for the same price as reedmantoll (didnt want to drive there ) Reedman price $273 w/$273 down. First we couldnt drive the car off the lot on a test drive, he drove us to a shopping center to drive it. He wasted every minute showing us stuff that is standard on every car and tryed to make it a selling point. He came back with a lease price of $405 with $5,000 down. At this point I had to speak up since it was just me and my mother. I laughed right in front of him and we pulled out the price from reedman. with that the manager tryed to say thats fake, but yet he said he would match that price. Must be one good lie that he will follow with it. We didnt want to do bussiness with a delaer trying to rip us off for over $5,000. Thsi price was for a GC with sticker price of $30k the base.

[eurohazard]

That does suck. Sometimes dealers think they have a whale of a customer.....Obviously you did your homework though! Good job.

Quick Q....Why are you getting rid of your MDX?

[oldskls10]

Too bad they tried to screw you over, but unfortunately that is common practice nowadays. Good to hear you didn't get taken advantage of, as so many people do.

I too am curious why you were looking at trading the MDX for a Grand Cherokee? A 3-year old Acura should have lots of life left in it and would almost certainly get better MPG. If I was trading in an MDX, I highly doubt I would shopping on a Chrysler Corp lot. Just curious is all.

[97explorer]

The mdx only had about 32000miles got about 14-17mpg on premium. Had a bad tranny problem, power steering pump would shutter alot all of which the dealer could not fix. It was still the best car weve owned. We just needed a much lower payment (lease) for college's tution's. And didnt want to worry about the car breaking down and having a very expensive bill. We would have drove off the dealer lot in a GC that day V6 or V8 if the dealer didnt try to play games. BTW this was the second jeep dealer I tryed, Lansdale jeep was a enough of a joke I didnt even step inside. Jeep/chrysler where the only dealers that played to many games, So I ended up buying a VW passat.

[GMfan1111]

that sux but unfortunately its common practice among dealers these days. i went to a Cadillac dealership awhile back to look and sit in a first gen CTS to see if it had the right amount of lumbar support that I needed. I talked with their used car guy and right away he tried to push me to get the new second gen CTS. i stuck to my guns and when this became apparent to him he gave up. Oh and when i left i took a peek in the used car lot anyway and there were five Used CTS's there so I might not go to that caddy dealership again

[pontiacjs]

did you get the Jeep from the other dealer at his advertised price?

[97explorer]

I didnt get the jeep but I called the dealer who had the ad for $273month, $273 down. They said it is the right just add tax, tags, license fee. It would have been like $1,000 down otd. Which is good enough. I started to think of gas and after sitting in a few of the New cars in the showroom. I figured this company might not be around in 3 yrs so I got a passat for the time being.

[pontiacjs]

I sell cars and your views intrigue me. Why the Passat? How much more did you pay for that? With all of the other mid sized vehicles you could have gotten, what made the Passat stand out? I can understand going from a sport ute to a sedan to save money on gas.

With most of GM's mid size offerings in the mid $200s per month with realitivly $0 down did you look at any of them?

[97explorer]

I didnt look at gm sedans. I went in a caddy pontiac/honda showroom. the pontiac side was set up more as a area for the employees to eat lunch. And around here they are only rentals and fleet cars for major corps around here. Chevy, I dont know where to start there, But they all look like they could use some updating. Even the new malibu, that looks alright but its still behind. Saturn, doesnt have any sedans that are larger sized I think. I looked at saab but with only one dealer near by and I owned a 03 9-3 launch edtion (with many probs) the 08s look just like any other gm car inside. they all have a block radio type thing, No navi, you can get navi in a civic now. If I was look for a bigger suv GM would have been on the top of the list. But for sedans, it was even on a list.

Heres prices I got. All include the 9% tax.
08 maxima se- $35k- $399x39 0 down
08 acura TL non-navi-$399x36 1,000 down
09 acura tsx non-navi-$389x36 1,000 down
08 passat turbo-$329x36 0 down
08 passat komfort-$359x36 0 down
08 passat LUX- $345x36 1,000 down
08 highlander base-$380x36 0 down
08 ford escape base-$350x39 0 down

[pgill00]

Originally Posted by 97explorer

I didnt look at gm sedans. I went in a caddy pontiac/honda showroom. the pontiac side was set up more as a area for the employees to eat lunch. And around here they are only rentals and fleet cars for major corps around here. Chevy, I dont know where to start there, But they all look like they could use some updating. Even the new malibu, that looks alright but its still behind. Saturn, doesnt have any sedans that are larger sized I think. I looked at saab but with only one dealer near by and I owned a 03 9-3 launch edtion (with many probs) the 08s look just like any other gm car inside. they all have a block radio type thing, No navi, you can get navi in a civic now. If I was look for a bigger suv GM would have been on the top of the list. But for sedans, it was even on a list.

Heres prices I got. All include the 9% tax.
08 maxima se- $35k- $399x39 0 down
08 acura TL non-navi-$399x36 1,000 down
09 acura tsx non-navi-$389x36 1,000 down
08 passat turbo-$329x36 0 down
08 passat komfort-$359x36 0 down
08 passat LUX- $345x36 1,000 down
08 highlander base-$380x36 0 down
08 ford escape base-$350x39 0 down

You have obviously left out part of the story from the Fred Beans store. There is not that much of difference from the lease rates. There has to be either a big price difference or some negative equity differences. Math only works one way.

[pontiacjs]

I have had both, Navi and non Navi in many cars. After driving my last Demo with Onstar Turn by Turn I would never spend money on a nav unit again. By far the easiest, friendliest system I have ever seen.

Do you to run your Passat with Premium fuel?

[97explorer]

The fred beans price.
Base GC 4wd-405 with tax, with $5,000 down otd. No 2.99 gas either

Reedmantoll
base GC 4wd-$273+tax =$299 with $1,000 down otd. No 2.99 gas either

There is no way they cane have over $8,000 in price differnce over the 3yrs. All the dealers who ask what Iam paying now (on the mdx) always had a much higher price. Are they just trying to get the price just a little cheaper than what I was paying for the MDX? Because once I showed them the price of reedman he sales manger said he could do that. They thought I would pay $405 because it was still much cheaper than my mdx payment? The only diff is fredbeans was paying on more payment of my mdx ($600).

I could also do the same price thing with fredbeans subaru VS a &t subaru

fredbean legacy se $273x24 with 2,400 down otd
a &t legacy se $218x24 with $850 down otd

I feel that they where just trying to sell it to me for a much higher price once they found out how much I wa spaying for the MDX. WE didnt have any trade in prices done on the MDX they knew that it was being sold by us, no dealer involved.

[97explorer]

The passat can use either premuim or regular, they had a paper in the showroom showing that it will not NEED premuim, you will lose some power but it is not required. So about 3:1 ratio of regular to premuim fuel fill ups is about what I will do.

[Canyonaro]

Originally Posted by 97explorer

The passat can use either premuim or regular, they had a paper in the showroom showing that it will not NEED premuim, you will lose some power but it is not required. So about 3:1 ratio of regular to premuim fuel fill ups is about what I will do.

Congrats on you purchase! I too had a passat VR6 a few years back and got worse mpg if I didn't put premium in it. Not to create trouble but it was unreliable at best. I am sure your experience will be better then mine with it.

[mbukukanyau]

Pictures.
At least you should have tested the Malibu LTZ. But if its not your cup of tea, so be it.

Pictures of your ride please?