Hey Destroyer,
Looking for a car eh? Or will be soon?
I don’t own my car (the bank does :sob: ), it’s a 2002 Mazda Protégé. It gets really good mileage around town and on pretty good on the highway. I got a manual transmission so I can control my own RPM’s and in a sense control the amount of fuel my car consumes (to an extent). And Standards are COOL!
The only draw back with my car is that its gear ratio is really low. In 5th gear I can go about 10mph for every 500rpm. That means I’m most efficient around 55mph, after that, its all down hill. At about 65 mph I’m consistently pushing 3500rmp. Sure, that doesn’t sound bad since my Red Line doesn’t pop up until about 6.5. But most automatics have one (extra high) gear that they can settle into for cruising on the highway. While my car is doing 3000rpm at 60mph, an automatic Transmission may only be doing 2500rpm.
That means my car’s engine is working 1.2 times as much as the automatic car to sustain the same speed. The more my car has to work, the more fuel it has to consume.
On the flip side, I can stay in higher gears at lower speeds much easier (and accelerate without down shifting). This means, when I’m cruising around town at about 30mph, I can still be hovering in 4th gear at only about 1500-2000 rpm’s. In a similar situation, an automatic transmission’s computer would tell the transmission to shift down, putting that car up to 2500-3000 rpm (for the designated gear).
*Of course these ratio’s are not true with
all cars, as many have very different gear ratios.
Another plus (in my opinion) of a standard transmission, is that you can save on the life of your brakes. By having the ability to down-shift, you can slow your car by using your engine. I will not go into the details of how this works (for the sake of space), but trust me.
This is also safer for winter driving, as when you need to slow on slippery surfaces there is less chance your wheels will lock. Again, just trust me on this one, so I can save some space here.
On, to buying your car!
First up, don’t buy a new car. Its just not worth it. The minute you drive the car off the lot its value goes down. Get a model 1 or 2 years old. The value will be more stable and you will not get pelted with the HUGE registration fees for registering a new car.
You also have more room to haggle with a used car then a new one.
Next, never settle. There is always a better car for the same price out there. Look every where, and look often (as a dealers stock of used cars can change from week to week).
Never tell the dealer what you want to pay ‘per month’. This is a tactic that car dealers have, they always want to make the big sale, and will ask you what you want your ‘monthly payments’ to be. NOTE: what you pay per month says nothing about how expensive the car will be. Just don’t tell them, stick to the ‘total cost’ of the sale, even if you have to take out a loan. In other words, tell them you want to spend no more then $10,000 total, not $250 per month. Got it?
Shoot Low. Always offer less then you think its worth to you. Make the dealer come down rather then you go up. Most often this results in you coming up, but to the price you really wanted to pay in the first place.
Ask Questions. And lots of them! Ask about every thing, how many owners did the car have (lots of owners typically means something is wrong with the car), ask for the maintenance history. Ask ask ask, anything you think of Ask.
I know it’s sneaky. But point out any defects the car may have, I know it sounds trite to try and bring the price down like this, but things like that really do take value away from the car. (any little scratches, digs, dents, you see them let em know. But don’t over do it… ok? I had a friend try to bring the price down on a car because it had daytime running lights… He didn’t like em, and didn’t want em in his car. He wanted the dealer to take them out or take some money off the car… Needless to say the dealer wouldn’t do either. O_o
Don’t be afraid to walk out. This goes along with the ‘don’t settle’ rule, but basically it mean that if the dealer wont give you what you want to pay (with in reason), walk out. Don’t buy it.
Last, this one is my favorite. Test drive a car to another dealership. Drive it right in there, tell that dealer what the other dealer wants you to pay for that car, and see if the new dealer will give you a better deal on a comparable car from their lot.
Dealers just love competition. ^_^
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions about car buying, don’t hesitate to ask.
-kaji
hee hee.
)
