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For most car enthusiast, this is easy. You guys/girls know what car you like, have been eyeing it for long time, know the ins-out & when it is time to buy you are ready to go. For novices like me, who find all cars to look alike, who can't tell the difference between car until I see the brand logo, who view car as necessary, especially living in Midwest.
When it comes to car shopping, how do I narrow down to just few brands? What questions should I ask myself? At this point, I am ready to walk a sales parking lot & test drive anything that looks interesting but that isn't efficient.
Obviously when shopping, cost is on top of the list. But once one narrows down on cost, what's the next question I should ask myself?
For most car enthusiast, this is easy. You guys/girls know what car you like, have been eyeing it for long time, know the ins-out & when it is time to buy you are ready to go. For novices like me, who find all cars to look alike, who can't tell the difference between car until I see the brand logo, who view car as necessary, especially living in Midwest.
When it comes to car shopping, how do I narrow down to just few brands? What questions should I ask myself? At this point, I am ready to walk a sales parking lot & test drive anything that looks interesting but that isn't efficient.
Obviously when shopping, cost is on top of the list. But once one narrows down on cost, what's the next question I should ask myself?
Size. Do you want a big car, hatchback or small car or SUV or pickup?
Drive type. FWD is fine for most people. RWD is better for performance minded folks. AWD is better if you live in a snowy climate, although again, most people find FWD adequate.
Fuel economy, which is of relative importance to how much you drive. If you drive 4 miles to work everyday it isn't as much of a concern as if you drive 40.
Use these parameters to get find a pool of cars you're interested in. You might have to go in and look, thinking that a Corolla is a good fit only to find that you need a midsize car, or that a subcompact is fine.
Then you have to research what they cost to keep on the road. An Audi might cost a lot more than a Honda, but then you get a lot more with the Audi. And you might find that one model year of a Honda you're looking at is a problem child, but the issue was fixed in the others. Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc are all good places.
Then when you have it zeroed down, find the best deal (price relative to condition, mileage, etc) for what you're willing to spend.
A car show is a good starting point. Get to see up close and sit in many cars back to back. Carmax can be a good place to do test drives even if you plan to buy new as you'll find an assortment of current model cars(unless it's entirely new this year) you can test drive back to back.
But if you really don't care and just need an efficient, reliable car just pick up whatever Toyota works with your budget.
first decide what you want in a car, truck, or suv. do you want a big vehicle, a small one, or something midsized? once you have determined what size vehicle, and what class vehicle, then go to the manufacturers websites and find the cars they have in that category, and write them down. for instance if you want a midsized car, then you want to be looking at the ford fusion, chevy malibu, etc. read up on each of these vehicles, the internet is your friend on this as all kinds of information is available, but take what you read with a grain of salt. some reports will be glowing ones, some will be very nasty, and many will be in the middle. but they all will be informative. however DO NOT form your opinion just yet.
now take the list of cars you have, and go to each dealer and test drive each car. the salesman is going to be talking your ear off telling you everything positive about the car, ignore them, and get a feel for the car you are driving. does it fit you? are the controls easy to reach? are they intuitive? are they easy to use? is there anything about the car you dont like? if so then pretty much reject the car as a candidate. dont think that you will "get used to" the seats for instance, or the angle of the steering wheel, or what ever. if there is anything you dont like about the car, dont think you will get used to it because it will eat at you for as long as you own the car, and you will begin to hate the car and want to get out of the purchase asap, and that will cost you money.
once you have narrowed your options to two or three cars, say the malibu, the fusion, and the camry for instance. then go rent each one for a few days or even a week, and use it like you would your current car. drive to work, the grocery store, take a road trip in it, etc. once you have driven each car for a week, you can easily narrow down the choice to one car, so you go buy that one.
What do you need? (SUV, truck, AWD, FWD, cargo room, etc etc) and what do you like? (horsepower, handling, manual trans?)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JONOV
Size. Do you want a big car, hatchback or small car or SUV or pickup?
Drive type. FWD is fine for most people. RWD is better for performance minded folks. AWD is better if you live in a snowy climate, although again, most people find FWD adequate.
Fuel economy, which is of relative importance to how much you drive. If you drive 4 miles to work everyday it isn't as much of a concern as if you drive 40.
.
These questions are easier to answer.
1) Size - I want midsize sedan and hatch back. This is based on driving a Corolla which I felt was too small and driving a Toyota RAV4 that I surprisingly loved. SUV's & big cars scare me. I hope Corolla is a good representative of compact car. Based on this I will search sedan and hatchback.
2) Drive type - RWD is off limit. Living in snowy climate FWD is adequate, AWD would be awesome but I never drove one so can't say I need it. This still leaves lot of options
3) Fuel Economy is not too high of concern as long as it is in the acceptable range. I don't want to be the only one paying outrageous gas price but I don't need something too fancy. Doesn't help narrow down much except take out some high gas consumption vehicle out.
4) High horsepower scares me (this is based on driving a Chevrolet Camaro & praying I don't lose control) but I don't want something that has hard time picking up speed when entering freeway. I will look up the horsepower in my current car that might help
I still feel like these leave lot of options open. Each brand has so many models that would fit the midsize sedan, FWD with average Fuel Eco. I was going to just go for Toyota Camry as its middle of the pack but then I realize I am only going for it because its no brainer. I should do some more searching
1) Size - I want midsize sedan and hatch back. This is based on driving a Corolla which I felt was too small and driving a Toyota RAV4 that I surprisingly loved. SUV's & big cars scare me. I hope Corolla is a good representative of compact car. Based on this I will search sedan and hatchback.
Buy a Rav4 then. Also look at the CRV, Forrester, and Escape.
Easy. As far as it's shiny, red, has lots of chrome, very bright(blinding) headlights and a rear spoiler - it's a go. Ah, and lots of cup holders.
Now, on a serious note. When I bought my first new car, I spent about 6 months online doing research, spending time on possible candidates forums asking questions, reading reviews. When I finally went to buy my CR-V, I was already sold on it.
Buy a Rav4 then. Also look at the CRV, Forrester, and Escape.
That's pretty good list for the OP.
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