US Car buying fun

Rich_L

Rich_L

Rich_L

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
18,175
Location
Santa Barbara, Californee
Well with a new job doing 1,500 miles or so a month travelling (of which c. 1,200 will be paid travel time @ $16ph and mileage @ $0.50 per mile - nice!) it's time to make a foray into the US car buying market...

Which should be interesting as the last car I bought was back in 1999 in the UK, a Pug 309 :p Have a budget of about $6k to spend so there's a few interesting examples to choose from - for example:

2002 Ford Focus 4dr Sedan 2.0 16V w/70k miles on the clock - $6k with a 30day warranty :-/

But....I think a luxo-wafto-barge might have stolen my eye, chatting to the dealer about various cars and he's offering a 2002 Cadillac DeVille w/ 90k miles on the clock for $6.5k (advertised at $10k) :D

Not to mention insurance on the latter is $1,200 p.a. compared to $1,800 for the Focus :confused:

Off to do a test drive tomorrow as the Caddy might be on it's last legs but let's see - I've shined my best pair of tyre-kicking shoes and have been practicing my sharp intake of breath - as an aside I am currently driving some Chevy rental rubbish - it's the most asthmatic, gutless, sludgy auto-transmission, ugly as sin POS I've ever seen or had the displeasure of driving - it's no wonder the US car market was going down the pan with crap like this where cars from Kia like the Optima pwn them in every way :p

*edit*

I appreciate it's not like there are many 'tips' or discussion but for the sake of a discussion thread feel free to trawl AutoTrader for Southern California for what you would buy in my situation for $6k :p
 
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Foxtrot26 said:
whats fuel prices like over there atm?
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To an American's mind? Expensive.

To the rest of the world? Dirt cheap. I filled the tank on the hire car I had for less than $40.

With the mileage involved and the roads involved, get something large, with a large engine and muchos comfort.
 
You didnt go to America to buy a bloody Focus, as paradigm just said above the bigger the better :)
 
As a previous owner of a Seville and having driven a few devilles. Look up the obc code to type in to show you all the faults the car has with any sensors. Right them down and look it up on-line. It wont always show you on the dash when you start the car. Look for suspension codes the most as it uses the expensive self levelling suspension found in the Seville. Make sure the steering turns easily even when stationary as the pumps and steering racks go on these quite easily. Ask how much oil its using roughly over 1000 miles. Mine was using a litre and that meant the seals where starting to go but on a 2002 they where redesigned on the north star.

Cant thin of anything else really its usually just the normal check all the motors for all the lazy things work. Seat massage etc

Lovely cruising cars
 
Fuel prices in America are cheap, but my friend went their recently and had a small baby when he saw how expensive it was!!!

Why? He works in Saudi. His 5 litre V8 RRS HSE costs the equiv of £7.50 to fill up :(
 
[FnG]magnolia;17799189 said:
1,500 miles a month in a Focus will drive you insane. Please buy something else. Anything else, actually.

Will you have to turn corners often?
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I do around 1000-1200 in a month in my focus, haven't been driven insane yet.
 
[TW]Fox;17800410 said:
Is it not the case that leasing costs over in the USA are ridiculously cheap compared to over here?

Just lease a 335i ;)
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Convertible!!!!!!!1

Come on Fox, slacking today. Location = Santa Barbara!

I know you drove the same route as I did a few months ago so you must know how weird and wonderful the micro climate of that area is :D

Loved Santa Barbara, wish we stayed there instead of Pismo Beach, area was lovely, sun shining when everywhere else was cloudy, hot ladies, and lots of shops/restaurants/bars! Depressed now :(
 
Yes, get a pickup. Then at some point in the future you can make a classic Americana post.

"Lost ma truck, lost ma girl, lost ma job................"
 
DAvE18 said:
As a previous owner of a Seville and having driven a few devilles. Look up the obc code to type in to show you all the faults the car has with any sensors. Right them down and look it up on-line. It wont always show you on the dash when you start the car. Look for suspension codes the most as it uses the expensive self levelling suspension found in the Seville. Make sure the steering turns easily even when stationary as the pumps and steering racks go on these quite easily. Ask how much oil its using roughly over 1000 miles. Mine was using a litre and that meant the seals where starting to go but on a 2002 they where redesigned on the north star.

Cant thin of anything else really its usually just the normal check all the motors for all the lazy things work. Seat massage etc

Lovely cruising cars
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Thanks!! Certainly wasn't expecting this kind of advice - good ol' Motors!

Pick-up is out I'm afraid, despite the temptation to get some massive truck with raised suspension so I can survey the road ahead from 10ft in the air :p

Petrol over here is about $3 a gallon or thereabouts, so around 55p a litre or so.

Also funnily enough the economy isn't even that much better - the Focus (which I don't intend to get, just for comparisons sake) comes in at 22-29 (City/Hwy) where the Cadillac is 19/26 so not a major difference even.

And funnily enough I looked briefly at leasing at 335i specifically for you Fox but it comes in at about $500 a month though you could probably knock that down a bit with some negotiation.
 
Rich_L said:
And funnily enough I looked briefly at leasing at 335i specifically for you Fox but it comes in at about $500 a month though you could probably knock that down a bit with some negotiation.
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£312/month for a brand new 335i.

If only they were that here
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