Do you Smart owners see the situation that happened with the PT Cruiser where people were paying $$$$ over sticker price just to buy a Cruiser? Now you can't give them away and the car has been dropped altogether. I think the Smart car is the perfect car to drive back and forth to work. My dad bought a new 1962 VW Beetle and drove it to work and let the large car sit in the garage. We would use it to go on vacations. And we all see what happened to the VW. Your right,the Smart is the modern day version of that car(let's hope it does have a better heater though!!)and hope it's just as reliable. You could fix the old Beetle with a flat bladed screwdriver. I'm not kidding about that. If your Beetle stopped running all you had to do was to adjust the points with a screwdriver and you were good for another 5,000 miles. One more thing. I do know how to figure MPG with my Cavalier. It has the 2.2L Ecotec engine and it does get 32 mpg. Took it to Omaha last September and it was pushing 37mpg.
For me, gas mileage was a big factor (I drive almost 100 miles a day during the week), but it wasn't the only factor. I did a 1 year cost comparison of the smart and my current vehicle vs the Yaris, Fit and a couple of other vehicles without my current vehicle. My initial cost numbers were for gas prices at $3.00/gallon for regular and $3.20 for 93 octane. When I did my roll-up I also included the taxes and insurance. For me, it turns out my one year cost of ownership for the smart and my old car was a few hundred dollars less then buying any other car.
When I looked into the smart it was important to me to take into account not only fuel cost but:
Vehicle cost
Options cost (the smart came with nearly everything I wanted/needed)
Loan interest
Insurance (less expensive have cheaper insurance)
Taxes (less expensive cars have lower taxes)
Do you Smart owners see the situation that happened with the PT Cruiser where people were paying $$$$ over sticker price just to buy a Cruiser? Now you can't give them away and the car has been dropped altogether.
Nope. Thanks to the reservation program most people are paying MSRP with dealer fees, with no "market adjustment" as you saw with numerous other past vehicles. The only cars subject to this are orphans, which in my mind are appropriate surcharges for "cutting in line".
Smart is not a "new" car like other vehicles. It has proven itself (though by a small margin) as a successful profitable car in the rest of the world and is only just getting introduced here.
typically never makes a lot of financial sense BUT if you need a new car/extra car due to new drivers in the family then you can do your own math. In my case it was also a space issue as we wanted to have all cars in our garage and had a new driver. Simply put, the smart was the only car that would fit end-to-end with our Miata and the gas mileage was just a bonus. My youngest son now drives but before that we would cart him back and forth to work which ate up quite a few miles as well as waiting for him to get out of work, rearrange schedules, etc. I feel pretty confident that the smart is safer than getting an older car and of course there is that fitting in the garage issue. Our mileage gets better with each fill-up, car only has a little over 650 miles so I'm not really checking it much other than seeing if we get close to 300 on a tank (which it has so far).
Nope. Thanks to the reservation program most people are paying MSRP with dealer fees, with no "market adjustment" as you saw with numerous other past vehicles.
You're right!! All reservationinst are paying MSRP, but there is no dealing there and trades are taken at low blue. There is an advantage to going to the dealer with ready cash when your reservation comes in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashman
The only cars subject to this are orphans, which in my mind are appropriate surcharges for "cutting in line".
I don't look at the practice of the dealer adding a $400 clearbra and charging $699 for it appropriate. I don't think being forced to purchase lo-jack for $1400 when it is a $600 cost to the dealer fair for the buyer. Definately, a $200 paint and interior protection system (which if you look at the exclusions, you will never get relief from any damage) that costs the buyer $800 is not appropriate either. This is just bad business and as for 'cutting in line', come on; someone has to take up the slack for reservists who abandon their cars. There are many dealers who do not participate in this shameful business practice.
New dealer in town tried tried to get greedy......
About 2 years ago a new Suzuki dealer opened a new dealership here in town. Every vehicle the dealer would add $1999.00 to the sticker price and call it a "market adjusted price". Well needless to say the dealer went out of business 6 months ago. What an idiot. I can't believe he thought he could get away with that. I knew he was in trouble because you never saw a new Suzuki in any of the parking lots.
I have to admit that it was one of the highest thing on the list. The car as a package overall is irresistable for me and something that fits perfect for what I need it for. I need a car that I could drive to work and school in. I go alone, and it would be unneccesary for me to drive a 4 seat car. And I dont need more space because I will be keeping my older Volvo wagon. Compared to my cars now and really any other gas only car on the road, its the best in terms of efficency all around.
I have to admit, I've wanted a smart for 10 years more for its look and feel than anything else. I followed the story of bringing it to the US closely and ordered mine last year. So mileage wasn't the original main selling point, but by last year, as gas was going up and my SUV mileage was going down, I decided if I didn't get the smart I'd get another small car that's affordable (Prius was a bit much) and good on gas. So the timing worked out perfectly!
When I heard the other day that the Prius outsold the Ford Explorer I knew it's the start of the social change that needs to take place to finally take this oil situation seriously. Now were going from the Hummer to the Smart car. I hate high oil cost's but you have to admit it's changed our way of thinking. The Smart car is proof of that.
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