Want to help me buy a car?

[RonDawg]

Among the affordable German cars, the VW New Beetle is actually quite scuba friendly. The back seats fold down, and this way they can hold enough scuba gear for exactly 1 person. The hatch-back entry gives you easy access to your gear, that way. One of the women in our dive club owns one of these, in bright yellow, and it is beautiful, and she looks good in it. She gets great gas mileage too. These cars run around $25K last time I saw them at a dealership.

In one post, you tell Natasha that neither the Altima nor the Fusion make a good scuba vehicle, and recommend an SUV instead.

Yet in this one, you say that the Beetle makes a good one because it holds enough gear for exactly ONE person I'm not sure how that makes the Beetle a better dive vehicle than the Altima or the Fusion.

Without visiting a Ford, Nissan, and VW dealership with a tape measure, I would venture to say that both the Altima and the Fusion have bigger and more easily accessible trunks. As I stated in my post, my Altima will hold enough dive gear for at least two, three if you don't carry tanks. The Fusion will probably be similar.

 

[Natasha]

Well, I was at Ford all afternoon. Their offer is 16,800.00 out the door. It's on this Ford Fusion. They let me take it home overnight to decide.
What do you guys think?
It's a 2006 SEL loaded big time..with 21,900.00 miles.
Here's the pix..in next post.

 

[Natasha]

It has a few dings that they filled in the windshield

 

[xiSkiGuy]

Any other BMW would simply not be appropriate for scuba gear.

Says you. While it is not an ideal dive vehicle, I've had 3 sets of doubles, 3 deco bottles, drysuits, regs, lights, and all the related equipment for a long weekend of diving in Morehead City in a BMW 330xi (plus a passenger).

 

[RonDawg]

Nice car. Because it's used, make sure you take it to an independent mechanic to make sure there's no problems or prior crash repairs on it.

 

[xiSkiGuy]

Well, I was at Ford all afternoon. Their offer is 16,800.00 out the door. It's on this Ford Fusion. They let me take it home overnight to decide.
What do you guys think?
It's a 2006 SEL loaded big time..with 21,900.00 miles.
Here's the pix..in next post.

I4 or V6?
Is it a one owner trade in or a demo?
What warranty are they offering? Remaining factory or a CPO of some sort?

 

[xiSkiGuy]

As far as best deals go, the best deals are at Hertz Used Car Sales. These have been driven for 1 year, and then are now being sold for 1/2 original price.

As far as worst deals go, a dealership is the worst price.

If you saw how I drive rentals, you wouldn't think so.

 

[Natasha]

I4 or V6?
Is it a one owner trade in or a demo?
What warranty are they offering? Remaining factory or a CPO of some sort?

OK it's a V6 and they bought it at an auction. So I still need the car fax on it.
It does come with the remaining 36,000 mile warranty.

I'm not as sure about it as the night goes on.
The dingy's on the windshield are small but still a drag. I do love how it handles though..
I don't know what to do..

 

[RonDawg]

Most car dealers buy their used cars at auction. Few were actually traded in at the same dealership where it's being sold (according to a guy I work with who used to be in the car biz).

Definitely get this car checked out by a mechanic, don't rely on CarFax alone. If you are starting to have doubts about the car, you are probably right to have them, even if you can't articulate why.

If it's just the windshield, you can get an aftermarket replacement for a few hundred bucks as long as it doesn't have defroster wires embedded it in (some Fords have them). You might be able to even negotiate its replacement as part of the deal, or at least get a price break so you can get one on your own.

 

[xiSkiGuy]

OK it's a V6 and they bought it at an auction. So I still need the car fax on it.
It does come with the remaining 36,000 mile warranty.

I'm not as sure about it as the night goes on.
The dingy's on the windshield are small but still a drag. I do love how it handles though..
I don't know what to do..

I would negotiate a longer warranty at that price or keep looking at new options.