Finally!! Got my NEW car!!!!

Whitethunder46

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Well, after 11 months of having my Mustang for sale, and putting 17,000 miles on it in that time, I finally got rid of it.

Short story:
Reason selling the Stang: gas prices, high insurance for my age, tons of problems both mechanically and body work wise.

I was going to just buy a used Honda, Toyota, etc. with the money I got from the Mustang. It got to the point where the Mustang was listed at $11,000 and I couldn't find a decent Honda/Toyota, etc. for around this price with less than, say, 60-70,000 miles.

I certainly didn't want to finance a used Honda w/ 50,000 miles priced at $15,500.

So, what's the next best thing? Look at new cars.

I looked at many many vehicles over the last year, however, a lot were out of my range because many dealer's were only giving me $4,500-$6,000 therefore, monthly payments were way out of my range.

I ended up finding a dearlership that would give me $7,500. The GM looked at the car, and liked it even more, so it was up to $8,000 trade-in. GREAT!

The new car is............ 2007 Nissan Sentra 2.0S

Color: Black w/ dark charcoal interior

Options:
CVT Automatic (must)
cruise Control w/ trip comupter (MPG avg., dist. to empty, etc. etc.) (cruise was a must)
Allow wheels w/ ABS (was a must)

Extras that I didn't care about but we worked out the price:
Rockford Fosgate 8 speakers w/ subwoofer(s) and 6CD changer
bluetooth
leather steering wheel
floormats and trunk cargo net
body colered splash guards
and a few other things I can't think of

This vehicle was about $1,600 more than the other one I wanted, but the other one didn't have alloy wheels w/ ABS. Therefore, we had a lot of negotiating to do.
The loaded Sentra (the one I bought), had been sitting on the lot for awhile, and therefore they needed to get rid of it since they are paying interest on it. I really felt like I got a great deal, and I got a very good trade. They ended up giving me $9,400 for my trade and knocking down my down payment by $2,100.
I saved about $3,000 off sticker! That's pretty good for a semi-entry level car.

The car also is equipped w/ this intelligent key. If you haven't heard of it, I basically don't ever pull my keys from my pockets, ever. Once I'm within 31"'s, I press a button on the door handle to unlock the car. Then I push in the ignition and turn (like there was a key in the ignition) the car on. It's pretty cool, but taking a lot of getting used to. There is a hard backup key just in case.

I bought it last night, and am already average 31.8mpg. (mostly city)

The car had a few spots of marring on the black paint. I wasn't very pleased, but I took care of it all today.

Detail today:
Wash w/ DG901
Wheels w/ DP Gel Wheel Cleaner
Tires cleaned w/ AA foam and wiped and dressed w/ AA Gel then wiped down
Fender wells w/ AA Foam
All black trim w/ 303
Wheels are machine polished/cut so I polished them with some DG Aluminum polish
Windows w/ Stoner's IG and AIO by hand on front and rear window
Also AIO as a base on the front and rear bumper, side mirrors, and side rocker panels

Paint polishing:
Edge orange pad w/ OP/PO106FF(at times) with rotary or PC
Green CCS pad w/ Pink Moose via PC at 5.5

LSP:
Souveran Paste

I also removed the dealership's emblem, replaced the stock headlight bulbs w/ Silvania Silverstars, and bought new license plate frame (not pictured). They frames look very nice.



A teaser:
RearSentra.jpg









 
Congrats on the new car, looks like you got it sparkling. Way to get your way at the dealer, stern haggling always yields good results when buying a new car.

How do ou like the DP gel whel cleaner?
 
Miss the torque? lol, I remember driving an ex's Civic and getting back in my V8 suv with a :D on my face.

Congrats on the new car
 
Surfer- don't diss a Civoc. You can thrash the hell outta it and it keeps going. I know - I have done it. And I do mean thrash - drive it like you stole it - daily!!

Whitethunder - Congratulations on the new black beauty!!! A job well done, and I think what you got is pretty cool. Lotsa features on that baby!! Can't wait to see your other photos. May you enjoy it in good health!!
~Lauren~
 
Congrats! That's a Sentra? Wow it has a nice A$$!!!LOL!!
OK we want pics:Picture:
 
Nice, going from white to black should make a big detailing difference. I have been thinking about getting a black car. At least it won't be a dailey driver so I won't have to wash it everyday. Maybe every other day. ;)
 
Congratulations on your new car. What you save in gas money can now be spent at AG! Post pics when the detail is done.
That baby is gonna reflect like a mirror. :awesome:
 
its actually a great little car for the money. I get to race around in all the Nissans as dad is a CS Mgr for them. Not a huge market up on car over cost, so you got a nice deal. Nissan pays alot out in year end sales bonuses based upon total units sold, so dealers are apt to move them.

One suggestion .... add some tint as time permits. And Intelligent Key rocks, have it on Vette and will miss it dearly.
 
Congratulations! You will defenetely love that intelligent key! I have that on my RL. However that button on a door handle fails to work during raining season for some reason...
 
I never have understood the rationale of spending several thousand dollars on a new car just to save $500 a year on gas. But hey, it's nice to have a new car, and it's black!
 
Grimm said:
I never have understood the rationale of spending several thousand dollars on a new car just to save $500 a year on gas. But hey, it's nice to have a new car, and it's black!
This I understand! I send $120 a week in gas, so I am car shopping for another vehicle for sure! If you drive a good bit it well works out to be more that $500 a year. I average almost $500 a month now and I am hoping to cut it down in half. Not fond of the look of the Toyota Prius but considering it due to the gas, check out this calculator.
I get about 14-16 MPG now, and drive 75 miles at least a day.
Estimated savings for me would be $3748 in gas per year. Suddenly the car is looking sexy to me! ;)

Toyota Prius - Car Features, Safety, & 360 Views
 
I can understand getting a car to save gas. I drive 16,000 miles a year, so I know how much it can cost. I'm just saying I hear of people selling a used car, then spending $5-10K more on a new car, just to save $500 a year on gas. Greg may drive a lot, so it makes sense, but most people are so wrapped up in the cost of gas that they don't even pay attention to the fact they are spending way more to buy the car than they will ever save in gas.
 
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Meghan said:
This I understand! I send $120 a week in gas, so I am car shopping for another vehicle for sure! If you drive a good bit it well works out to be more that $500 a year. I average almost $500 a month now and I am hoping to cut it down in half. Not fond of the look of the Toyota Prius but considering it due to the gas, check out this calculator.
I get about 14-16 MPG now, and drive 75 miles at least a day.
Estimated savings for me would be $3748 in gas per year. Suddenly the car is looking sexy to me! ;)

Toyota Prius - Car Features, Safety, & 360 Views

If you are looking for Prius, you might as well look for either a Civic or Accord, both Hybrid. You will def. get a whole lot more miles than your current ride...
 
Bigfoot said:
If you are looking for Prius, you might as well look for either a Civic or Accord, both Hybrid. You will def. get a whole lot more miles than your current ride...
x2 and they look better then the prius imo
 
Bigfoot said:
If you are looking for Prius, you might as well look for either a Civic or Accord, both Hybrid. You will def. get a whole lot more miles than your current ride...
Yeah but I checked the different in the MPG Toyota is ahead of the game. Plus been reading up on it, Prius is the better car. Trust me I like the Honda better, looks less like a wimp car!:mad: But if you do the research Prius comes up as the best hybrid in its class. But I have always loved the Honda Accord. We will see, as long as I have a big vehicle to play with on the weekends, I do not care what I drive to work as long as it is preatty safe and great on gas.
 
Meghan, make sure you research the actual mileage of the Prius. I've heard that the car gets much lower MPG than what they say it was supposed to get.
 
FYI....Honda is dropping the Accord Hybrid after this model year or next (not exactly sure when) because they just can't compete with the Prius/Camry hybrids. As far as the Prius, it may not look the best and EPA estimates may be higher than actual gas mileage (blame the EPA, not Toyota), but I've still need a lot of people getting very impressive numbers from them. From what I've heard, you have to learn how to drive them to achieve the best mileage. ToyotaNation.com would be a great place to read up on them but I'm sure you've already "been there, done that", Meghan. And like you said, I think Toyota has the Hybrid down pat. Prius seems to be the best hybrid out there.

WhiteThunder46, congrats on the new ride!
 
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