We went to Gateway Honda in New Port Richey to test drive a Honda Fit. We walked in, and had an idea we were not gonna get a decent price offer. We had gotten a quote of $17300 Out the door from another Honda dealer online, so we were figuring we would start there for price. The other dealer was only a 30 minute drive away, so we figured we could always go there if we did not like the price at Gateway or the Toyota. Anyways, we walked in to Gateway Honda and they had a couple of High Def Tv’s sitting around playing different stuff, and a lady walking around giving out cookies, water, Bagel Pizza bites, coffee etc. They also all had nice Flat Screen Monitors and a computer on every desk. Kinda made me think they were screwing someone over to get all that fancy stuff.

They basically refused to deal at all. They could not even get close to the $17300 we had been quoted from another dealer! The worst part is, they refused to just tell us that, they kept trying to lead us on, and not even get close to the price. Was really annoying. So after they wasted two hours of our time, we decided to go down to Sun Toyota. We walked in, told them we wanted to test drive a Scion XD and a Matrix.. We test drove both, discovered the Matrix was actually cheaper, and bigger, with the same gas mileage! Woo! Perfect! Everything we wanted, and they come back with a nice price! $17100 out the door. Not to bad.. Of course, that did not include the power package and cruise control etc. So I asked them if there was any chance we could get everything we wanted, with the same price out the door. They asked if they did that, would we buy it today? I said, sure. It was a done deal. So we bought a very nice white Toyota Matrix. Everything we wanted on it. Nice Stereo and air comes standard. It was all very nice, and low stress actually. And the room is awesome! Has an extra 2 feet on the Fit, and gets almost the same gas mileage!

We are now proud Toyota Matrix owners. I love it!

So Emmy and I decided we really need a new car.. Do not really want to spend the money, but it is time. We always buy new, and our last car was bought in 99. It has run great, but this time we would like to get something a little nicer. If we are going to drive it for almost 9 years, it would be nice to have what we want, not what we settled for. So I have been researching. We are interested in the compact wagon type of car. The ones I have been looking at are the Scion XD, the Honda Fit Sport, the Chevrolet Aveo 5, and the Kia Rio 5.

I will list the features that we wanted:

• A/C
• Manual Transmission
• Remote locks
• Decent Stereo (Does not have to be anything great, but decent)
• Good Gas Mileage!!!!!!!!
• Decent room (If we ever have to leave because of a hurricane, we need to be able to take our cats, us, our dog and a few personal items and go. We would like to be able to put an appliance in the back to haul if we need to. In our old Hyundai Excel, we once hauled a dish washer we picked up home with us in the back. That is the benchmark.
• Good reliability!!!!
• Cruise Control
• A lighter color paint job

Different people and places all have different things to say about each car. Some think the Honda is the best value, others think the Toyota. The Aveo 5 is the cheapest up front, but we test drove the Automatic version and it was a complete dog for get up and go. I hit the gas and it just bogged out. It did eventually respond, but I like something a little more here and now. I read a review talking about the problem, and they said it is even worse in the Manual Transmission, which is just sad. So it has slid down the list. The other thing that kinda discouraged us is that by the time you equip it similar to the other cars we are looking at, it gets a lot closer in cost.

We go to drive a Honda Fit Sport on Monday, it looks like a nice car, and the “Magic Folding Seats” are just cool. I really like the fold flat ability. Sadly, the only thing they have in is an Automatic, so again, even though we want a Manual, we will be test driving an Automatic. It does give us a chance to see the inside, and get a feel for it and see how it handles. We will be trying out the Scion soon also. At first I was discouraged by how much they charge for all the extras on the Scion, but the base model is not bad. Sadly, like the Fit, they are marking it up a LOT. I refuse to get ripped off this time. I have good credit at this point, so I will not let them screw me on financing and price. Before they basically told me I had no credit, so if I really wanted the car, I was gonna get screwed.. Like a dumb 20 something year old, I believed them. That is why Hyundai is not getting my business again this time, well, that and the fact they do not have a model I really like.

The Kia I am unsure of.. I have seen both good and bad reviews. I drove one Kia in the past, and it was a rental car with 1200 miles, and it was not starting well, which to me does not speak well of the reliability of a Kia.. The Kia also gets the worst gas mileage out of the group we are looking at. We will probably end up test driving one by the end of the month too, just to make sure we do not regret whatever car we do end up buying. The other problem with Kia is, they own Hyundai, and like I said before, they kinda ticked me off with the last car we bought.

Right now, in my mind, the front runners are the Scion XD and the Honda Fit Sport. If I can get them down to the price I am willing to buy at. I figure with tax and everything, I am not willing to spend more then $16500 out the door. Less would be better, but that is my max. So far, for the Fit, the quotes I am getting are up around $17300 out the door.. They are trying to tell me their Invoice price is what the MSRP is! I may have been born at the beginning of the year, but it was not THIS year! Duh. I found one page that mentions $14400 as the base price on the Honda Fit, a full $1000 less then what they are telling me, and that would easily get me below my $16500 mark for out the door pricing. The Scion XD is much the same, although, I have not even started trying to get quotes on those yet. I can only take so much idiocy at once. The Matrix also looks like a possibility, but have not looked enough at those yet to decide if it is even in the running.

I will post as I get more info on the stupidity of car buying! Make sure to vote for which car you would recommend in the poll in the tool bar on the left.