New car shopping
 

My wife and I will be needing to purchase a larger family car for her to drive. We have a 13 year old and 4 year old twins. We *think* we have settled on a Nissan Pathfinder for her.

Now, we have never bought a new car. But given the cost of the cars second hand we have decided to purchase a new one. Are new car prices negotiable? If so, how do you determine how much to try and knock off one?

Re: New car shopping
 

Yes they're negotiable, haggle hard. We went to all the local dealers, played them off against each other then asked a buyers agent to beat it (which he did, by a decent amount). When Mrs picked up the new car dealer kept saying "this is the cheapest we ever sold one for", not sure if I believe that but it helped ease the pain of handing over the cash!

Re: New car shopping
 

Just bought a new Ford...didn't get much of the new price, but did get a good trade in price. Dealer appeared to have prefered it to be a financed sale and therefore made on the finance, rather than the cash deal I did.

Re: New car shopping
 

Look at the website discountnewcars.com.au

This will give you some idea of what you should be paying.

There does not seem to be much rhyme or reason to car prices here.

Re: New car shopping
 

Thank you all. Gives us a good idea of what we should be doing. Definitely look into buyers agents as well.

Re: New car shopping
 

Be wary on the Pathfinder. I ditched mine pretty quick. It eats Fuel and the build quality I found dubious at best. The rear middle seat is a nightmare and the resale potential pretty low.

Top that off with poor off road stock suspension, clearances and wading, it the sort of this I wonder why I ever bought in the first place.

There are a couple of posters who I know have one and are happy but I could not in all good conscience not say anything. I think there is much better value to be had in other makes for similar vehicles. Just my personal opinion though:o

Re: New car shopping
 

My cousin kept hers for 6 months due to the middle seat being too squashed and a couple of the other things you mention.

BUT yes whatever you do haggle hard, the once you've finished haggling thens the time to get the free floor mats and tints!!

Re: New car shopping
 

and make sure they fill the fuel tank up!

Re: New car shopping
 

Thanks for pointing out issues with the Pathfinder. What other options, with 7 seats, would you recommend? My wife drives a Grand Voyager now and we like it but the price is way too high to buy a new one in Australia. My wife is an American (well British now too) and she likes big cars.

Re: New car shopping
 

If you are in no need of a 4 wheel drive the Mazda CX7 seems quite liked by a friend of mine as an idea.

Re: New car shopping
 

If you want a 4x4 I would never go past my Prado, especially as its on gas and cost me about $30 a week to run!

The NEW carnival (the grand carnival) from Kia is very comfy and very practical and you can have up to 8 people seated AND a boot, which is, in itself, a novelty!

Re: New car shopping
 

An idea of real prices:

Chrysler Grand Voyager LX Wagon 7st 4dr Auto 6sp 3.8i

Rec. Drive Away Price: $64,009
Discount: $14,019
Drive Away Deal Price: $49,990

Re: New car shopping
 

Thanks for that. She wanted to same Grand Voyager she drives here and a few dealers in Australia quoted her over $70,000 for the same Limited edition. This gives us something to think about.

Will check out the Prado too. My sister recommended a Toyota Kluger. Are they a good 7 seat vehicle?

Re: New car shopping
 

Hmmm, well apart from being slapped with the ugly stick (JMHO! :lol:) no, they are not half as practical as the Prado. The back seat isnt really a seat, its more of a bench that lifts from the floor and once its up your boot has all gone. The Prados boot is made very small when all of the seats are up, but you have lots of options as the seats all split IYKWIM? If I remember correctly (but please someone jump in if its not correct :D) the middle back seat doesnt split, so it has to be laid down to climb over, NOT practical at all if you have car seats for the kids in the back.....

Re: New car shopping
 

Just another example of how the discounts work.

We looked at the Suzuki Alto GL Hatchback 5dr 1.0i the other week.
Normal Drive Away Price $14,717
But it was available for $11,990 (18.5% discount)

The Grand Voyager was a 21.9% discount.

Negotiating for a decent discount is a MUST.