Well, I made a big mistake the other day in car shopping 101: I looked at an xA and fell in love. Problem is I'm only looking to spend $14000 out the door, and that's stretching it really. After checking the Scion dealer in my immediate area, the total comes to nearly $15K for a base model after factoring in dealership fees plus tax, title, and tag (doc fee is about $400 for the record :? ). I suppose I could get that price shaved a bit should I opt for a manual, but I've never had the opportunity to learn stick. :oops:

So I'm looking for some input from the nice folks here. Is this a good price out the door, or should I attempt to haggle a bit? I know the mark-up is low, and there's a no haggle policy, but it seems as though I should be able to get a base for a bit cheaper, no? Secondly, being an xA (or even xB) owner, would you say this price is worth it, or should I settle for something else? And lastly, in terms of settling, any suggestions of a good quality car out there that would be less? Cav and Sunfire are cheap I know, but they seem so... Cheap. I'm thinking Civic, and possibly Neon, but I'm not too gone on either.

I've searched this site over for the info I'm looking for, but I figured a post couldn't hurt for direct information. Thanks a lot for any input, and an excellent community you have here. Another selling point I might add.

 

there aren't much room to haggle on. a base auto xA priced about 14k, govertment crap alone may cost you 1-1.4k already, how can you keep it below 15k? you can ask the dealer to get rip of the doc fee, 400 is like 10 times of waht i am paying for here in SF, if your dealer don't want to drop the fee, tell them you will speak with every signle car dealer in the area, whoever don't charge doc fee will be your dealer, and tell them you don;t mind getting a hyundai since you are going to junk your car after 100k mile. you get to be bold enough to fight for it, don;t let the dealer sweet talk get into you, tell them there are tons of competition out there.

your other car choice can be sentra, civic, and corolla. you may be able to get a civic vp or corolla ce out of door below 15k, sentra may not that that big of problem to get it out of door under 15k. get a accent if you don;t mind people give you a cheap look, it's not a very great car, but it's certainlly not a POS and pretty reliable. hey, if you are thinking to get a neon, i think accent is a better choice.

 

i say do it... these are great cars and very dependable... theres no way that you will be able to get anything else that is brand new that comes close to this level of dependability in this price range... the civic would be equally dependable as the scion but i doubt that you will be able to find a civic that is comparably equipped in the scions price range... but if the xa is streatching your budget id look for possibly a used one or another used car that suits your needs... the last thing you want to do is to put yourself in a financial bind.... just my opinion

 

I ended up spending a few hundred dollars more then I was looking to spend on my xA. You know what though? I don't regret it one bit.

Once you start putting all of the options on the other cars in the price range then they cost a lot more. Not to mention availability! I called one dealership asking if they had an Echo with ABS, and then laughed at me.

I suggest figuring out what your deal breakers are. Mine were ABS, and gas milege. Those were my 2 big important items.

Also I suggest getting a newspaper and check the car ads. Sometimes you will find an awesome deal on a car that usually starts in the next price range. I live in Colorado, and my dad saw a car ad in Missouri for a Mazda 3 hatchback with dealer incentives starting at $12.5 For me if that was available in Colorado I would have gone with the Mazda 3 hatch.

I love my Scion. I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever.

Just make sure you look around and see what's available in your area. The Scion line is amazingly priced, and they come with a history of amazing Toyota quality.

I would reccomend them to anyone, including you. :D

 

Yeah I would tell them to drop the document fee or else you can just go somewhere else.

 

That wouldnt work... but you might want to get a manual if you have someone who can teach you.

 

dealership fees??! document fees??! You can get them to drop both of those. If you have another scion dealership near you call them and play one against the other. Tax, tag out the door for my xA was 13,921.89. Plus I got the 3 free oil changes promotion and free tires for the term of my loan (6 yrs) because I shopped around. One dealerhip wouldn't give me a darn thing nor a break on their price which was around 14,500.00 out the door.

Shop it. Tell them (be nice) what you want. walk away if they aren't willing to work with you and go somewhere else.

 

I really dont think anyone is going to drop there dock fee for you It is not worth the risk to a dealership. As for a fair out the door price, my doc fee is $55 dollars and you would be out the door @ $14,746.90 with a new plate and %6 tax and $13,930.70 for a 5 speed~ Good luck with your decision~Dan

 

Learning to drive a stick is fairly simple, too. Whats it worth it to you to learn? You'll end up saving a lot more money and enjoying the car more: the xA is a car you want to own in manual, you just wont enjoy it as much as an automatic.

 

Thanks for the input folks. I'm pretty set on the Scion at this point, after shopping around a bit more over the weekend. There's a few dealerships in my area, but all of the doc fees are in the $400-600 area unfortunately (the closest dealership is actually the cheapest). I haven't even attempted to haggle yet. There are a couple dealers I found on the net in Northern Florida that have $35 doc fees, which is MUCH better, and probably worth the trip.

Anywho, I'm going to try and get to my dealership later in the week and get a bit more serious. Depending on the price I get, I have no idea when I'll be able to get the car. They have quite a few on the lot (and one in BCP, the color I want), but this is a busy week for me and I'm going to be away for 6 days this coming week. Really ancy to get the car, but I'm not going to pay through nose; I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Thanks for all the responses, I really appreciate the help and information.

 

if you're financing, make sure yu don't let the dealer lie to you about yer credit score. a lot of dealers like to do that and it makes a huge difference in the price yu pay.

 

Do what i did. Go to your bank/credit union and get preapproved for your loan. Have them word the voucher so that the TOTAL cost of the car, (taxs, fees, etc) cannot exceed 14k. The dealership will magicallly work out the numbers so you come in just under that price. As long as you stick to your guns about deposits and such, you should come out with what you want....