There are a bunch of certified pre-owned dealerships out here on the auto-mile in Norwood and out Rt. 9. They have a bunch of cars, but they might be newer than your budget will fit. I'd be happy to investigate if you let me know what you're looking for.

What happened to the small green?

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took it in to get an exhaust leak checked out today, he just called me and said ALL the motor mounts are broken and the motor's resting on the frame.

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gah!!! Wow.

Better to find out now than later, I guess. Also, it looks like there's a CarMax in Hartford if you want a ride down there. They usually have a wider selection price-wise.

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Might take you up on that, but there are LOTS of small dealerships in the area. Big dealers tend to be a bit more expensive ime.

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Yeh, that can happen. I've known people who had good experiences with CarMax in the south, but I don't know where the best prices are found up here. In any case, let us know if you need a ride to any dealerships.

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Persephone got our new (used) car at a CarMax in Houston. It probably was a bit more expensive than a smaller dealership--not sure, since her sister works for the corporate office and thus we decided to just use her discount and not look anywhere else. However, just as a point of information, when I took the car to a mechanic the next day to have him give it a once-over, he said afterward that it looked just fine to him and then volunteered unprompted that "you usually don't have to worry too much about CarMax cars, because their stuff is pretty good." (That said, we did have CarMax rebalance the wheels before purchasing because we noticed that the steering wheel shook a little at high speeds, but that was a minor issue and they fixed it right away.)

Wherever you go shopping, I learned the hard way that it's a good idea to find out whether that dealer lets you take it to a mechanic for inspection before purchase, or whether you need to look around for a mechanic that will drive out to the dealer and do the inspection on-site. The latter do exist, but if you don't know that you need one before you get to the dealer, you have to rely on the dealer's recommendation of which one to contact. (In this case I just did an independent-mechanic inspection during the five-day return window, but I would've felt a lot more comfortable doing it before I signed anything.) You probably already know this stuff, but I didn't, so FWIW...

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Does it happen to be a Ford? I had a Ford Taurus that this happened to and there had been a recall for this exact problem. Thanks to the recall it was fixed at no cost to me which was a huge relief because I wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise, even though usually replacing motor mounts isn't real costly.

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Toyota, but thanks for the heads up.
Apparently the mounts for this particular model are a bit pricey, and it's a '93 so it ain't really worth what it would cost to fix. :-/

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I have nuthin of practical value, but - UGH! I'm sorry this is so sucky for you.

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heh, thanks for the sympathy. ^_^

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Well at least you'll be able to haggle aggressively...

If you don't drive a lot, MPG won't matter much, and you can get an *incredible* deal on SUVs right now.

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I don't drive often, but we take trips to NYC and Philly fairly regularly, so highway MPG helps a lot.
And I don't want to own an SUV frankly. heh.

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speaking of haggling agressively...
what makes you say I can? and have any tips on it?
I've never done this before. heh.

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right, lying is the path of true value!
^_^

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indeed!
do onto them before they do onto you.

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Now, speaking as someone who has never bought a car, but has spent an odd amount of time researching vehicles and the purchase process, here are my thoughts:

* Car prices are generally negotiable, and in tough times they are even more so. This has been just about the worst 3 months ever for car sales. New-car sales joints are still trying to move '08s; repos and job losses mean there's a glut of used machines on the market, and nobody wants to buy unless they're sure they're going to keep a job. And they're not sure -- hence Hyundai's new campaign, offering to buy the car back if you lose your job.

* On haggling in general: (See NYTimes this week... even department stores are apparently open to haggling).

* If you're going used, you can use CarFax or whatever to get a history of that specific vehicle so you know it's not a lemon.

* If you can avoid it, don't finance. Or get 3rd party financing from a bank rather than from the dealership -- at the very least, at the financing stage of negotiations, you can show them the bank's rate and make them beat it.

* It will take at least twice as long as you think it should, so be patient. They want you to get impatient and just get it over with and overpay.

* If you get a "certified-pre-owned" vehicle, make sure that both the dealer and the manufacturer are backing the guarantee and the certification, not just the dealer.

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If you want to know about haggling for cars, ask mangosteen. It's just about his favorite thing in the world, and he will happily do it FOR you (and get you a great deal, by all accounts), if you ask.

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if you need something right now, you might talk to catya? i know penk's mom drives a suburu wagon and she snowbirds in Florida, so you might be able to borrow that car for a little while until you work something else out.

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eh, we'll be ok for the moment and always have zipcar as a backup if necessary. Thanks for the heads up though

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eek! good to find out that way rather than have the engine fall out onto the road i guess! No specific cars to offer, but suggested ones to look at maybe.

We still love our 2005 Scion XBs, but the room in back is more cubic than long- would have to measure to see about the bass. Mileage about 30-34 for the 2005, new ones are less (bigger engine and body, grr). I used to have a subaru legacy wagon and it was The Thing in terms of form factor- BIG cargo space! Old Saab hatchbacks don't suck either, and are sturdy as hell. Al over at ABJ Auto in Somerville sometimes has one to sell at a reasonable price, or knows someone who is selling. Lastly, my parents have a Kia minivan for transporting their large dog, and they've found it very reliable. You can always run around with the back seats removed for scads of cargo space!

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I would love to find one of the early body-style xB's in our price range, the only one I've tracked down so far is at a dealer for $8k with 70k miles. Might be manageable if we can talk him down...

I thought Saabs were a bit expensive on the maintenance side... no? That would definitely be an option if I have a wrong impression about that...

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yeah the early XBs have kept their value, being essentially Toyotas- Mine has been entirely trouble-free and is now just above 70k miles. They were $14k base model, new. If it has records of regular maintenance i'd still call it a good value.

The Saabs I had were cheap to buy ($5k) and ran very well but eventually (after several years of owning them in New England and *cough* driving the way I do) they started needing frequent small repairs. While the engine and drive train were still in excellent shape, it would have to go in occasionally for headlights, door locks, axles, all those little moving parts that start to fare less well in an old car in this climate. ABJ kept the costs pretty low, (they give you a choice of fixing things top-notch dealer spec, or cheap and kludgy but safe) but living where i do i could no longer drop it off there and bicycle home, so each small fix ate a whole workday.

I must say having the new XB has been a relief in terms of NO time and money spent for repairs. I never had a new car before!

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dude. if you don't want to go for it please point us at it?

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Will do.
There's a couple out there for under $10k at MA dealers, do a cars.com or vehix.com search for used xB's in xxx miles of your zipcode.

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Oh, and the bass in the xB is easy, the neck slides up between the front seats iirc.

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Be sure to pay for the month or two of CarFax while you are looking.

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I agree with the general trend of suggestions - be informed, haggle.

Also, make sure if you're going with someone (like, say, your wife) you've pre-agreed on things so the dealer can't get you going one way and the other person another way. You might be surprised how often this happens.

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