I hate car shopping

[SquirrellyMama]

Looking for a new car without all of the gadgets I don't care about and don't want to pay for. Not an easy task! What are good, but boring cars. I don't need fancy paint, seat warmers, state of the art stereos, or anything anyone else seems to want.

 

[gardenmom5]

what kind of car are you looking for? sedan?  suv?  compact?
the stuff you mentioned not wanting are all things connected to trim level - not a particular car (except that less expensive cars won't offer them even in their highest trim level.)

I always prefer to buy a car that's a few years old with low miles.  Someone else can pay to drive it off the lot.  Covid was very hard on car prices - 2ds's used car actually increased in value by several thousand dollars.

[Faith-manor]

We enjoy our base model Chevy Equinox. We get 32 mpg routinely on the highway, and 28 around town. I sometimes get 34 on the freeway because I am a more sedate driver than Mark.

[vonfirmath]

My sister is going car shopping with my nephew and finding the same thing -- hard to find cars available without the extras they do not want to pay for.

 

OF course, if you wait it could be several months waiting.

 

[Laura Corin]

We love our VW Golf. Nothing fancy - 6 years old and going very strong.

[Arcadia]

When we went to look at cars earlier this year, the base models need to be ordered because what gets delivered by default to the dealers for the showroom are variations with extras.  So if we know what we want, the dealer can show us the price he is going to charge us and place an order if we want to proceed.

[Scarlett]

Toyota civic 

My son has a 22 model. Great gas mileage and very reliable. 

[Arcadia]

Just now, Scarlett said:

Toyota civic 

My son has a 22 model. Great gas mileage and very reliable. 

Civic would be a Honda? Toyota would be a Corolla. Both have great mileage 

[SquirrellyMama]

I'm trying to figure out how to get a base model. I was talking to one dealer but they have gone silent. I don't think they want to do base model.

[SquirrellyMama]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

what kind of car are you looking for? sedan?  suv?  compact?
the stuff you mentioned not wanting are all things connected to trim level - not a particular car (except that less expensive cars won't offer them even in their highest trim level.)

I always prefer to buy a car that's a few years old with low miles.  Someone else can pay to drive it off the lot.  Covid was very hard on car prices - 2ds's used car actually increased in value by several thousand dollars.

I don't really care what model or make honestly. But, finding any model without all of the extras is difficult.

We usually do older cars but are finding that the price is more than buying a newer base model. If I could find a base model that is 2-4 years old that would be great.

[Scarlett]

4 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Civic would be a Honda? Toyota would be a Corolla. Both have great mileage 

Yes, you are right. I always mix those up!  He has the Corolla. 

[SquirrellyMama]

40 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Yes, you are right. I always mix those up!  He has the Corolla. 

I can never remember who makes which car. I am soooo not into cars. It took me forever to remember the Tesla logo. I always called them the t-shirt cars because that is what the logo reminds me of. 

[athena1277]

Years ago (maybe 10?) my parents were in need of a new car.  Like many they buy newer used cars.  Then they discovered that a bare bones brand new car was much cheaper.  It had doors you had to unlock manually and windows that rolled down by hand.  It felt really old school.  I got a kick out of teaching my kids how to roll down the windows!

[teachermom2834]

I have a 2019 Corolla. I don’t even think it is the most base model and the lack of features is a little stunning. Lol. I like it that way but it is so basic. Sometimes people don’t believe me how new it is when notice the lack of fancy stuff.

When we were car shopping at some of the other maker dealerships the salespeople would joke about how Toyota was so behind on the gadgets and high tech experience and that they were still really focused on the engine. Well that is what we wanted because we were buying the car for the purpose of driving 100+ miles daily. 
 

All that to say Toyota Corolla. Absolutely no frills on mine. 🙂

[SHP]

6 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

Looking for a new car without all of the gadgets I don't care about and don't want to pay for. Not an easy task! What are good, but boring cars. I don't need fancy paint, seat warmers, state of the art stereos, or anything anyone else seems to want.

 

I feel your pain deeply and the last new car I bought was in 2003 for this reason. I went online found makes and models I was interested in and to see which had the most basic and boring options. The only thing I wanted was AC because I had a baby. Then I went and test drove them. I then contacted the dealership and told them exactly what features and color I wanted and asked them if they could order it and what their price would be. I did this at three different dealerships to get the best price. I had arranged financing before I contacted the dealers. 

It is a different world now and no clue if this is still possible. 

[SquirrellyMama]

43 minutes ago, SHP said:

I feel your pain deeply and the last new car I bought was in 2003 for this reason. I went online found makes and models I was interested in and to see which had the most basic and boring options. The only thing I wanted was AC because I had a baby. Then I went and test drove them. I then contacted the dealership and told them exactly what features and color I wanted and asked them if they could order it and what their price would be. I did this at three different dealerships to get the best price. I had arranged financing before I contacted the dealers. 

It is a different world now and no clue if this is still possible. 

I think we found what we are looking for. We'll go test drive tomorrow. I'm hoping we can drive it for the next 20 years!

[SquirrellyMama]

1 hour ago, athena1277 said:

Years ago (maybe 10?) my parents were in need of a new car.  Like many they buy newer used cars.  Then they discovered that a bare bones brand new car was much cheaper.  It had doors you had to unlock manually and windows that rolled down by hand.  It felt really old school.  I got a kick out of teaching my kids how to roll down the windows!

I kind of wish there was a way to be able to crank the windows open if the power windows weren't working. I have irrational fears about car windows and doors not working if I drive into a body of water. I am really landlocked in Central Iowa so this is a very irrational fear 😁

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, athena1277 said:

It had doors you had to unlock manually and windows that rolled down by hand.  It felt really old school.  I got a kick out of teaching my kids how to roll down the windows!

My 2006 Corolla CE has those features and we want those because my friends with automatic type windows had to worry about kids pressing those buttons by mistake. My husband has bad experiences with power doors. He rather lock and unlock manually.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Arcadia

[athena1277]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

My 2006 Corolla CE has those features and we want those because my friends with automatic type windows had to worry about kids pressing those buttons by mistake. My husband has bad experiences with power doors. He rather lock and unlock manually.

My vehicles always had a way to lock the rear windows from being opened by anyone in the back.  I could still open them myself from the front.

[Arcadia]

20 minutes ago, athena1277 said:

My vehicles always had a way to lock the rear windows from being opened by anyone in the back.  I could still open them myself from the front.

It is the closing (rolling up) that my friends are scared off. If a kid put his/her head/hand out of the window and the button gets pressed (by someone else), it would be horrible. I did press the button accidentally when my friend gave me a ride home. I was in the front passenger seat. 

[wintermom]

We haven't looked at buying cars much lately, but it still seems like there are shortages. The dealer lots aren't very full, and it's often only the really high-end models that are available. 

Good luck with your car search! We had a Corolla for years and loved it. I also like the Accord. Both great cars.

[MercyA]

I am not into cars AT ALL, but I love our Toyota Camry.

FWIW, my extended family members have been very happy buying cars with Carvana. They are very responsive to fixing any problems and even trading the car if turns out you don't like it. 

[BeachGal]

Buying cars is one of my least favorite things to do as well.

My advice is do not buy a Subaru Outback. We have a 2021 and it has a parasitic battery drain meaning the battery drains willy nilly. The crash collision brakes have also started to engage unexpectedly at times when we’re stopping and something is going on with the revving where it revs but barely chugs along. It is the most lemon-y car we’ve owned with the exception of a Fiat I drove for one summer. Even my husband’s old Gremlin was more reliable!

On the other hand, Toyota has been our favorite. We’re going to be checking out the Sienna this fall. Can’t wait.

Hope you find something that fits what you want.

[wintermom]

21 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

Buying cars is one of my least favorite things to do as well.

My advice is do not buy a Subaru Outback. We have a 2021 and it has a parasitic battery drain meaning the battery drains willy nilly. The crash collision brakes have also started to engage unexpectedly at times when we’re stopping and something is going on with the revving where it revs but barely chugs along. It is the most lemon-y car we’ve owned with the exception of a Fiat I drove for one summer. Even my husband’s old Gremlin was more reliable!

On the other hand, Toyota has been our favorite. We’re going to be checking out the Sienna this fall. Can’t wait.

Hope you find something that fits what you want.

This is really good to know, as the Outback is one vehicle I was thinking of getting if I won the lottery! 😉  I guess I'll go for the Toyota small SUV instead.

[Janeway]

21 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

Looking for a new car without all of the gadgets I don't care about and don't want to pay for. Not an easy task! What are good, but boring cars. I don't need fancy paint, seat warmers, state of the art stereos, or anything anyone else seems to want.

 

Ditto.

Seriously went to a dealership that had a basic car and a sticker price that was fine. Got there to find a luggage rack on top and they bragged about the lojack and all. Then, when asking about the final price, assuming they would add in TTL, They wanted us to say we would buy it before they would give us the final price with TTL. Then, once the guy brought out the paperwork, we found that they added in a bunch of extras for all the things they added in after the sticker price. This brought the price up by $10K. When we objected, the guy just laughed and said everyone likes those things and discounted how we felt about it. We left. 

[Laura Corin]

I don't know if this is an option in the US, but our last two cars have been demonstration models. They had been used for customers to test drive, or the staff had occasionally driven them. They had a few hundred miles on the clock, but were essentially new and reduced in price.  They are usually  mid-specification.

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I don't know if this is an option in the US, but our last two cars have been demonstration models. They had been used for customers to test drive, or the staff had occasionally driven them. They had a few hundred miles on the clock, but were essentially new and reduced in price.  They are usually  mid-specification.

We were offered that pre-pandemic. It was a few thousand dollars markdown. However, supply was badly affected during the pandemic and often there isn’t a demo model for us to test drive. We wanted to look at a Sienna Hybrid to compare with what we already know about driving a Sienna but many dealerships near us didn’t have one in stock. Now car supplies are getting better but dealers aren’t in any rush to sell their demo models. 

[katilac]

23 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

I'm trying to figure out how to get a base model. I was talking to one dealer but they have gone silent. I don't think they want to do base model.

In my area, almost no dealership will have base models on the lot. 

17 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

I kind of wish there was a way to be able to crank the windows open if the power windows weren't working. I have irrational fears about car windows and doors not working if I drive into a body of water. I am really landlocked in Central Iowa so this is a very irrational fear 😁

For ten bucks or less, you can buy a tool to cut your seatbelt and break the window. I think irrational fears are worth that amount! 

[Scarlett]

17 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

I think we found what we are looking for. We'll go test drive tomorrow. I'm hoping we can drive it for the next 20 years!

What did you decide on?

[SquirrellyMama]

8 hours ago, Scarlett said:

What did you decide on?

We decided on a 23 Toyota Corolla. We drove a 2020 today and then ordered the 23 no frills version. Honestly, the 2020 was no frills also and $7000 more. Crazy! 

We'll hopefully see it within 3 months.

Kelly

Edited July 9, 2023 by SquirrellyMama

[Scarlett]

12 hours ago, SquirrellyMama said:

We decided on a 23 Toyota Corolla. We drove a 2020 today and then ordered the 23 no frills version. Honestly, the 2020 was no frills also and $7000 more. Crazy! 

We'll hopefully see it within 3 months.

Kelly

They told my son 3 months but it was only about 1 month.

[Elizabeth86]

On 7/7/2023 at 2:18 PM, gardenmom5 said:

what kind of car are you looking for? sedan?  suv?  compact?
the stuff you mentioned not wanting are all things connected to trim level - not a particular car (except that less expensive cars won't offer them even in their highest trim level.)

I always prefer to buy a car that's a few years old with low miles.  Someone else can pay to drive it off the lot.  Covid was very hard on car prices - 2ds's used car actually increased in value by several thousand dollars.

Yes, never buy new!

 

ETA nm I see you already decided.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Elizabeth86

[SquirrellyMama]

4 hours ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Yes, never buy new!

 

ETA nm I see you already decided.

We've never bought new before, but for the price we wanted to pay, we really had to buy new. Used car prices were more than the new car price. 

 

[popmom]

You will love the Corolla. Very good car. 

I am also in the camp of wanting no frills. Well, I do like having bluetooth and a backup camera. I don't consider a backup camera to be a frill since it saves babies from being backed over.

I do not enjoy driving my husband's 2020 Subaru because the thing wants to steer itself! There are so many annoying things about all the new frills. I am dreading the day I have to buy something newer. I have a 2012 base Highlander, and I hope I can drive it many more years. 

[SquirrellyMama]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:42 PM, popmom said:

You will love the Corolla. Very good car. 

I am also in the camp of wanting no frills. Well, I do like having bluetooth and a backup camera. I don't consider a backup camera to be a frill since it saves babies from being backed over.

I do not enjoy driving my husband's 2020 Subaru because the thing wants to steer itself! There are so many annoying things about all the new frills. I am dreading the day I have to buy something newer. I have a 2012 base Highlander, and I hope I can drive it many more years. 

The back up camera comes standard in the Corolla as does bluetooth. We rented a car that had the cruise and the lane assist work together. I took me a long time to figure out how to operate the cruise separately from the lane assist. 

Kelly

[DawnM]

My friend got her son some Ford (maybe fiesta?) that had roll. up windows!   They had to special order a stripped down model.

I don't know if you can still do that (this was about 8 years ago) but you could certainly ask.

Edited July 12, 2023 by DawnM

[Pam in CT]

I used to loathe car shopping until I got my first red Subaru. Ever since then I've only ever gotten red Subarus; currently on my 4th having handed off #3 and #2 to my brother and daughter respectively; and my life plan is I'm only ever going to get red Subarus until the end of time.

My husband, who ADORES looking at cars and researching cars and test driving cars and price-comparing cars and negotiating with car deals, is grievously disappointed with me on this subject and tries, every time, to entice me into considering other options, and, nope. 

I cannot express the exquisite lightness of knowing I'm never going to have to face that particular hot mess again.

[SquirrellyMama]

38 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

I used to loathe car shopping until I got my first red Subaru. Ever since then I've only ever gotten red Subarus; currently on my 4th having handed off #3 and #2 to my brother and daughter respectively; and my life plan is I'm only ever going to get red Subarus until the end of time.

My husband, who ADORES looking at cars and researching cars and test driving cars and price-comparing cars and negotiating with car deals, is grievously disappointed with me on this subject and tries, every time, to entice me into considering other options, and, nope. 

I cannot express the exquisite lightness of knowing I'm never going to have to face that particular hot mess again.

I would love it if we have such good luck with the Corolla that we will only buy new black Corollas in the future. I can totally get on board with that plan 🙂