New Car: Honda Fit vs Toyota Yaris?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

GM of Canada is the same as toyota of America ?
douche bag

Sounds about right. Your country has no indigenous auto industry. All it does is make cars for companies owned by the citizens of other nations. Honda of Canada, for example. Sure it's not union, but it still makes for lots of jobs for your fellow countrymen. I don't know if you know this, but most workers are NOT union. I am NOT union, so I have nothing invested in buying from union shops. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid union produced goods because I don't want my money going to pay for an organization that makes political contributions to those who are opposed to my point of view, I.E. the US Democrat Party, or the Labour Party up north. Because the Union extorts contributions...err....dues from workers in the factories it is a part of, the labor money I spend for a given union good partially goes to my political enemies. As I do not choose to make contributions to these organizations in my life, I feel I should not buy products that can be used to fight against my causes.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

any EF chassis youll be fine.
anything you need to change on the car problem wise can be changed on the side of the road with minimal tools, including the engine as it only weighs 150lbs and you can pick it up out of the car and carry it around 😀
Plus with the asking price of sub2k you have plenty of money to replace any part youd need or every part and still be below 5k.
40mpg never felt soooo good.
Takes about 2 weeks to strip the entire car including harness and rebuild it haha.

I like the EG Coupe the best, but I have no more time for project cars right now which is why I want a brand new car. I barely have time to do an oil change, and my Cutlass now languishes in my front yard under a tarp, 100% prepped for paint but I have no time to shoot it. School MUST come first now, or I will be doing a pointless job barely eeking out a living the rest of my days.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

black is best 😀

I tend to agree. Black with dark window tint and a set of black wheels with a polished lip. And a REALLY good A/C system! Then I have to choose if I want to spend the extra for the sport package with the body kit, cruise control, slightly better stereo, alarm and remote keyless entry. Yeah, it sounds kinda ricey, but I think it would look acceptable.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

On a completely different note, I will say that American automakers could win back market share by building cars that set new standards in the industry. It is not simply enough to build something inoffensive that works well as a rental car, or other kind of fleet vehicle. The Cobalt COULD have been a great new beginning, but they aimed too low. The ECOTEC engine makes 140hp from an all aluminum 2.2 liter 4 with variable valve timing. Sounds advanced, but then you realize that Nissan built a similar engine in 1991 called the SR20DE and put it in the Sentra, G-20 and NX2000 small cars in this country, and the S13/S14/S15 Chassis everywhere else. It also did not offer anything that made people take notice. It was just a better Cavalier with a new name on it. If GM had used the Civic as it's benchmark instead of it's own maligned J body, maybe people would have bought it in large numbers. Instead, they managed to pull up average or slightly below compared to the rest of the segment. And when people have a choice of how they will spend their money it usually is with the best product they can find in their price range. Sadly, the Cobalt fails to be that product. What GM needs is a "Halo" car that is available at a low price the average person could afford, not pricey high tech cars like the Corvette if it wants to gain back it's market share. I have nothing against the 'Vette, but I can't afford one and it's greatness does not translate down to other Chevys. GM needs to have Honda-like reliability over the long haul in it's bread and butter products if it ever wishes to be great again. Not just the engines, but little things like switches, A/C systems, squeaks and rattles, etc. all need to work for a long time and not require constant replacement. After all, that is what Honda stakes it's reputation on, and why people buy them. If GM can build good, solid, reliable and innovative cars again at competitive prices and do so for a long time, I may consider giving them a second chance NEXT time I buy a new car, but not this one. I am not rich enough to spend my money subsidizing GM, Ford or Chrysler in hopes that some day they may get it right again. In fact, it may be that they will need to sell a great car at a price below everyone else just to get people to try it. Toyota did it with the Lexus LS400, GM should do it with it's next Compact car. After people want it, raise the price to where it should be. Above all though, it needs to be brilliant. In closing I will say that foreign cars are not the problem and unions are not the whole problem either. It's the cars themselves that are the problem with the US auto industry. It takes no more materials to make a bad car than a good one, it is how those materials are applied that makes all the difference.

 

[Uncletruck]

Then add this to the Canadian mix. The Canadian government just gave a large grant to Ford to re-open its closed down Windsor transmission plant as an engine plant. What will that mean? Most of the 900 laid off union idiots will get their jobs back, along with a bunch of nepotists and people from state agencies placed in to some high paying jobs there. Then it will be run right back in to the ground and shut down again, all the expense of the Canadian taxpayers. These companies and union members suck everything dry, then want public handouts so they can supposedly keep "good" (overpaid) jobs for the union members. It's no different than people on welfare that don't deserve it as far as I see.

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, this whole subject has just been made a moot point. I can't qualify for a refinance of my current mortgage to a lower rate and payment due to the sub prime mess. Since I can't do a stated income loan, and not all of my income shows since some is tips, I only qualify for $33k, when I really needed $60k to cover my mortgage, downpayment on a new car, and pay off my parents. I can't even get a loan to payoff my existing mortgage of $52k. It seems the government has eliminated stated income qualifying loans because so many were defaulted on. That I am coming in at 40% equity matters little, and that I can pay the current higher payment just fine does not factor in. I just hope that I can keep my truck going long enough as I won't buy another used car. Maybe if I had another 100 points in my FICO score things would be different, but I just spent a year to get a hundred points, and the next 100 won't be as easy as it is just a waiting game for bad things to drop off which have already been settled, but continue to weigh against me. I only have 2 bad accounts to fix, and one just was not reported right. I post all of this to put a human face on the credit mess, and what some unscrupulous mortgage brokers did to people who are not trying to do what they cannot afford.

 

[axisg]

sounds like you need to get a Canadian Union Job.


Sorry, couldn't resist. Hope things turn around.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I am going to continue to work on my credit and try to do this again in a few months, but it sucks because I won't be getting a 2008 car, I will be stuck with a more expensive 2009. Plus, it will be harder to save money since so much will go towards gas and the other things I was trying to eliminate. I did find one loan product that may show promise if I can get my middle score up to a 680, and it's a 650 now, so that is do-able. Unfortunately, it's just a rate reduction refi and cash out is not allowed. So, I could cut over $100 off my monthly expenses, then pay off my parents with my tax refund, saving another $100. It just sucks because I was looking forward to buying my first new car in 10 years. It would have been nice to not be facing the expense of fixing my old truck's minor issues like the A/C clutch, Catalytic converter, steering box and lower ball joints. The peace of mind would have been wonderful too as I am wondering just how much longer it will last before it has a major problem. 300k of pizza delivery is a lot to ask of any vehicle.

 

[itsnotanova]

I know it will be disappointing not to get a brand new car. Who hasn't gone into a dealership and asked the salesman a hundred questions and than started dreaming about having something new. I've owned over 35 vehcles in my 36 years and none of them were younger than 4 years old. Some of those i had to get loans for and it's wonderful not having to have worry about something going wrong. But on the other side not having that monthly payment plus insurance is sometimes even greater. I have a feeling you're as knowledgeable or more about vehicle as I am and know what to look for when buying a car. Take that one monthes vehicle/insurance payment (at least $1000) and go buy a beater. Use it, treat it like sh*t and if it dies, leave it on the side of the road and get another one.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, the sad thing is, I would have had $200 LESS per month going out the door had my whole idea worked out AND be driving a new car. I used to be a mortgage broker ( well... not a good one. I only lasted 3 mos) and have the financial calculator for computing payments, etc. I was going to save $100 a month on the mortgage, and another $100 on a personal loan I would have covered with the cash out ( I owe $1600 on that one). Additionally, the fuel cost savings would have ranged from $180 a month to $200 a month, and the payment on a 60 month term with the $5k down I would have had wound up being $150-180 a month, depending on a few variables ( which also calculates to the fuel cost savings effectively negating the payments). So, the new car was a net reduction in monthly bills, not an increase. There was more to the whole thing as it worked on 5 tiers and would have given me greater financial stability and more money every month. It all was predicated on the mortgage and the savings I could get from it, and an early payoff of the new car loan via selling $6k worth of vehicles to put on top of the principle of the loan early to avoid amortizing the value of the car over the full length of the loan. This also frees up my garage for my Cutlass, and would allow me to take it off the road and avoid an additional $100 a month in recurring insurance costs for a vehicle I do not need to drive and that has not moved in over a year. That way, I would be putting most of my regular payments into principle and not interest early on and allowing me to pay off the car in about 15-18mos with a monthly payment in the sub $200 range. Plus, I would have some of my extra cash left over from the other savings to put on the loan each month to further compound the loan time reduction.

BTW, the total payment on insurance and car payment would have been under $400, not $1,000. $1,000 pays my mortgage, insurance, electric, water and cell phone bills combined.