Hello Everyone!

I spend a ton of time over at vwvortex.com and as you can see from my sign in, my wife's Jetta VR6 keeps giving her major headaches (My GTI has been pain free, thankfully). I'm on a mission from the pregnant woman to find a new Accord. She's looking at the 06 V6 EX w/ leather and Nav. I've seen some of the threads regarding 05 V6's having some issues, but is there anything else we should be researching? Is there much wiggle room for pricing? I got a quote for the car we are looking at for $27,015. Is that good, or can we get better?

TIA!

WifeysBrokenJetta

 

The honda shouldn't give you any nightmares as long as it's maintained properly. Not too sure on the pricing, I'd go get a bank loan and offer cash under their noses. 27,300 is MSPR according to edmunds.com. You could probably get them to do 27,000 out the door or even less with cash in hand. Good luck!

 

Is it true that the 7th generation really only needs oil changes for the first 100k? $27k out the door would be awesome!

 

I have never heard of any car only needing an oil change for the first 100k. I think that someone's pulling you leg with that. Just keep the oil changed at the recommended interval (7,500 mi I believe) and your honda will give you hundreds of thousands of miles of use.

 

I just purchased an 06 EX V6 with Leather (No NAV) for 25,500 out the door. That included all taxes, tags, freight and processing. Took my choice of any on the lot forr that price.

 

The 06 EX V6 Accord has an oil life monitor. You don't have to change the oil until the monitor gets down near 0%. I intend to change it when it gets to the 15 - 20% range. Well see how that works out for miles. On a different note - Think about the EX V6 without Nav. You can buy a decent Nav system that can be moved from car to car for around $500 these days. Nav is normally a 2K option. I didn't feel the need to spend the money when I wouldn't be using it on daily commute. Only when on Travel for work. Just a thought. They may be willing to do a better deal on a Non Nav since there are more of them out there.

 

That's not true. You should get your fluids changed regularly:

Oil - every 5000 miles (Honda recommends 7500 but I have a hard time accepting it...heck I was changing mine every 3k until recently.)
Brake fluid - flush every 30k miles.
Transfluid - drain and refill every 30k. Some mechanics do their own at 15k intervals.
Coolant - flush every 30k or every 2 years.

The 100k mark is a tuneup. To be honest, the car may not need a tune up till 100k but given the cheap cost of one, I do it every 50k...for my 98 Accord, that would've been:

Oil change, air filter change, new spark plugs, new distrubutor cap/rotor (I don't think the new Accords have distributors anymore...I think they have ignition modules which I'm not familiar with.)

Personally, I changed my air filter and plugs at 15k intervals and oil at 3k (until recently). Plugs and filters are so cheap, there's no reason not to change them out. With this maintenance schedule, my Accord only ever had 2 repairs...a defective caliper and a bad oxygen sensor. Both were way past 100k.

I had a Civic with 168k miles and it was driven hard. I just got rid of it when we bought an Odyssey. I'm driving a 98 Accord with 143k miles on it. It's still running strong. I'll probably drive it to 200k (that's about when the Ody will be paid off.) I'll then look at a new Accord.

 

See, that's what I get for listening to a salesman. I knew in the back of my mind that was b.s. but I didn't want to get into it with him. But still, fluid changes and other minor things will be a happy departure for my wife who will be writing an $8xx check today for a bad coilpack with less than 70k on the odo.

I've been trying to talk her into the EX w/o Nav, but ever since I retrofitted a euro nav system into my gti, she's really wanted one for her car. Especially after seeing how easy/intuitive it is to use in the Hondas.

$25,500 out the door is outstanding. You want to come do some negotiating on the west coast for me?

 

There's no reason why you can't get an Accord for close to invoice. Make up a spreadsheet or chart. Put 3 different dealer names on it. Itemize the cost, car, ttl, destination, extended warranty, etc. Have it at each dealer.

Fill in some fake numbers for the first dealer...put $500 over invoice. I did this when I bought my Accord. The first dealer was part of a special buying program... check out www.autobytel.com...it was a no haggle $700 over invoice price. Take it or leave it. I wrote it down and left.

2 car dealers later and no more than an 1 hour more, I had my cost of $300 over invoice at dealer #3. No haggling, no bs. I then tried to get $100 over invoice at one last dealer...he gave me nothing but a headache..I left, went back to #3 and bought the car for $300 over invoice with a $600 6/100,000 extended warranty.

Dealers are willing to deal when you have numbers (real or not as long as they are believable) and they know they have to compete. Also, go in with a printout from edmunds.com with the real invoice price. This way they can't bs you that it cost them more.

 

2006 Honda Accord Sdn EXLV6 AT with NAVI
Invoice: 26,365.00
MSRP 29,300.00

According to NADA.

The suggestion about getting pre-approved for a car loan is a great idea... if you walk onto a car lot and say "I'd like to drive that car..." drive it, then say "hmmm... okay I'll give you a check for 27,000.00 right now for it" if they say no say okay thanks and walk off and repeat it with another dealer, but leave your phone number and name with them. Tell them if they can come up with an offer close to that you'd consider it but if not you'll just have to find someone who can. Let them at least make you an offer in case that's the best one you recieve so you can come back. Don't forget about taxes etc. though... Also, make sure you get pre-approved on the loan for as much as possible. That way you have leeway to spend more or less if need be... If it costs you less than the loan then I would take the extra loan money, put it in the account and you have your first few payments made already! plus the intrest cost on a few grand isn't going to be much of anything... This normally works pretty well... I work at a dealership and the car sales guys beg our finance guy to allow it so they can get a sale...