My life is dull and so all I can blog about is my art streams or buying a car...
So I choose the car!
This weekend Im going to make the purchase for a car, in particular, a new 2017 Volkswagen Jetta S automatic.
The internet price is 11,499USD. I called in and asked, "hey, so whats the ACTUAL price, including all your sneaky dealership bastard discounts and requirements?" and they said, "you shrewd customer you, that price is the price including all possible discounts, which are 500 dollars for a new graduate discount, 500 for a military discount, and 500 for an affiliated work program, also you have to finance it with us, for four months at least. Also the price goes up after August by like 2,000USD, also dealership bullshit fees on top for title, tags, and processing."
So I'm like, man I'm glad Im not on the phone with you, I'd have to admit that sounds pretty okay, better than what I was expecting at least!
So if I assume the 12,000USD price for not being a military guy, I'm looking at like, what, 13,000 with the processing fees and shit after all is said and done? Thats not bad for a brand new car, right?
So yeah, I suppose I'll go get that car on the weekend.
What are the odds I can demand some fees be raised since its a. the end of the month, b. I'm ready to walk out the door for the right incentives?
This is what I have, but a 2016. Got a really good deal on it, basically 3 year lease at $70/mo with option to buy at the end of the three years if I want. Will owe approx $10k USD if I were to purchase it, so looks like a similar price range to you. I don't know car buying or details that well
Car wise, I'm quite satisfied. It has a nice, clean look; a few nice intergrative features and reasonable acceleration and handling. Gas mileage is, compared to what I'm used to, stupid good. A bad tank is 40mpg, a good tank with the right kind of driving can go over 50mpg. As an entry level car, especially at that price, I couldn't be happier. Only big question is long term reliability, but it's a 2016 model so who really knows yet.
2017 Volkswagen Jetta S automatic
Don't do it! Manual is SOOOO much better it's not even fair. I could never imagine going back to automatic again.
On August 23 2017 13:06 L_Master wrote:Don't do it! Manual is SOOOO much better it's not even fair. I could never imagine going back to automatic again.
Funny. In my country almost everyone drives manual but not because we like it, mainly because of lower cost. I've only had manuals in my life but I love driving automatic when I get the chance. Only time I'd prefer manual would be in a sports car.
It all depends. I'd never buy a car with automatic, because it's boring, especially if I'm going to a long trip (which happens a lot recently). I've tried lot of cars with automatic (I work at automotive) and I like it, since one of your leg can rest during the driving but - that's not for me in longterm :D
I reaaaaally don't wanna learn stick though, it WOULD be notably cheaper to get Jetta with stick, like 1 - 1.5K cheaper, but then I'd need to learn to drive stick, and I'm not sure Im ready for that kind of commitment in my life. :'(
Another big benefit aside from the price difference is, if you live in snow manual superior to an automatic transmission by a large margin due to the control you have.
On August 23 2017 20:22 Zambrah wrote: I reaaaaally don't wanna learn stick though, it WOULD be notably cheaper to get Jetta with stick, like 1 - 1.5K cheaper, but then I'd need to learn to drive stick, and I'm not sure Im ready for that kind of commitment in my life. :'(
Not worth it if you can afford the extra cost imo. Every single time you hit a red light it's 4-5 gear shifts just to get up to speed again. Commuting to work can easily mean 50+ gear shifts every single time. Gets tedious after a while, and I've driven manuals for 10 years.
With the amount of extras people add to their new cars, adding automatic increases comfort noticeably across the vehicle's entire life span.
If you're off roading, of course you get a stick shift. But most people don't, they only think they do and end up with gas guzzling SUVs in morning traffic. If you're being realistic with what you need your car for, chances are you won't need manual.
Currently driving (my first) automatic after almost 15 years of driving manual.
What I like: - Super easy driving! I feel even a 12 year old could drive an automatic up to an average level (disregarding anticipation of other traffic here) - Have an extra hand that is always available to hold my coffee. - Left leg is just chillin' all the way - Not having to use the emergency brake
What I don't like: - No control over the car and waiting for gears to shift is a huge downside (I don't think automatic drivers will understand, unless driven manual) - It's easy, but also really boring - Automatics are generally more expensive and less fuel efficient (even though I'm not sure whether the latter is still relevant these days with the latest auto-transmission tech?) - Never using the emergency brake can cause it to stop working properly in times you will actually need it
On August 23 2017 21:54 Jae Zedong wrote: Every single time you hit a red light it's 4-5 gear shifts just to get up to speed again.
You have many red light on the highway or you have way more than 5 gears levels? °°
It's like maybe 2 in the city in my experience. Unless you're driving on highways with red lights where the speed limit gets up to 50mph/80kph+, then I could see needing an extra shift or two. Either that or you're driving an 18 wheeler with a huge number of gears
Funny. In my country almost everyone drives manual but not because we like it, mainly because of lower cost. I've only had manuals in my life but I love driving automatic when I get the chance. Only time I'd prefer manual would be in a sports car.
What makes you prefer manual?
In a nutshell, I find many upsides and almost no downsides. Two big ones for me are the much better mileage and less wear and tear on the car. Those are huge from a practicality standpoint, especially if you're not swimming in money.
Beyond that, it's just a hell of a lot more fun to drive. It's interesting to here you talk about the shifts being tedious. To me, it's the exact opposite. Driving down the highway in 5th (top for the jetta) gear is boring. You aren't doing anything. Turns, stops, starts, accelerations are all much more engaging. It's super fun just rolling through the gears always trying to get your shifts as crisp as possible, match revs, etc.
In addition to that, there is just this wonderful feeling of being in control of your vehicle. You can respond faster and it jsut feels right. Need to overtake that slow dude in the right hand lane but space is tight? Pop it down into 4th, jump on it, then back into 5th. Don't get that same feeling of control at all in an automatic.
On August 24 2017 01:36 Smorrie wrote: Currently driving (my first) automatic after almost 15 years of driving manual.
What I like: - Super easy driving! I feel even a 12 year old could drive an automatic up to an average level (disregarding anticipation of other traffic here) - Have an extra hand that is always available to hold my coffee. - Left leg is just chillin' all the way - Not having to use the emergency break
What I don't like: - No control over the car and waiting for gears to shift is a huge downside (I don't think automatic drivers will understand, unless driven manual) - It's easy, but also really boring - Automatics are generally more expensive and less fuel efficient (even though I'm not sure whether the latter is still relevant these days with the latest auto-transmission tech?) - Never using the emergency break can cause it to stop working properly in times you will actually need it
Bottom line; would recommend manual at all times
Pretty much gotta echo that. Jetta has a 1s auto-hold though, so I've never needed to worry about the e-brake. The extra hand available is, at times, nice. That I must admit.
The downsides are what do it for me. You can be FAR more fuel efficient with a manual, especially if you're intelligent with your shifts, and you can also put significantly less wear and tear on the transmission. Not to mention being in control of the car, actually being able to get it to do what you want is such a fantastic feeling.
I drove automatics for the first 10 years of my driving life, and now having had a manual for two years can definitely say I'm never going back.
On August 23 2017 20:22 Zambrah wrote: I reaaaaally don't wanna learn stick though, it WOULD be notably cheaper to get Jetta with stick, like 1 - 1.5K cheaper, but then I'd need to learn to drive stick, and I'm not sure Im ready for that kind of commitment in my life. :'(
It's not that bad of a commitment in my opinion. I spent like 45 min practicing in a parking lot with my dad, and then was able to make it how. Practiced for a couple hours by myself the next day and drove up to Denver in traffic and managed passably, stalled once or twice in traffic and had a few moments where I was having to really think about what I needed to do, but wasn't bad. I would have been 100% comfortable outside of big city traffic.
Within a week, which was definitely less than 10 driving hours, most of the main aspects were muscle memory. I wasn't stalling or confusing which pedal I needed to let out or anything else silly. So I'd say at worst a 10-15 hour time commitment for the benefits of:
-Much cheaper vehicle -Noticeably better gas mileage -Less wear and tear on your car -Better control in the snow -Hell of a lot more fun to drive
Just on price alone, if you get 1k savings for manual and it takes 15 hours to learn, thats like getting paid $65 an hour to learn manual. Not bad.
On August 24 2017 05:22 Doodsmack wrote: I have a 2012 S manual, $12,000 is stupidly cheap for a 2017, I'm almost skeptical of this lol, but you should get it.
12000 + dealer fees, potentially minus whatever this Geico discount thing amounts to, it may be another 500 off, but I'm not counting on it right now.
I think I'ma get it on Sunday, a manual is still in consideration but 10 to 1 odds cause I wanna be a city dweller and I hear manual sucks for city traffic
On August 24 2017 05:22 Doodsmack wrote: I have a 2012 S manual, $12,000 is stupidly cheap for a 2017, I'm almost skeptical of this lol, but you should get it.
12000 + dealer fees, potentially minus whatever this Geico discount thing amounts to, it may be another 500 off, but I'm not counting on it right now.
I think I'ma get it on Sunday, a manual is still in consideration but 10 to 1 odds cause I wanna be a city dweller and I hear manual sucks for city traffic
Why what? Manual is hard for beginners when you have to drive in mountains, especially during snow fall. However, driving in a city is no different to automatic, as you can always just have your enginge run idle. Takes just a minimal amount of training, as L_Master said (L_Master is usually right with what he says).
I'm almost feeling ashamed for posting that uber-Bavarian song about the VW-Jetta :|
Manual is extremely easy to learn, that's not a problem at all.
Manual is more suited for clean traffic and travelling, when you won't be shifting gears all the time. Automatic is more suited for heavy traffic and overall city traffic, when you end up shifting gears more often than you would like to.
I for sure would get myself an automatic (I drive manual, btw).
Good point fabiano. When you're stuck in traffic jams (the stop & go kind), automatic is great! Besides that I haven't been in any other situation where that's applicable though. If my daily commute would have that kind of traffic by default, I would actually think twice before getting a manual again.
On August 24 2017 10:22 Smorrie wrote: Good point fabiano. When you're stuck in traffic jams (the stop & go kind), automatic is great! Besides that I haven't been in any other situation where that's applicable though. If my daily commute would have that kind of traffic by default, I would actually think twice before getting a manual again.
Definitely agree. Stop lights I have no issues with a manual...but something about traffic jams is different. The manual gets annoying there. If I lived in a major city with terrible traffic I would reconsider. If you live in an urban area, but it's a commute without traffic and just lots of lights...it's still fine in my opinion.
I guess its a balance of where I DO live (wide open ol Virginia) and where I WANT/PLAN to live (congested urban cities), to be fair, VA traffic can be pretty bullshit too, especially because I live in an area where people tend to commute to DC which is a true traffic hellhole.
I'm still leaning automatic, I dont really take any pleasure in the act of driving, its more or less a means to an end to me and I guarantee I'd find a way to catastrophically fuck up driving stick, lol.
I've heard that one of the single worst things a yonug person can do is to buy a brand new car. Its better to go used. Use Trucar app or something. You can prob get a 2016 or 2015 newly used car for much cheaper.
Anyway, I've recently leased a 2015 Jetta and its a decent car. The turning radius sucks but that's really the only gripe .
On August 24 2017 15:18 MarlieChurphy wrote: I've heard that one of the single worst things a yonug person can do is to buy a brand new car. Its better to go used. Use Trucar app or something. You can prob get a 2016 or 2015 newly used car for much cheaper.
Anyway, I've recently leased a 2015 Jetta and its a decent car. The turning radius sucks but that's really the only gripe .
Ive been looking around and used cars hold so much damn value, I was looking into used for a long while, and the only reason I even looked at a new Jetta was most of the used cars I was looking at were like 10K anyways and had like ~70K miles on them, so I figured I might as well go new and save myself the mileage.
I bought a 2017 Nissan Versa recently, i bought it with cash, and I was really offended how much paperwork and red tape you have to go through, even if you're paying for it in full. It said "3000 dollars off" but then they tell me that offer is with financing so they have to do some bullshit accounting in order to get me a similiar discount for cash. And I still have to fill out a credit application if im buying in full. It was such an aggravating experience.
yeah Im anticipating a pain in the ass for paperwork, but Im just going to do the four months of financing and then refinance or something if/when the rates suck.
Im only gonna put 2K for a down payment in this scenario though, and if they pull any stupid shit with price increases Ill walk out, 'cause I know that its 12K + 679 dealer processing fee + 70 freight fee, I can deal with that, any other dumb shit and Ill 100% walk out
I feel like the most notable upsides of a manual vs automatic don't really concern an american. Manual generally has more power at the wheels (as a general rule, two identical cars with the same engine: the automatic will have around 15% less usable power because the transmission eats it - cars are advertised with power at the flywheel which in this case is misleading, since on an automatic it's "lost" after the flywheel), it's more involving to drive, and for everyone but the US, they're considerably better in fuel economy = cheaper in both fuel and in most countries taxes too.
edit: as a sidenote, i agree with MarlyChurphy though. It's generally a bad idea to go full new for the first car, for multiple reasons.
I'd go used but used cars in my area are just impossible for me to really commit to compared to a new Jetta 'cause the price differential is like, 1,000 bucks and and the used cars in that range are legit with like 40 - 90K miles on them. :d
I wasn't even looking at buying new til a friend told me he gets his cars at a certain area with dirt cheap Volkswagens, lol.
Originally I wanted a used 2013 Chevy Volt (which is pretty weird, and I'm sure kind of a shit decision in it's own right)
On August 25 2017 20:04 Zambrah wrote: I'd go used but used cars in my area are just impossible for me to really commit to compared to a new Jetta 'cause the price differential is like, 1,000 bucks and and the used cars in that range are legit with like 40 - 90K miles on them. :d
I wasn't even looking at buying new til a friend told me he gets his cars at a certain area with dirt cheap Volkswagens, lol.
Originally I wanted a used 2013 Chevy Volt (which is pretty weird, and I'm sure kind of a shit decision in it's own right)
Used car hunting here in virginia was a pain in the ass. It took like 3 weeks to find something I even wanted to get. Ended up getting a used Honda Accord for about 5700 and paid for it in cash. Had about 130k miles on it but clean title and regular maintenance on it.
On August 25 2017 20:04 Zambrah wrote: I'd go used but used cars in my area are just impossible for me to really commit to compared to a new Jetta 'cause the price differential is like, 1,000 bucks and and the used cars in that range are legit with like 40 - 90K miles on them. :d
I wasn't even looking at buying new til a friend told me he gets his cars at a certain area with dirt cheap Volkswagens, lol.
Originally I wanted a used 2013 Chevy Volt (which is pretty weird, and I'm sure kind of a shit decision in it's own right)
Used car hunting here in virginia was a pain in the ass. It took like 3 weeks to find something I even wanted to get. Ended up getting a used Honda Accord for about 5700 and paid for it in cash. Had about 130k miles on it but clean title and regular maintenance on it.
Thats been my experience, which is why the Jetta thing seems so appealing, do I want to pay 6K+ for a car with maybe half it's lifespan gone, or do I just want to pay the upfront 11K and get a new car with new features that I can run the 200K+ miles on myself
I dunno if people in VA just take care of their cars really well or if they're just hard bargainers, but used cars have seemed to be a biatch to work with around here :d
EPT
