New member from So. Cal. -future cmax owner

[salsaguy]

Hi, salsaguy here from sunny Southern California.

My wife is due for a new car She currently drives a 99 Toyota 4Runner Limited, which current gets about 16 ti 19 mpg due to a bad catalytic converter.

She loves Toyotas and the SUV feel of driving up high.

She was looking at the Prius V but Ive been reading on here for a few weeks and watching all the video reviews of the cmax so trying to get her to go Ford instead.

 

we went to the dealer and sat in one and played with it for 15 mins and she loved it. no test drive yet as they didnt have an SEL in the non Energi on the lot. salesguy said to go rent one (after we told him we are still comparison shopping) but...

NO ONE rents them yet (i called all rental agencies and even had ford check with their contacts). we want to take one for a few days to really try out, instead of a 15min around the block trip where you dont get enough time to really get a feek for all it can/cant do.

 

Myself I drive a 2012 VW Passat 2.5L SEL Premium

I go by kinglerxt at fuelly.com

Ive been practicing with the Power and Glide technique lately to get better mpg and for when we get a hybrid.

 

cant wait to join the cmax owners club for real in the next 1 to 3 months.

looking to learn a lot from you all here

Edited May 4, 2013 by salsaguy

[RachelnLa]

After driving the Prius and the cmax just around the block I instantly knew :)

[ScubaDadMiami]

You can rent one; I did.  Contact Budget.  Call your local Budget, not the 800 number.  Explain to them that you are local, and you want to rent a CMAX (not a CMAX or similar).  Let them know that you are flexible with dates, and that you are not renting as would a tourist that has specific dates needed.

 

It may take them a little time to move the car from another location.  That's why you need to be flexible on dates.

 

Now, I am not sure that this next thing I am going to say is true or not.  However, if this helps, it is easy to do.  So, I did this:  The guy from the local Budget told me that, if you join their program (I think that it's called FastBreak) online, and you call the local Budget, you can ask to speak to the FastBreak Rapid Res representative for their local agency, and you are moved into a reservation priority category.  Another Budget person denied this.  However, it costs nothing to join their program, and maybe it will help.  So, I joined.

 

Anyway, I did a 24 hour test drive, which I think ended out costing around $100, or just under that.  (They charge more for specialty cars.)  I placed my purchase order the next day.

 

Hope this helps.

[mtb9153]

Hi, salsaguy here from sunny Southern California.

My wife is due for a new car She currently drives a 99 Toyota 4Runner Limited, which current gets about 16 ti 19 mpg dye to a bad catalytic converter.

She loves Toyotas and the SUV feel of driving up high.

She was looking at the Prius V but Ive been reading on  here for a few weeks and watching all the video reviews of the cmax so trying to get her to go Ford instead.

 

we went to the dealer and sat in one and played with it for 15 mins and she loved it. no test drive yet as they didnt have an SEL in the non Energi on the lot. salesguy said to go rent one (after we told him we are still comparison shopping) but...

 NO ONE rents them yet (i called all rental agencies and even had ford check with their contacts). we want to take one for a few days to really try out, instead of a 15min around the block trip where you dont get enough time to really get a feek for all it can/cant do.

 

Myself I drive a 2012 VW Passat 2.5L SEL Premium

I go by kinglerxt at fuelly.com

Ive been practicing with the Power  and Glide technique lately to get better mpg and for when we get a hybrid.

 

cant wait to join the cmax owners club for real in the next 1 to 3 months.

looking to learn a lot from you all here

Hey Salsguy my dealer here in San Jose has almost a dozen SEL's in stock, both hybrid and energi models sitting in this hot summer-like weather we are having.  Get your dealer in SoCal to work a trade with my dealer Frontier Ford in Santa Clara.  These are fully loaded in all colors and they are working deals to try and meet quota's since sales have slowed, probably due to all the hype and lawsuits being filed over false advertising expectations for 47mpg.

[salsaguy]

@mtb

we are AAA and costco members so when we are ready to buy we will be using their no haggle fair market price buying  process and you have to use a specific dealer for that. im sure if they dont have the car on their lot they can have it moved. just hope we dont have to special order and wait months/weeks to actually get it.

[salsaguy]

@scubadad

thats good news but i did call our lical budget. they said they didnt have a cmax available. i will try what you stated.

we did want specific dates 5/17 to 5/19 for the anniversary weekend but we can try any other time as well.its important for my wife to be happy.

its a long term commitment. we know its better than the prius. she is just not convinced about Ford as she is a Toyota owner. Toyota and high quality/reliability is synonymous (they used to be) to her.

I had the 1995 Ford Probe GT for my car 2 cars ago. loved it. it was car of the year when it came out. you dont have to convince me. im the one reading all the reviews. 

for her even getting the lower 39 mpg would be a treat for her now getting about 17-19 mpg in her 4Runner.

i know we will get better mpg here in so. cal warm weather and our driving pattern.

[ScubaDadMiami]

just hope we dont have to special order and wait months/weeks to actually get it.

 

I had my last car for the longest I have ever owned a car.  So, I decided to order everything the way that I really want rather than decide from available stock, the consequences of which I guess I would be dealing with for a long time.  I figured that it would be worth it in the long run.  I have never ordered and waited before.

 

I ordered March 29.  As of today, I am at about ten days for my vehicle ETA at the dealership from the factory.  Really, it hasn't been so bad.  I have passed the time on this forum (thank you, and sorry, everyone!  :salute: ), and watching videos and learning. 

 

The roughest part is that I unexpectedly had a buyer for my prior car, six weeks before the anticipated CMAX delivery date, and I decided to sell rather than to take my chances by holding out until closer to vehicle delivery.  I have been driving rentals ever since.  My current rental Masterpiece is a Dodge Dart.  :cry: At least I enjoyed my 2004 Nissan Murano.  If I were driving that right now while waiting for delivery, there really wouldn't be all that much to it.

[JohnnOhio]

I test drove Prius didn't like it. Test drove the CMax and knew right away this was the car for me. I have back problems and the CMax seats are the best. You sit up right with perfect posture in them. All other cars have you sitting on the floor with your knees hitting the stearing wheel.

[roninsd]

Salsaguy, you might also try Avis.  I drove by their airport location in San Diego and saw one sitting in their lot.  Worth a try.

 

There are also several dealers here with cars on the lot, and I've gotten emails from my dealer showing great deals on several of them.  Since I've already got mine I haven't checked them out.  But it would seem that there's a good supply of them (SE and SELs) of various colors/levels in SoCal.

 

I had wanted a hybrid for several years, and when one came out built by an American company, I decided to take it for a test drive.  Great car!  Speedy when you need it to be, economic as well.  I'm at 42 mpg average over the last 4000 miles.

[salsaguy]

I'm still here and still waiting to purchase one. still haven't had a test drive yet just sat in one.

The rentals may only be available at the airports which doesn't help my cause to try a 3-4 day test drive as im not willing to drive that far from home to test one. when we (wife and i) get closer to being able to purchase one we will try again with rent options in our area.

[METROMAN]

After driving the Prius and the cmax just around the block I instantly knew :)

I didn't even get to the test drive part. Just sat in it & knew it wasn't me. Could have been related to wacking my head just trying to sit in the Prius. That can happen on a regular basis when you're 6' 1" Lol

[Riddley]

I'm still here and still waiting to purchase one. still haven't had a test drive yet just sat in one.

The rentals may only be available at the airports which doesn't help my cause to try a 3-4 day test drive as im not willing to drive that far from home to test one. when we (wife and i) get closer to being able to purchase one we will try again with rent options in our area.

 

It might not hurt to ask one of your local dealers if they will let you test drive the car for 24 hours.

 

You are on the right track to purchase through AAA or COSTCO, whichever gives you the best no-haggle price. I've noticed that the prices available through Costco/AAA seem to change slightly from place-to-place and from time-to-time, so you can't be certain which is better until you look at them both at the time you want to close the deal. Either way, you should be near invoice (+/-). The Costco price here a few months back was at invoice, and I read on these forums that in one location, AAA came in just under Costco.  

 

I should also point out that when I discussed Costco pricing with one dealership here, they said that they could do Costco pricing, even though it wasn't promoted or listed as being in the program. The fleet manager explained that they were actually in the program, but just not listed.  It may be possible that in that case, Costco/Ford wanted to funnel Costco sales through one specific dealership, so it was not promoted, and hard to discover at other dealerships.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Riddley

[salsaguy]

so if i have both memberships i can ask them for a quote from both???

 

in my experience buying my last car, you register online with the program you choose and then the program approved dealer calls you back to setup an appt to come in and do the deal. so no way you could just walk in to any dealer and and just ask for for the  AAA/Costco pricing if they aren't in the program, and usually there is only one program dealer in every 50 or so miles.

Edited June 7, 2013 by salsaguy

[dtorres]

Salsaguy,

 

I've bought two cars through the Costco program and was very pleased both times.  However when I bought my C-Max the Costco dealer was in Santa Monica and I wasn't interested in driving out that far to order the car.  When I spoke with the Santa Monica dealer on the phone I was told the Costco price was $300 over invoice (+ the Ford advertising fee + fuel + taxes/docs).  I fired off an email to the Fleet Manager at closer dealership (Vista Ford in Woodland Hills) and the fleet manager matched the Costco price with out hesitation.  Galpin Ford said they would do the same thing.  If there's a particular C-Max at a different dealership you like you can either ask the Costco dealership to transfer it to theirs or speak to the Fleet manager at the other dealership about matching the Costco price.

[ScubaDadMiami]

I think that most dealers are aware of the various programs out there, and they will match price before losing the deal.  At delivery, my Al Packer Ford rep told me that they are aware of all such programs (military, Costco, AAA, etc.), and they match those terms all the time.  I have no idea if they officially participate in any of the programs or not.

[salsaguy]

good points.

dt, when i bought my 2004.5 VW Passat through the program, I also had to go way down to Santa Monica for the deal.

interesting similarity.