Hi Folks,

First post! Thought I'd share a recent experience with the Evo community...

Like many, I've been back and forth between going for a IX SE at or holding out for a X. Been looking forward to experiencing Evo ownership for a long time!

As I don't currently have a car (live downtown), I did some research and found a IX SE, thought I'd go for it and did some negotiating with the dealer over the phone. He gave me his 'lowest price', so with that in mind I drove 2.5 hours with a friend to take the IX for a drive.

Despite some minor paintwork scratches and swirls (it had clearly been on the lot for a very long time) I liked the ride so tried to haggle a little more but the dealer was having none of it, so I agreed to pay the previously quoted price. The dealer then says that he'd made a mistake and the 'new' lowest price was almost $1k more than the previous quote. To go down to the previous best price he'd need the dealer owner's approval, which couldn't come until the following week as the owner was out of town and unreachable.

So a complete day wasted. Needless to say I'm feeling like the dealer tried to take me for a ride but quoting one price and not sticking to it. I'm sure it's the oldest trick in the book - give a quote, get the buyer to really want the car, then jack up the quote. Needless to say on principle I'm going to tell them to stick it, as I'm expecting them to come back with 'sorry, can't do it for the original quote' and expect me to pay the higher price.

Could be a blessing in disguise because in the back of my mind I've been thinking the Evo X is going to be amazing. Think I'll get a beater to hold me out until the X comes out.... I think the wait and the extra few grand is going to be worth it.

 

Welcome...Charlotte is a fun place...used to live not too far from there when I was in college. I had a couple of dealers do that to me...I just walked away. Showed back up sometime later with an evo and a smirk.

 

Until I've driven the X I'd say go with the IX, but only for the original quoted price.

Feel free to tell him he's a lying sack of crap and that he just lost a sale because of it.

 

stealership tried to do that to me too. i was quoted 28.9 for an IX SE and when we started to go over the numbers they had 35.6. i gave her a chance to 'fess up to the original quote, and she played dumb, so i pulled out a printout of the quote she gave, which had her email, statement, and timestamp, and they gave it to me for 28.9.

lucky thing for me is that i'm in california, so, even if they didn't want to give me the quoted price, i can just walk out, take a trip down to socal, and get nearly the same deal.

 

The greatest trick in a Salesman's arsenal is making you forget that you have the power. The money is already yours; it is in your poket, in your control. Even if nothing transpires, you still have your money and they can't change that fact. Only you can.

If they want your money, and believe me they do, they have to give you a reason to part with it. Granted, a car is a good reason. But a car is hardly unique, however your money is. Yeah ther eare others out there who have the money to pay what they are asking, but those people aren't standing there, check-in-hand on the dealership floor. You are. So they have to provide you something unique in return.

That should be in the form of a price that no other dealership can give you.

In another thread, someone speculated that dealerships might charge 5k-10k over MSRP for the X. Though I doubt that, I did state however that I wouldn't buy at those dealerships. I'll search the entire US if need-be, to find that unique dealership to give my unique money to. They may find some sucker to pay their exhorbitant prices, but they won't have my money and it won't be on that day.

 

lol , sounds like you read up on "Confessions of a car salesmen" If one dealer is charging over MSRP for a car. They are all doing it. MSRP is only made by the manufactuer as a "base" price. After that its up to YOU ( the consumer ) to set the price. If people are willing to pay 3,000 "Over" MSRP for a car. Thats what its worth. Has nothing to do with what it was made for. What do you think a gallon of milk costs? 80 Cents? They sell it for almost 4$ now.

 

Sounds like they made a play to get more and didn't get punished for it. They got the sale at the price they wanted to sell it for originially. Pretty slick of them.

 

There will be a dealership willing to deal, and the cost to ship a car across the US is a lot less than 3K, let alone 5K. Frankly, it's insanity to charge that much over MSRP for that very reason, so I doubt it'll happen. Dealerships could try to get away with it when the Evo was new to the US, but not now that there's a used market.

 

I think you should wait for the X to come out. Read evey test and evaluation on it,test drive one and then if you dont like it there will be plenty of low mileage IX,s around that you can pick up for a lot less than you would have paid for a new IX. Just my opinion.

 

I read something today in the July Road & Track that said the standard Lancer's chassis is 60% stiffer than the Evo IX. Which is a good start. Very good issue by the way, if you like tuned and modded Porsche's pick it up.

Anyway, when I buy a car I'm not always looking for the cheapest price. I want to give my money to a dealership that I trust, and was honest throughout the process.

In this case, I'd look elsewhere if you really want a IX, otherwise, like someone else mentioned, wait till the X comes out, read up on it, drive it, and if your not impressed find a used IX from someone who liked the X enough to sell thier's.

 

I remember when they first released the evo in the us the dealership in my city wanted 10K over MSRP and alot of other dealerships did the same thing. As the hype went down so did the price. So I would imagine that when the X is released then they will do the same thing.

 

I wouldn't call a dealership charging 3K+ over MSRP trustworthy or honest.

I'm not saying I would comb the US for a dealership that'll give me the absolute lowest price. That's just silly. The differences in price at the low end wouldn't be worth the trouble.

 

Dealer will always try to screw you, i just go in there with my offer take it or leave it so we dont waste nobody time

 

And thats how I pretty much do it too. Of course before I create an offer, I do plenty of research about a given car (what is the cars competition, is the car selling well, manufacturers history etc. etc.), I pretty much dig deep inside, I've never fallen to any dealer dirty tactics (of course I won't drive away a 50K car for 25K either but I always go under the MSRP), patience is the key I think, I know some people get fired up about a certain car and a dealer sees this and pretty much you are in a lost position. You gotta go there and show some interest in a particular vehicle but don't be hot headed, show the dealer that you know your stuff (from the actual technical info about a given car to the competition and it's price ranges).

Gotta remember that you are the one who is in charge as you have something that they desperately won, which is your money; you can always go to another dealership but they are the ones who'll be stuck with a given car for a while.

And I also never buy the very first batch of the new generation of cars (like the current 2008 Lancer), for one thing I know those cars are usually problematic as they need to work out all the little quirks but also dealerships usually are not as flexible pricingwise as with a car that some of its popularity has leveled out.

 

my dad did the same thing when we were looking to buy a car...he told them that he found a camaro for around the same price and that if they didnt take the price he offered them we would have a camaro...so now I have a ralliart