Quote:
Originally Posted by coolshock1
What's up with the radio buttons on the steering wheel being on the left and the temp on the right. it felt so awkward trying to use them. The mode button for the display on the instrument panel was in a good spot though.
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After a year of driving the new Ford Five Hundred I was just getting used to the cruse buttons on the left of the steering wheel. The radio controls on the right. After my first day of driving the new THC I remembered how well the Toyota stick cruise worked in the 2003 Corolla I owned for the 3 years.
Press the button on the end of the stick to turn it on. Pull down once to engage it. Push up to speed up, pull down to slow or pull toward you to deactivate.
Push up once for one
mph faster or pull down once for one
mph slower.
I found that pushing up once for each
mph don't work to well for my hybrid. This could be due to my car not being broke in yet. I find its best to use the accelerator. That may be different at highway speeds. I'm breaking mine in at 45
mph and slower. I have been doing some 50
mph speeds today.
I may be wrong but in our area the end of year prices are usually $400 over invoice if you work with the manager. Early in the year they might go $800 over. I'm talking about the Corolla. I was surprised at him going $400 over on the hybrid. He also surprised me when he was so low on my trade compared to Edmunds and KBB. My wifes idea to trade the last two cars. I think this time she learned we lost about $1500 by not selling it ourselves. I much prefer to buy a car outright with no trade. Its much easier to compare dealers price quotes.
If they do charge tax in your state then you can save about $500 or so by paying the tax difference between the trade and new car.
Those $400 and $800 over prices may be completely different in the large cities. I remember many years ago I wanted a Honda Accord. The dealer said sticker price only. So we left them and went and bought our first Toyota Corolla. That may have been in '77 but i'm not sure.
I have always snooped new car lots on Sundays when the dealers are closed. Make notes of extras on the various cars. Come home and then figure the cars approximate invoice for that particular model. Thats easier to do today with the cars coming out with so many standard features.