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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Ford Taurus X Prices Paid and Buying Experiences
578 messages, Last post on Aug 12, 2008 at 8:08 AM
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These posts have been very interesting to read. Here's my buying experience--I purchased my SE Freestyle Jan, 12, 05 from Gresham Ford in Gresham, Oregon (near Portland). They treated me very well-were patient and not condescending--very important because I was a "single woman" buying the car. And I should mention that I had excellent credit but no job at the time. I took it for a test drive and really liked it. When I told them I had to leave for a doctor's appointment they offered to let me take the car. We hadn't done any paperwork on it or anything. I came back after my appointment and finished the purchase. It did take a while but they worked to find me a good deal for the financing. I even got a free Ford watch and baseball cap out of the deal. And my son got a free toy Ford semi-truck. We drove home that night in our new car!  About two days later I noticed a problem with the paint-it was "bumpy." It took three trips to the dealer to finally get it cleared up. The Ford district manager was there and even looked at the car & took pictures. Each time they gave me a rental car for free. It was some sort of material on top of the paint, possibly picked up during transport. They buffed it out and shined it up-it was gorgeous and the whitest white car I've ever seen. Unfortunately I wasn't planning to buy a car-I just wanted to look at the Hybrid Escape and ended up driving a Freestyle. I could have waited to buy and get in on the financing deals but I didn't want to. My 05 SE AWD cost me 27295 USD. But the treatment at the dealership has been worth the few extra bucks it cost me to buy it from them. I'll take good service over a good deal any day. And I don't think I paid too much, I just didn't get a great "deal" on the car. But I LOVE IT and won't trade it for anything, except a new one in a year or two. 
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Replying to: sandy_j (Nov 17, 2005 2:29 pm) |
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Replying to: bobw3 (Oct 05, 2005 12:23 pm)  Two months ago I had signed to buy a similar 2005 for $22,400 – but that deal fell apart when the dealership found out the car (which was at another dealership) was a demo. I believe that was an honest mistake. It worked to my advantage because the dealer knew I was serious. In our negotiations, I stuck to my desire of a SE in Silver, with 2nd Row bench and safety package – no exceptions. They called with a couple prices for a 2006 – first 24,300 then a week later 23,700. I went to the dealership on a rainy Friday, ready to sign if they came down to 23,500. Instead, they withdrew the 23,700 offer. I walked out and they said they’d call if they could come down in price. They called a few days later saying the exact car we wanted was coming into their dealership in a few days, and they said the could offer the 23,700 price again. My wife held firm and said we wouldn’t accept anything above 23,500. They said ok and the deal was done over the phone. I just picked it up a few weeks ago, and with tax and registration I gave them a personal check for a bit over $25,000. I also found out then that the car has traction control – which I hadn’t requested. I was happy to get the $200 bonus Even though it was standard for 2005 and the option probably costs Ford all of $5 to implement (change the ABS computer code and put the switch on the dash). I am very happy with myself for holding firm on price and options, and getting the exact car I wanted. |
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| Just purchased a 2005 SEL AWD w/Safety & Front Comfort Packages along with 50/50 3rd row seat; out the door excluding T,T & L for $ 24,720.00 The dealership also gave me fair trade-in value on a 99 taurus w/118,000 miles which came off the $24720.00 total. Actual dollars spend $ 23,520.00 Everything went very smooth until, signing paperwork time came. I made an appointment with the finance person, my sales person phoned me to ask if I could come early. I did and ended up waiting 90 minutes just to get into the finance office ( this turned out to be 60 minutes past my orginal appointment time). I honestly just about cancelled the deal and left because of this, It turned a great buying experience into a below average one. | |
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These boards at Edmund's are fantastic! I just bought a 2006 Freestyle SE (FWD) from Patchett's Ford in Stanislaus County, California for $24,944 (Convenience & Safety groups + Traction Control). The boards here helped me zero in exactly which vehicle I wanted, and alerted me to a Freesyle dashboard reflection problem which I was able to avoid by specifying a dark shale interior. I used Edmunds four years ago to decide on a Camry XLE, which I bought from Cars Direct on-line due to advice here. I wanted a station wagon with reasonable gas milage but the Taurus has been phased out with no replacement wagon from Ford. We're still moving college-age children to and from school, and need cargo capacity capable of carrying a twin bed mattress and box spring. Passats are too small, while the Mazda DA6 has a lethal side-impact safety rating absent side airbags. The Subaru Outback requires high-octane gas while its stock engine can't handle hills and airconditioning both, and is too expensive with a more powerful engine. The Toyota Highlander's stock engine has lousy gas milage - 20-21 mpg on a highway. We even considered a minivan, but the Toyota Sienna is the only one with decent mpg while requiring high-octane, which defeats the point. The boards here were critical in teaching me the bad points of vehicles I decided not to buy. The Freestyle topic about Real World MPG convinced me that the Freestyle is capable of 25-27 mpg freeway milage if cruise control is employed to take advantage of the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). My 2002 Camry XLE with the 4-cylinder engine gets 32mpg on the freeway when the cruise control is used. My wife and I test-drove an AWD Freestyle today to check its visibility (marginal), its ride (adequate on the dreadful local freeway - Highway 99 betewen Turlock and Modesto, but not as good as my Camry's), and interior noise (almost as quiet as my 2002 Camry's, which is saying something). The Ford dealer knew he was competing against Cars Direct and so gave us a good no-hassle price. We probably could have gotten another $500 off, but we've bought cars from him before and relationships are sometimes important. When my wife totalled her previous station wagon, the Ford dealer found us a replacement for it within 48 hours. And I am aware that the Freestyle will be phased out after the 2007 model year - I read that here too. The decision is understandable if you consider that Ford trades off performance for reliability, as shown by the 200hp V6 Duratec engine in the Freestyle, which is less powerful than competitors' engines with the same displacement. The CVT Ford uses would have its reliability fall off too much with a more powerful engine, so Ford has to drop the CVT if it wants to increase Freestyle power. And customers in this market are not like my wife and I - they prefer power over milage. Not to mention that the newness of the CVT means that most buyers don't know how to maximize the CVT's mpg advantages over a conventional transmission. So the 2008 Mercury-only version of the Freestyle will probaby debut with 250hp engine and conventional transmission. Ford will use CVT's only for vehicle lines whose engines never exceed  200hp. For my wife and I, however, the 2006 Freestyle has the same horsepower per weight ratio of our 2002 Camry sedan and Taurus station wagon, i.e., adequate. And the Freestyle is the only vehicle we can buy with both our desired cargo capacity and 25+ mpg freeway milage using regular gas. The discussions here are marvelously informative. Thank you. |
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The only Freestyle Limited I can find that comes close to the options, trim, etc. I want is halfway across the country. The dealer wants to charge me $1300 for profit and transport to their lot. I figure I am better off just ordering from the factory. I found a dealer who will gaurantee x-plan pricing + whatever rebate is availble when they deliver my Freestyle. Does this seem reasonable for a $500 deposit? I get the exact vehicle I want but may only get the x-plan discount if there are no rebates next month. However, if they offer a rebate I'll get that too. Another dealer I talked to wouldn't gaurantee anything. He wasn't asking for a deposit but the price would be negotiated after the car showed up on the lot. He did indicate he would sell for $300-400 over invoice which they do for most of their vehicles anyways. Decisions...decisions...
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Replying to: mynamehere (Nov 30, 2005 2:28 pm)
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Replying to: bobw3 (Nov 30, 2005 2:55 pm) |
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05 Norsea Blue SEL 50/50 Split Seat Front Row Comfort Package Aux Climate Control 2nd Row Center Floor Console 28425 MSRP Simple Plan Price 26540 -2000 cash back -1000 ford credit bonus -750 katrina discount +1195 dealer added all leather seats in all three rows Final price 23985 4440 below original msrp / 2203 below original invoice Seems like a good deal especially with the real leather seats as opposed to leather seat covers on the first two rows and vinyl on everything else. Since it is an '05 traction control is free. Still trying to score on the deal of the century..lol.
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Replying to: mynamehere (Dec 01, 2005 3:04 pm)
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