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5 Popular New Cars to Avoid
August 16, 2012
Just because a car is a best seller doesn't mean that it's a good choice for you.
Consumer Reports just released a list of 5 popular cars you should avoid buying. These are some of the best-selling cars in their class, yet they don't perform well in testing or suffer from poor reliability.
Here's the list including why you shouldn't buy and alternative vehicles you should consider instead.
| Vehicle to Avoid | Why? | Good Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Honda Civic | Took too many shortcuts in its latest redesign. Choppy ride, noisy cabin, vague steering, and mediocre interior quality. | Subaru Impreza, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 |
| Jeep Liberty | Rugged and unrefined driving experience. Handling is clumsy, interior is cramped and cheap feeling. Engine is noisy and gets low mpg. | Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester |
| Toyota Prius C | Quality is low. Suffers from stiff ride, noisy cabin, slow acceleration. | Honda Fit |
| Dodge Grand Caravan | Very problematic. Suffers from numerous squeaks and rattles and power-related failures. Unimpressive gas mileage. | Toyota Sienna |
| Ford Edge (V6) | Jittery ride, lots of road noise, distracting controls. Bad reliability. | Toyota Highlander, Nissan Murano, Mazda CX-9 |
Use RydeShopper to get the best deals on new vehicles.
3 Steps Every Car Buyer Needs to Take to Save Maximum Money
The key to getting the best deal is to gather price or lease bids from as many local dealers as possible. Then shop that best price around until no one can beat it. Here are the steps:Step 1 Get Prices From My Trusted Network
Select the vehicle you're interested in to see if there are local dealers in my network who will provide you with their best upfront price. You will get direct access to an internet sales manager who you can further negotiate with online (no need to visit dealership).Select Vehicle to Get Local Pricing
Step 2 Get Prices From TrueCar / CarsDirect
TrueCar, and CarsDirect are my top 2 online price quote recommendations. These services show you pre-negotiated prices from dealers closest to you - and the deals are usually pretty decent. But remember, you can still negotiate further.Step 3 Complete my Checklist
Follow this up with my checklist to make sure you squeeze out every last bit of savings.- Gregg Fidan
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- The Best & Worst Time to Buy a Car
- Which Cars You Should Avoid
About The Author
Gregg Fidan is the founder of RealCarTips. After being ripped off on his first car purchase, he devoted several years to figuring out the best ways to avoid scams and negotiate
the best car deals. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject of car buying and taught thousands of car shoppers how to get the best deals.
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