Car Shopping Experience

I sprung for a new 2005 Hyundai Elantra tonight.
It was $10,750 with all applicable discounts.

That was the price in the ad but I had a hard time getting it.
The salesman told me it included a $750 loyalty bonus and that since I was not trading in Hyundai I did not qualify.

I told him I wasn't buying it then.
The ad did not say for sure but it really appeared as if there was an extra $750 for existing owners. Purposely misleading?

I also had to mention the ad price before the dealer dropped to that price. Then there was confusion over whether or not the ad price applied to the car I got because the serial number did not match the ad serial number even though the car was identical except for color. Ad color car was black.

When I threatened to walk, the salesman had a talk with the manager who then came over with an apology saying that I was reading that ad correctly and they took the $750 off. The manager explained that the salesman worked in the Mazda dealership (for the same owner) and was unaware of all the discounts and how they worked. $10,750 seemed reasonable enough for the car with a 60K miles bumper to bumper and 100K power train warranty, AC, power windows, remote entry, cloth seats, etc.

They gave me $200 for my old car. Perhaps they can sell it for $500. Perhaps not with a cracked radiator and power windows that do not work and 102K miles on it and was generally in bad shape except for a brand new $120 battery in it. What a waste. I was hoping for $500 but expected about $250.

Reason for quick decision to buy a new car today:
I was driving old car today and all of a sudden the car got extremely hot inside like from 70 to 90 degrees in seconds. I thought the AC stopped working but a quick look at my gauge and I could see it was a deep in the red as it could get. Stopped at the first place I could (couple miles away) and it took a whole bottle of radiator fluid and then some. It had all steamed out thru a crack. 102K miles on a Olds 97 Achieva.

Power windows did not work (drove it that way for a year)
$500 to fix.
Radiator installed $350
Tires fair at best
Brakes good but.... replaced twice in last two years so something is chewing them up too quickly
Battery brand new (less than 1 week old). Car would not start a week ago.
Transmission was lurching all day today (not sure if related to overheating or not).

I have literally driven two cars to where they would not run at all (stopped dead at side of road to be towed to junkyard) and a third that had numerous problems including a clutch going out that would not likely have lasted another week.

I am sort of an expert on driving cars into the ground.

Anyway, that was that.
Dealer suggested I sell old car myself but who could I sell that to and even if I could I would not want to.

I did not get the Hyundai color I wanted, but silver was acceptable, and the dealer absolutely would not attempt to trade it with another dealer for that price. Silver would have been my second choice so I took it.

4 door sedan - 5 speed

Clutch is extremely smooth.
Lumbar support adjustments in the seat, power windows, AC, remote entry, AM/FM cassette player (why do they put those in instead of CD player?) but there is a ready made slot for a CD player.

BTW the radio pickup is great.
Chicago cancelled their only oldies station couple weeks ago but I could pick up Milwaukee station. Old car could not and wife's relatively new grand am certainly can not pick up that station.

Seems like a lot of car for $10750.
That is a lot less that I paid for new Toyota Corolla many many many years ago and it has far more features to boot.

Inflation anyone?
Not in cars, unless you insist on trendy names.

Mish