new car

[scharmer05]

Well my little sis is needing a new car. She is driving a 96 Bonneville now. She has basically run it into the ground, the odometer stopped a couple years ago but I'm sure it has passed the 200000 mile barrier by now. The dealer is not going to give us anything for it so we are just going to be keeping it around the farm for small parts runs and stuff like that. There is an 01 Silverado with about 150000 on it on the farm that my dad wouldn't mind getting rid of so we took that to one of the smaller local dealers to see what they would give us for trade. He told me about 6800 which isn't great IMO. We looked around a little more and my sis found a used 06 grand prix with about 25000 miles that she liked a lot so we asked the dealer how much he wanted to boot. He was asking 17000 for the car straight out and told us he would trade us for 6000. Great deal considering what we are getting on trade. I went back to the first dealer because they had an 04 Grand Prix come in that my sis liked quite a bit too, plus it's marroon just like she wanted and only has 18000 miles on it. The dealer told me 8800 to boot and I told him about the deal we could get on the 06. I left with him still wanting 8800. He called me back 30 minutes later and told me because of all the vehicles we had bought from him that he would sell us the 04 GP for 5000 to boot....seems like a steal to me. She likes them both. They are both base models so there is not much difference between the 2. The only thing extra is that the 06 has a leather wrapped stearing wheel with audio controls. So which one should i tell her to get, the 06 has more miles, but is 2 years newer (which may not matter because she might run this car til it dies). The 04 only has 18000 miles and is a grand less. Did much change from 04-06? Let me know what you think.

[Cory Wolfe]

Um... 06 has different wheels, rearranged packages/trims, and a slight different interior. I don't think that's enough to sway to either vehicle, so I guess go by mileage, price, and which color she wants.

[Flybrian]

Because I'm a fan of lowest-possible mileage, I'd get the '04. Very little changed between these years in the non-GTP/XP trims. What trim is it anyway?

[76ChevyTrucker]

I say go with the lower mileage car because who knows what kind of REAL condition the newer one is in once it leaves that dealer lot, you know? Normally lower mileage means less problems, but of course, I know that's not always the way it is, but you know.

[z28luvr01]

IIRC, the major things changed from '04 - '06 are some revised interior bits, different wheel/tire combos. and some option package shuffling. If it's an early build 2004, it has a back seat cushion that's like a lightly-padded park bench. The later ones had a revised cushion that was more comfortable. I agree with Fly and would probably go for the '04. If that car still has time left on the original warranty, you might be able to twist his arm and get him to essentially reset the warranty counter to 0, as if it were a new car.

[scharmer05]

The 04 is a GT1, with no options that I can see of, and I did sit in the back seat and it seemed to be somewhat comfy so it must have the revised cousion. Thanks for you thoughts guys and that is kind of what I have been thinking also.

[scharmer05]

We went down to the dealer this morning and bought the 04. The roads are dirty as $h! round here right now with beet harvest going on so maybe I'll be able to snap some pics sometime in the next week or two if the roads straighten up, thanks for the help guys.

[Cory Wolfe]

Congrats and youre welcome.