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Honda Accord Hybrid 2007

10 months, 3 weeks ago
in General
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I went into the Vista Honda dealership today just to see what their inventory was on the Hybrid Accord, since Honda is no longer making Hybrid Accords anymore, and to see some Hybrid 2008 and 2007 Civics. I ended up wanting a Honda Hybrid after the very detailed reviews from ConsumerReports.org, although the Hybrid 2007 Accord review is lacking the previous years and current non-hybrid models made up for it.

After directing the young sales guy not to bother with a test drive I ended up talking numbers for the first hour because I insisted not to drive the “only Hybrid Accord in Ventura” before I was certain it was going to be the price I wanted.

honda_accord_hybrid.jpg It turns out they really wanted to move the car, it “being a slow month” and being the last on the lot they were highly motivated to sell it. They dropped it way below the MSRP, which is expected, and then A LOT below invoice price. I knew it was an excellent price after checking out kbb.com today and after they gave me an APR well below any rate we could get at any bank so I took the test drive.

I’ll need to post about how it drives another time, it deserves some detail because the power and efficiency of the car is totally geeky. It doesn’t have a navi but who needs it when you have the iPhone ;).

So I ended up driving it home with the sales guy and had Sara approve in person, even with the “approval” over the phone, two hours of waiting and signing my names a zillion times I own my first NEW car which I *plan to have for a very long time while not paying too much for gas.

Viewing 9 Comments

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    Congrats!

    I highly recommend Hondas in general, and Civics in particular: they keep their value insanely well relative to most other cars (just check kbb).

    This is good even if you don't plan to sell it very soon, because there is a reason they maintain their value well: they're very good cars. They rarely have any problems at all, and since you got it new, anything that might happen will be covered by the warranty anyway.

    I have thought many times about trading in (or selling) my 2003 Civic after I paid it off early a while ago, and moving to a Civic Hybrid. Even though it would be cool, there's really not much need, so it would be more of a frivolous thing, which I'd rather not do.
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    PS - On the subject of buying new vs. used...

    When I was preparing to buy mine, my initial goal was to get a 2-3 year old used Civic, but after looking into it, (Because they hold their value so well) used ones weren't that much cheaper than brand new ones (within $2,000). Add to that the warranty coverage and the sale they had going on at the time which included a very low APR (2.9), I think it actually ended up being cheaper / better value to go for the new one.
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    Yeah the Civics are great. Consumer Reports has it being one of the best small size cars and has the Accord within the top sedans.

    But yeah, those reasons are exactly why I bought the car. The Accords see a little more depreciation because it being a more expensive car but it's way up there.

    I've found that I was spoiled with my old Diamante with it's power, comfort and smooth/quit ride. Now, I've got all that, I did pay more than my initial choice of a Civic but the upgrades vs. price made it worth it for me.


    sidenote: I wouldn't buy a hybrid just because it was cool, it sounds you're pleased with your car now, just wait until it gets to the point where the resell value hits a point where it's more cost effective to buy another and sell your current one. Also, it's very hard to sell any car right now, that's why I didn't even try and traded in my Volvo, which had enough problems (electrical shiz).
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    Used vs. New:

    I don't think hybrids are a good choice to buy used anyways because of warranty. Also, from looking around some hybrids are selling more then the 2008 models on the lot because last year they were more expensive. An example, I asked about a Prius on Craigslist and the guy wanted 30K for a car with 30K miles and 2 years old compared to the same 2008 model for 29K.

    Otherwise, used is the way to go if you can take a car with over 50K miles and can get a good APR.


    side: I didn't get that low of an APR since 2.9 is for the Civics right now but I did get the "honda premium" rate or the lowest they could finance outside of a special deal.
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    Congrats! I was going to tell you to skip Vista and go down to Norm Reeves Honda in Cerritos (when we bought our Pilot, Vista insisted on MSRP while Norm Reeves went well below invoice) but then I read on and found they treated you well. :)

    Hondas rule, we love our 2007 Pilot and 2002 Civic.
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    cool, i'm glad it looks like new was the right choice for you. i've got car jealousy, but i've been doing affirmations to get over it. "i feel happy and at one with the road in my 2000 saturn. it will give me many more years of pleasurable driving experiences."
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    That's the way to go. I'm planning on feeling "happy" with my accord for a long time, that's why I got the accord and not the civic because it makes me "happier", which should last longer (right?).

    And it looks weird because I've had a lot of cars but seriously the Diamante was bought as the car I would keep for a very long time, it died, but I was completely happy with the thing until that day it blew up. The Volvo was always a temporary car because of the price(since I bought it at an auction) and because it had enough problems that it was docked to the task of home<->work. Even the Fall Drive was a test to see whether it could survive.
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    Yeah used Honda prices are a joke. Never a good deal. When we were shopping for a larger car we looked at used CRVs and the prices were silly.

    I hope you baby this car and don't hit jumps in it like you did with the Diamante. ;)

    And is there a better name for a luxury car than "Diamante"? I think not.
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    Congrats !!!!
    Nice!
    Wow!!

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