Which is better?

I think this is always a matter of personal choice. What does the used 4 have that the new 2 does not? How important is that stuff to you? For example - leather seats do not interest me in the slightest, so an older 4 with them would not make sense for me.

When you buy a used car, it is important to remember that you are buying THIS car vs. a new car that is just "a" car. In other words, new cars have Lemon Laws (at least they do here) whereas used are sold as-is. How confident are you that you can evaluate a car that has some mileage on it and wear & tear? If you are comfortable in that evaluation, there are good deals to be had out there!

I plan to go shopping in 6 months or so and have a few tactics planned.

• AAA has a car buying service that does shopping for you, if you are a member.
• Costco also has a service that offers pre-arranged pricing at certain dealers. Again - if you are a member.
• Just drop e-mails to the dealers in your area and see how they respond. For example - I live in PHX AZ and will send out e-mails to all of the area dealers, letting them know full well that I am looking for their best offer. Once I get those back, I will send e-mails to the dealers in Tucson and advise them that they would have to beat my best price by a decent amount to make the trip down their worth my time. I have read some on here going 1K miles away for their car.
• I think Edmund's also has a form you can fill out that essentially does the e-mailing for you to a couple dealers near you.

Just my two cents.... Good luck to you!

 

You do mean a IV Solar, right? How much is that solar roof, heated leather seats, nav unit & backup camera worth? How much is the warranty difference worth to you? If the car is late production, say from November 2009 it will have Safety Connect buttons by the rear view mirror. Get the dealer service history at Toyota Owners Official Website: Service Coupons, Owners Manuals, Service Scheduling and More & good luck. You'll be happy with either car.

 

Put it this way - when I plan to buy a new car, I won't even go to a dealer until I need to pick up the car, sign paperwork, etc. Look on the Motley Fool website for their articles on buying a car. The articles are kind of old, so they refer to faxing the dealers and you can obviously now e-mail them. Edmund's has some good articles on buying a car too.
If you are looking at a used car, I would basically figure out the price I want to pay and stick to it. If they try to get you to go a few dollars over your price and say "are you willing to lose this car over a few dollars?", you say "that depends - are you willing to lose this sale over a couple dollars?"
Lots of good information out there on the web, so my honest advise would be to RTFM and you'll be fine.

 

Will you need financing? If so, go to your local credit union and get pre-approved before you go car shopping. You can probably get a much better deal there than you would from the dealer. Do not let the dealer play the "how much to you want your monthly payments to be" game. They will muddy the numbers until you don't know what you bought. Keep the purchase and the financing as separate deals.