Your challenge is to have as much information as you can so that when you find the car you like best, you can buy it for a good price. A first step for most people is a visit to the library. Check out the annual April issue of Consumer Reports magazine, and compare models, features, safety, reliability information, and prices.
The brief reviews of features, ride, steering, and comfort of 2006 cars will give you a start in narrowing your choices for the 2007 models. Consumer Reports gives its test reports for braking performance, emergency handling, visibility, and seat comfort. It also uses the federal crash-test results to rate vehicles on crash protection.
If you don't want a car that ends up in the service department over and over again, you'll also want to check out the frequency-of-repair charts. Based on readers' annual survey responses, more than 500,000 vehicles are rated from worse-than-average to better-than-average on reliability. This information alone may save you thousands of dollars.
Let's say you've decided that four different cars would work for you. Now you'll want to go to the computer section of the library to get really specific information. The http://www.cars.com Web site scans newspaper columns across the country that have evaluated various vehicles. Some articles are helpful, and others are general, but it's a start.
Up-to-date car reviews can be found at http://www.cars.com. Select each of the four cars you're considering, and you'll find information about exterior, interior, engine, and driving impressions. Because reviewer impressions may differ, try these sites as well: http://www.autoweb.com and http://www.carpoint.msn.com.
Start with http://www.carpoint.msn.com, where you'll learn the base retail price range. You can decide about options by pricing them separately. By submitting your name and contact information, you'll get real prices from nearby dealers for the cars and the features you want. Additional sites that will send you local price information are http://www.carpoint.msn.com, http://www.autobytel.com and http://www.autovantage.com. Of course, don't forget to check your local dealers, but go armed with all the critical information that you've carefully researched.
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