Weekend Car Buying Roundup June 01, 2024

Even when you get a deal on something at a dealer, they’ll still find a way to try and get some more money out of you to make up for the fact that you got said deal. Take how Hyundai covered an engine replacement for my car, but the dealer still said I needed to part with $800 for new hoses and belts. The main place things like this happen at dealerships is in the finance managers office. Going over those final contracts dealers will often try and sneak things in like extended warranty plans and gap insurance. Take a dealer that tried to sneak in $20,000 worth of extras on a customer. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice VW Dune Buggy notes in the ad that, at 80 years of age, they do not need the project of bringing it back from a decades-long stint in storage. Could it be well enough priced for someone with a bit more time on their hands to do so? - Rob Emslie Read More

With maturity comes wisdom, and with immaturity comes today’s Nice Price or No Dice F-150 Tonka truck. Let’s see if this “big boy (or big girl) toy” is worth anything more than play money. - Rob Emslie Read More

I’m a fan of little funky cars, so I was stoked when I learned that Fiat was bringing its new 500e to the United States. For a company whose only other offerings are leftover 2023 model year 500X crossovers, you’d think Fiat would lay down some good deals on the tiny new electric 500 to attract more buyers, but that’s far from reality. Most American consumers are looking for crossovers and SUVs, not subcompact microcars with a manufacturer-claimed 149-mile range, but that hasn’t deterred Fiat from charging out the nose for a 500e lease. - Logan Carter Read More

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice MX-6 comes with two sets of wheels and tires, although it’s barely done enough miles to eat through even one. Everything about the car seems laudable, from its condition to its specs. We’ll have to see if its price falls in line. - Rob Emslie Read More

The Z4 GT3 was one of the coolest, if not exactly within the spirit of the rules, ways to go racing a decade ago. BMW’s aging M3 proved highly uncompetitive in the GT3 class by 2012, and the new-shape Z4 didn’t have enough motor to compete either, so the company combined the two, shoving the M3's V8 into the little roadster body. The best of both worlds, a Teutonic Shelby Cobra Coupe in a way. BMW has rarely built so cool a race car, and certainly Turner’s is the best livery of them all, so this is the one to have, even if it never won a thing. - Bradley Brownell Read More

The current generation of the Subaru WRX debuted to some controversy, mostly over its plastic fantastic lower body cladding. That hasn’t stopped buyers though as the brand sold just under 25,000 last year. Subaru dealers seem set to draw in even more customers with a new performance variant for the WRX, the WRX tS. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

Back when today’s Nice Price or No Dice GTI was introduced, having a 16-valve engine was uncommon in its class and, hence, worth an extra badge. This one has gone way beyond just that performance feature, with a turbo and every cool name in accessory-land. Let’s decide what one might be required to pony up for such name-dropping. - Rob Emslie Read More

This week's reader has a $15,000 budget for a fun manual ride after a lifetime of automatics.

John is on his third Honda Pilot and wants to change it up to an EV SUV. It needs to fit two medium sized dogs, have AWD and get at least 300 miles of range. With a budget up to $70,000, what car should he buy? - Tom McParland Read More