I did it, I finally bought my Tiburon GT!!! (1 Viewer)

[Moe Maishlish]

A little less than a month ago I posted a thread asking for advice regarding how I should approach the purchase of a new car (http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=139506).

Well, yesterday I did it! I visited three separate dealerships in the morning, intent on purchasing the car before the day was through. I figured I'd waited long enough, and done enough research to warrant the purchase. I approached the purchase knowing exactly what I wanted to buy, and what I wanted to spend. Websites & advice given by my fellow HT members helped me save quite a bit of $$$! Thanks to everyone!

I started off at the first of 3 dealerships, and boy oh boy what a bad experience that was. I test-drove the car for about 5 minutes, and the salesman wouldn't even let me make a left hand turn! He gave me some lame excuse about Hyundai not allowing left-turns during test drives. What a load of crap. Anyway, when we got back to the dealership and started negotiating the price, the salesman quoted me an OTR (on the road) price of more than $32,000. I'd done enough research to know what the dealer-invoice price was, so I countered his offer with my own (based on the material I had with me). He wanted a down-payment from me right away, which I refused. After that, he took his "offer" back to his "manager", returned with the cost-sheet and put it in front of me. Written in black marker across the invoice were the words "Don't we have the right to make money?". I stared dumfounded at the words, and back at the dealer, after which I handed him my business-card, got up, and left. Before leaving though I asked to speak with the manager and was told "oh, he's in a meeting". Yeah, right, bullshit. They'll be getting a call from me on monday.

I then made my way to the 2nd dealership and sat down with one of their sales-people. I told them what I had just experienced at the first dealership asked that I not repeat the experience. After about 20 minutes, we had worked out a price based on the dealer-invoice (the same cost I presented to the first dealer), and they quoted me a price that they said "couldn't be beat". I thanked them for their time (they were very polite and curteous), got up and left. Not a bad exerience at all, but not exactly the price I was looking to pay.

I then headed over to the third dealership. I entered the dealership and told the receptionist that I wanted to buy a car today, and she directed me to a sales representative. I sat down with him, told him about my previous two experiences, and after about 5 minutes we had worked out a fantastic price that was, surprisingly, less than I had expected to pay. In fact, it was about $1,000 LESS than the price the 2nd Hyundai dealership had claimed, not a half-hour before, "couldn't be beat". Satisfied with the numbers, I placed a down-payment and then asked that I be allowed to take one of their models out for a test drive (to show my father the car). Surprisingly, they handed me the keys to a Carbon-Blue GT they had on the lot and told me that I could take it out no problem. Wow! I was even allowed to make LEFT HAND TURNS!! I took the car out for about an hour, just enough time to drive over to my father's office and show him the car (he loved it), and then back to the dealership to work out the final details on when the car will be delivered (1-3 weeks).

I'm pretty psyched! Of course, the first dealer will never see any business from myself, my family, or any of my friends. Very very poor quality salespeople, and a very unpleasant experience from start to finish. Shame on them for treating their customers that way. Shame. Because of that little stunt, they lost a quick sale, and you won't be getting a lot of future business.

In contrast, the 3rd (and final) dealerships get's top-marks from me in terms of their customer service and demeanor! Great great salespeople that don't insult you to your face. In fact, I'm considering sending Hyundai of Canada a note describing my experience, just to thank them for their great staff!

So, if you see some guy driving around in a Black Tiburon GT



with a big freakin' grin on his face (), THAT'S ME!

Moe.

 

[AjayM]

Congrats, you'll love the car. So what model did you get and which options? Did you get the 17" wheels, moonroof, abs package? The Michelin Pilot's that come with the 17" wheels are just plain out awesome tires, they wear very well, stick like glue, excellent in the wet...and carry a price tag that will stop your heart

My dealer experience was also very good, I did most of it over the net, I emailed the dealer explaining what I wanted and to give me their best price, which they did and it was a serious price (most dealers I had done the same with gave me prices way out there, like $50-100 off MSRP), we even negotiated the price of my trade through email, with the knowledge it wouldn't be final until they saw the car. Basically when it was all done, I walked in at 7:30, test drove the car and had a deal struck up about an hour after that (that includes waiting 15 minutes or so while the sales guy finished up with another customer), then spent another hour arguing with the finance guy who was pulling the high pressure sales tactics for all the extra crap, but even that wasn't as bad as I've experienced in the past.

Andrew

 

[Scott L]

Wow, nice write-up Moe. I can't believe that salesman wrote that on the paper, you handled it very well asking to see his manager.

That body style is sweet! Whose Tiburon is that next to yours.. another family member's? How are your past experiences with Hyundais?

 

[Bob Graz]

Beautiful car Moe, good luck with it.

 

[David Susilo]

What's the name of the dealer? It's very impressive! Congrats for the new car.

 

[Joel Mack]

I am severely jealous. I've been wanting a new Tib for well over a year now, but my job and personal life (laid off and divorced) put that on hold. Hopefully within the next year, I'll finally get my "Tuscani".

Congrats, Moe.

Man, that first dealer, I wouldn't have even bothered with a price negotiation. "No left turns? No sale."

 

[Grant B]

Tiburon???
I think the car companies are just going down the list of small towns in Northern California. Tiburon is a small town over the GGB where SF cops mostly live, at least thats what Ive always heard.
Nice Car! Strange name though.....

 

[Moe Maishlish]

Tiburon???
I think the car companies are just going down the list of small towns in Northern California. Tiburon is a small town over the GGB where SF cops mostly live, at least thats what Ive always heard.
Nice Car! Strange name though.....

Tiburon is actually Spanish for "Shark", which is what they claim to have modeled the car after. I can kinda see it...

I picked up the GT model, fully loaded with all the options. So basically, it comes with leather, heated seats, spoiler, power everything, sunroof, 17" alloy wheels, ABS, 170HP 6 cylinder engine, etc. It's manual 5-speed transimission of course.

The picture is actually off of a website I stumbled onto recently at http://www.newtiburon.com. It's basically a collection of people from all over who have bought or are looking to purchase the 2003 Tiburon. There is a forum (similar to this one), as well as a gallery of pictures that people have taken of their Tiburon's. The pictures & modifications range from Amazing to Scary.

I had considered working the deal over e-mail, but I figured I could probably get a lot more done, a lot faster, in person. This is my first "new" car, so I opted for the personal route.

Scott, although I know that Hyundai had a bad reputation a few years ago, everything that I've read (and heard) about their vehicles for the past 3 or 4 years is pretty darned good. They've improved their quality dramatically, and the styling and price of their lineup is quite competitive in the Import marketplace. The Tib is a competitor with the Acura RSX, Toyota Celica, and Honda Civic SIR, and is THOUSANDS of dollars less. It's also, in my opinion, the best looking of the lot.

David, I bought the car at Richmond Hill Fine Cars, and Hyundai dealer just north of Toronto.

Joel, take a look at the website I mentioned above and do some research before you buy the car. There are a couple of models available other than the Tuscani (I sprang for the GT because it includes the leather & heated seat package, as well as a spoiler, which the Tuscani surprisingly does not). I think I might actually drive the new car up to the 1st dealer and have a word with their manager, just to let them know how badly they blew a quick & easy sale.

Moe.

 

[David Susilo]

Tiburon means Shark in Spanish. The original Tiburon's wing looks like shark's fin. Hence the name.

In fact, in Australia, the Tib is still called Scoupe.

 

[David Susilo]

I'd drive to the first dealer and rub it in.

I haad a similar experience a couple of months ago with a Honda dealer. I already told him that between myself, my friend and my cousin, we are going to buy three cars at once. He appraised my trade in "at least $10,000", the new car $27,500 and "I'll help you out with an MP3 player".

On the day of signing, he changed the value of trade in to only $8500, the new car to $28,000 and "helped me out" by giving $5 (FIVE) dollars off the MSRP of the MP3 player ($700).

When I said "no deal", he actually have the guts to ask me "where did we go wrong?" and kept calling and e-mailing me for several days.

After I left the dealership, I called a VW dealer, told him the story of my Honda experience, and got a good (not great, though) price, great service, and I was in and out of the dealer within 30 minutes!!!.

After I bought the car, a week later my friend bought another VW and so did my cousin. We ALL went to the Honda dealer with our new Jettas (1.8T, TDI, and 2.0) and actually thanked the salesperson in front of his manager, for "inadvertantly" swayed us to another car manufacturer.

We even left him with a framed pictures of the three of us with our new Jettas with "thanks for everything" written on it.

I wonder whether he still got his job when the manager realized that he lost 3 Accord V6 sales in one day.

(where is evil-grin emoticon when you need one?)

 

[Jason Merrick]

Congratulations Moe! I know you'll love your new Tiburon... enjoy it! Also, you should try to get involved with those forums you mentioned. I have found a ton of very useful info about my new Acura RSX from the clubrsx website. It's amazing what people find out about and do to their cars.

 

[Eric Alderson]

I just picked up my RSX Type-S a couple of weeks ago. I've been going to the ClubRSX forum for almost a year now. I learned the basics of driving a manual transmission by reading the forum posts.

 

[Joel Mack]

Moe,

So far as I know, "Tuscani" is simply another name the car is known by in other parts of the world...

http://tuscani.hyundai-motor.com/tuscani/

http://www.tuscani.be

I'll definitely be getting the GT. Didn't get the 6-speed manual? tsk.

 

[Shawn Solar]

I too went through the "bad dealership" when buying my car last month. About 6 dealers in all. Saturn dealer was the worst. spent 15 minutes and the salespeople just walk past us. Mazda dealer was the nicest. No sales pitch just handed us the keys for a test drive. Ended up going to Haldimand motors. Just used cars but great service and no salesman at all. hand the keys over for any car on the lot. Ended up buying a nissan maxima.

If I went two door I would probably go for a tiburon. Good choice

 

[David Susilo]

That's right, Joel.

In Australia, the first generation of Tiburon is called Scoupe, just like its predecessor. When the new look is introduced, it's just called Tuscani and a nicer emblem (instead of the regular Hyundai's "H" logo) is used.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

So far as I know, "Tuscani" is simply another name the car is known by in other parts of the world...

I'll definitely be getting the GT. Didn't get the 6-speed manual? tsk.

I'll be checking out those websites Joel. I took a glance, and the content looks pretty cool.

In North America, the Tiburon is the Tiburon. The TUSCANI Tiburon refers to a certain kind of trim on the car. Specifically, think of a GT that's painted Sunburst-Yellow, with 6-Speed, cloth interior, no spoiler, some "multi-gages" added to the console, and a couple of other odds & ends (Infinity Stereo, etc). It's about $2,000 more than the GT. I figured though that with everything that I'm NOT getting with the Tuscani (Leather, Heated Seats, Spoiler, a normal color paint-job, etc) I'd be much happier with the GT.

As for 6-Speed... nah. I don't need another one, 5 is enough for me (for now). During my testdrive, I didn't even have a chance to drop the car into 5th gear, and only put it in 4th on one occasion. Besides, I don't want to invite speeding tickets.

(One thing I noticed while driving this car was that 80 km/h felt like 50 km/h in any other car. I'm going to have to watch my speed!)



Moe.

 

[Rob Speicher]

I'd drive to the first dealer and rub it in.

Seconded. Make sure you pull into the dealership with a left turn.

 

[Joel Mack]

Moe,

I don't know why I feel a need to argue, but I do.

If you do a little checking around, you'll find that North America is the only place you'll find this car referred to as a Tiburon.

From the FAQ on the newtiburon.com website you posted:

“What is Tuscani? What does it mean?”

Tuscani is the Korean model name for the Tiburon (US/Can), and the Hyundai Coupe (UK)



Tuscani is a variation on the name of the Tuscany region of Italy.



“How is Tuscani pronounced?”

There are two generally accepted pronunciations:

‘Tuh-ska-nee’ (most common in the US)

‘Too-ska-nee’ (most common in Canada)

Of course, maybe the dealers up there are selling a "Tuscani" custom trim package, but you won't find a factory Tuscani Tiburon anywhere. It's either one or the other, depending on where you live.

Don't mind me, I'm just feeling feisty (and still damn jealous!) :p)

 

[Grant B]

It might mean shark in Spanish but it still seems like they are picking small town names. Thanks for the Spanish lesson, I took Latin in HS..... wish I knew Spanish
Looks like fun, hope it is a good one

 

[Aurel Savin]

Congratulations Moe, beautiful car. Definetelly my favorite Hyundai ... looks like a lot of thought went into the design of it.

Definetelly I am jealous of your new car purchase :wink:

I have my eyes on a new MINI Cooper for this summer ...

Happy Motoring!