Ready to buy MKT, two questions.

[kwilkins]

After doing a fair amount of research I’m ready to buy an ecoboost MKT, pending my first test drive which I’m looking forward to and expect will be a delight. I have two questions I hope people here can help me with.

 

I live in Southern New Jersey and searched the internet for available cars at dealers within 50 and 100 miles. It appears there are dozens of 2010 models available and far fewer 2011. Do you think because of this I could get a good deal on a 2010 and how much below sticker should I shoot for? I’m going to get a model with most of the options.

 

In the past we had a problem buying a first year model car, it was the original Volkswagen Toureg. We loved the Toureg but it was constantly in the shop for warranty work. A number of people told us you should never buy a first year model car because they always have problems that get worked out during in the 2nd year model and beyond. Are there any known issues with the 2010 that have been fixed with the 2011?

 

Finally, does the 2011 have any options or changes from the 2010 model? Will I be missing anything if I get a 2010 instead of a 2011?

 

That’s actually 3 questions, I snuck the last one in.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice you have for me.

 

Ken

[NickF1011]

To answer your first question, you probably won't see much of a price difference between the 2010's and 2011's. One thing you might consider is looking to go with an X-plan PIN through the forums here. That way you'd be getting a pretty good deal on the price either way.

 

Second, I don't think you'll run into too many mechanical issues. While the MKT was new for 2010, the underlying platform has been around for several years and has scored pretty well in reliability for the other vehicles it has underpinned. I think the only real long term questions might possibly be the reliability of the EcoBoost, which is still pretty new, and then maybe the unique items to the MKT like some options and trim details.

 

Lastly, I don't think there are a whole lot of differences between the 2011 and 2010 from what I can recall. Your dealer could probably answer those questions much better than I could though.

[akirby]

If you were buying on X plan, you get $1500 in incentives on the 2011 and $5000 on the 2010. This could be public incentives, dealer cash or a combination. And that's for my zip code - yours might be different but not by much. Based on that - true dealer invoice minus $5K would be a fair price on a 2010. You might be able to do a little better if the vehicle has been on the dealer's lot a long time and they're willing to dip into their holdback.

 

If you post your zip code I'll check it and if you can give me your local dealer's name and zip I can get you the X plan price on what they have in stock. With or without a PIN the X plan price would be a good target.

 

Edit - looks like $2K in public rebates and $3K in dealer cash. The dealer cash isn't advertised and it's up to the dealer whether to pass that along as an extra discount.

 

Just tell the dealer you know there is $3K in dealer cash and add that to your discount. Again - that's for my zip (30024).

Edited January 14, 2011 by akirby

[kwilkins]

If you were buying on X plan, you get $1500 in incentives on the 2011 and $5000 on the 2010. This could be public incentives, dealer cash or a combination. And that's for my zip code - yours might be different but not by much. Based on that - true dealer invoice minus $5K would be a fair price on a 2010. You might be able to do a little better if the vehicle has been on the dealer's lot a long time and they're willing to dip into their holdback.

 

If you post your zip code I'll check it and if you can give me your local dealer's name and zip I can get you the X plan price on what they have in stock. With or without a PIN the X plan price would be a good target.

 

Edit - looks like $2K in public rebates and $3K in dealer cash. The dealer cash isn't advertised and it's up to the dealer whether to pass that along as an extra discount.

 

Just tell the dealer you know there is $3K in dealer cash and add that to your discount. Again - that's for my zip (30024).

 

 

Thanks for the info. My zip is 08108. I'm not familiar with the X plan, can you tell me what that is and how do I use it?

[NickF1011]

Thanks for the info. My zip is 08108. I'm not familiar with the X plan, can you tell me what that is and how do I use it?

 

X plan is Ford's "Friends & Family" discount, more or less. Employees are given an alottment of PINs they can give out to customers to qualify them for the discount. Being a stockholder also makes you eligible for X plan pricing. There is a section here in the Employee area where you can request one when the time comes to make your purchase. Often times someone will be more than happy to help out.

[LoveTaurus]

And, during your test drive, test to sit on the 3rd row. Make sure you can accept this kind of accommodation before you weight out the pros and cons for making the decision.

[Going_Going_Gone]

X plan is Ford's "Friends & Family" discount, more or less. Employees are given an alottment of PINs they can give out to customers to qualify them for the discount. Being a stockholder also makes you eligible for X plan pricing. There is a section here in the Employee area where you can request one when the time comes to make your purchase. Often times someone will be more than happy to help out.

X-plan on Lincolns is not as good a deal as on a Ford...and certainly not the deal it was a couple of years ago. If I were going to buy a Lincoln, I wouldn't pay one penny more than invoice cost less rebates. I would also haggle on the Doc fees as well. That being the case, I'm sure that dealers would be more likely to meet these terms on a 2010, expecially if it had been sitting on their lot for more than a couple of months. They're still making plenty of money selling at invoice cost.