[Shaggy Wierdo]

I have been working on the dealership in this area and it has not been fun. This has been going on with three different salesmen (or whatever you call them) for three friggin' months. In the middle of December I made an offer on a 2014 Soul. It was not my first choice but the second. There has been no movement on the first choice and I am fairly confident at this point that the configuration I wanted will never show up. In the US there as been exactly TWO on the list and KIA has not been able to help me out on it at all.

They snickered at my offer in December on the car that was on their lot and they eventually sold it about three weeks later. Anyway, I began to deal with the "Internet Manager" whatever in the hell that is these days. When we got serious of course he handed me off to a "sales associate". The sales guy gave me an offer and I could hardly contain myself with it, it was so bad. I repeated the offer that I gave them in December on the same car again. The offer I gave them was USDA top dollar for my car and a cash amount. I have a broker's work sheet with all my research in it and the discount that I could get from a broker. The amount I offered them was bare bones with no options added to a basic Exclaim and the broker discount. The car I made the offer on has a few "options" in it but only floor mats, cargo tray and wheel locks that were not calculated into the offer I made.

On Tuesday, they accepted the offer, floored me. So I basically am getting the car, OTD price of a couple hundred over MSRP. And they don't know it yet, but I am a Veteran and will be bringing my DD 214 with me tomorrow to pick up the car, I expect to take that 400 off the price as well. As usual, the enjoinder is that no deal is done until money changes hands and some one signs of the dotted line. I got excited and even put it into my DRIVES line on the forum for a day. No one noticed. Oh well, I guess being a wall flower and never posting has its draw backs.

2014 Exclaim, Fathom Blue (NO WS or SS package, just can't bring myself to get them, they just don't appeal) and I still have to put up with the 18 inch wheels (shucks).

As a side note I found out that if the base radio in these cars (this is the basic radio with UVO) says "Infinity" on it, then it has a tap for an external amplifier, that is interesting, isn't it?

 

[JLL3Sonex]

Congrats! And they'd better not renege on the military discount!

 

[Hawker]

Congrats Shaggy. You have been pretty outspoken about "18 wheels in the past...I sure hope this combination of wheels and tires works out better for you.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I found the 14 Exclaim with the 18's rides better than my 07 Jetta on 15's did. Pleasantly surprised.

 

[Buzz]

Congrats Shaggy! Can wait to see and here more about it. I've always wanted a blue Soul.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using the AutoGuide App.

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Congrats Shaggy! Can wait to see and here more about it. I've always wanted a blue Soul.

I have to have it so that Rick B. and I can have twins! (if they ever make all that chrome crap for it)

 

[weinerd]

Sounds like haggling is an olympic sport in Kentucky.
I got Costco price (just over invoice), 0.9% financing and then made money back trading in my old leased vehicle (worth more than what I owed), all done in a matter of an hour at my dealership. Drove in on the old leased vehicle, drove home in the Soul. Most painless car purchase I've ever done.

 

[Rick Busby]

Way to go Shag! Hey, I only have 18 individual pieces of chrome or stainless on my car. You should be so lucky.

 

[Hawker]

Shaggy,
Did you sell or trade in the Exclaim? How does the radio in the '14 compare to the UVO in the Exclaim?

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Way to go Shag! Hey, I only have 18 individual pieces of chrome or stainless on my car. You should be so lucky.

I aspire to your greatness, oh reflective one.

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Shaggy,
Did you sell or trade in the Exclaim? How does the radio in the '14 compare to the UVO in the Exclaim?

I can only tell you what I have discovered so far. The only thing that was advertised in the beginning that is missing from the UVO/Radio is the turn by turn app. That just does not exist. I have a method to mount my Tom Tom to the dash and hide the wiring, so it is no big deal. The radio in the Exclaim appears, I say appears because I have no definitive truth yet, to be different than the base radio. I won't know that for sure until I get it home.

Many of the UVO features of the past are still there between the new UVO and Radio, I think that a few of them have migrated to the radio. The UVO does appear to provide an interface to the radio. As I have stated many times before, I cannot tell the infinity is in there so it makes little difference to me that I no longer have it in the new car (the base radio on the Base and the Exclaim both sound the same to me). . The other difference is the sun roof is gone but that is minor since it was the first time I ever had one and I found it a PITA. I know that there are a lot of folks that have it and love it but I am just not one of them. As for the pluses, the REALLY, REALLY big one is the ten way seat. For a guy with a broken back, the lumbar support hopefully is going to help out (in other cars, it has) The power folding mirror, eh, who cares. And the steering thing. I am sure that I missed some little things but I sure did get used to the UVO and the rear view camera.

I traded the Exclaim. I should have sold it but there are several complications to doing that plus I am not in the mood to deal in cars much anymore. I would have liked to given someone a really good deal on it but that is not reality for me now. I also plan on adding some stuff to the car to help me with my wife so if THIS FRIGGIN' snow ever leaves us alone, we can go more places.

But as I have said, I won't know everything until the money changes hands and we sign on the dotted line. Get this: this dealer will bring the car to your home and pick up your trade in! The only rub with that is that they will not finalize the deal until they get to your house and get a look at the trade. No thank you, that is playing you for more room on their side. Ah, the advantages of the internet.

 

[dmwagner]

Congrats on the new car!

Too bad about the 18's though, maybe you will trade the '14 Soul off for a new one before you have to shell out the big bucks for the new tires.

 

[mattmc]

Maybe I'm a little biased when it comes to the whole tire price issue , considering I'm use to selling 4 to 500 dollar truck tires . But 18s have come way down from what they use to be . You can buy a decent 235/45R18 for around $ 150 each which is not much more than buying a 205/55R16 that comes on the plus for $ 110 to $ 130 each .

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Maybe I'm a little biased when it comes to the whole tire price issue , considering I'm use to selling 4 to 500 dollar truck tires . But 18s have come way down from what they use to be . You can buy a decent 235/45R18 for around $ 150 each which is not much more than buying a 205/55R16 that comes on the plus for $ 110 to $ 130 each .

For me it is the tire itself that leaves me cold, i.e., low profile. I have never liked them, I just prefer having tires that have more sidewall that what the 18s have. I have had them on other cars, most recent was my 2003 Matrix. While I did have trouble with them at first. That was the first set that were gone in less than 30K miles and had to be replaced (three of them went out of round over the first two years). I replaced them with a more expensive Goodyear hard compound tire and they held up amazingly well (got about 80K out of the set).

Intuitively to me, that short side wall does not give me much confidence in them. We will see what happens.

As for replacing this one any time soon, the 2012 is a recent anomaly. My last few cars were: 1995 F-150 (11 years); 1998 Mustang (13 years); 2003 Matrix (8 years), and the 2008 XB (four years). So we will just have to wait and see although I did have a AMC Pacer that was gone in six months because it just pissed me off.

 

[mattmc]

I did have a AMC Pacer that was gone in six months because it just pissed me off.

Priceless

I can just see you standing there in your bell bottoms and chops arguing with a pacer .

 

[jdmartin]

Hey Shaggy, get the Kia finance discount as well. Finance the difference, get the discount, then wait a month and pay off Kia. That's what I did and scored a cool $500 extra discount on top of what I had already negotiated. It might irritate the finance department (I was told if you don't hold Kia's loan for at least 4 months they don't get comped) but what the hell, it's your money.

 

[Shaggy Wierdo]

Hey Shaggy, get the Kia finance discount as well. Finance the difference, get the discount, then wait a month and pay off Kia. That's what I did and scored a cool $500 extra discount on top of what I had already negotiated. It might irritate the finance department (I was told if you don't hold Kia's loan for at least 4 months they don't get comped) but what the hell, it's your money.

Yes, I remembered that you mentioned that before but I cannot find that anywhere and the dealer (so far) had not acknowledged that it exists here. I did find out that much of the southern US is also not in our trading area. Since many of these incentives are driven by the distributor and not by KIA it self it is possible that it is local to your area. I am up for saving another 500 bucks and will find out tomorrow if I can get in there. Right now it is a cash deal but I am sure they would not mind the opportunity to see if there is more they can milk me for. This dealership has been up front about that stuff and there is also a 200 referral fee that I can get for my daughter. Thanks.

 

[Darklight]

If you need financing after paying off KIA if you can get the $500 off, PenFed.org is usually 1.9% for up to 60 months.

 

[kevster]

I got excited and even put it into my DRIVES line on the forum for a day. No one noticed. Oh well, I guess being a wall flower and never posting has its draw backs.

Sorry, I never noticed the changed profile....but 13 posts a day is hardly a "wallflower". Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!! :laughonfloor

 

[GMmon]

For me it is the tire itself that leaves me cold, i.e., low profile. I have never liked them, I just prefer having tires that have more sidewall that what the 18s have. I have had them on other cars, most recent was my 2003 Matrix. While I did have trouble with them at first. That was the first set that were gone in less than 30K miles and had to be replaced (three of them went out of round over the first two years). I replaced them with a more expensive Goodyear hard compound tire and they held up amazingly well (got about 80K out of the set).

Intuitively to me, that short side wall does not give me much confidence in them. We will see what happens.

As for replacing this one any time soon, the 2012 is a recent anomaly. My last few cars were: 1995 F-150 (11 years); 1998 Mustang (13 years); 2003 Matrix (8 years), and the 2008 XB (four years). So we will just have to wait and see although I did have a AMC Pacer that was gone in six months because it just pissed me off.

SW,will the dealer consider swapping on + 17'' tires/wheels for your 18's? Most won't,but some will. The 17's are the same circumference and I think they look just right on the Soul. Good luck on your deal!