RoadTripper

Hey all, first post here. Test drove a 2008 A5 S Line and 2009 A5 this weekend and was blown away by both, but especially the S Line version.

The first car I drove is a leftover 2008 A5 with about 5,000 miles on it that my dealer has used as a demo. MSRP on it is $52,415; options include the Avus Silver pearl-effect paint for $750, the S Line package for $2,900, Nav for $2,390, Premium package for $1,850, Technology package for $1,700, and B + O audio for $850 -- really loaded!

The dealer has a tag on the car that says "$48,415 -- Save $4,000!" But I think a four-grand discount is a joke; IMO, four grand is the absolute minimum discount they should be offering on a leftover 2008 model with close to zero miles (if there were any leftover 2008s, that is). For a presumably hard-driven demo with 5,000 miles, I think their discount should be considerably greater.

So what I'd really like to get your input on is this: What do you think a fair price for this car is? And would you consider buying a demo with 5,000 miles on it?

I love the car, and it's equipped pretty much exactly as I'd want it, color and all, but the only way I'll consider getting this demo unit is if I can get a real deal on it. If not, or if I decide I'm just not comfortable with the risks associated with picking up a demo, I'll wait, possibly for a year or two -- I'm in no hurry, have no actual need for a new car, and I'm now very interested to learn (from this site!) about the 2.0T coupe and convertible versions coming out for the 2010 model year, so it's not like it's this demo or nothing for me.

Anyway, looking forward to your feedback, and thanks in advance!

newfinish

a guy i know had a 4800$ discount on a brand new g37x infinity,just because he said he had more car to try ,the TL acura awd.
so my guess it would be fair for a good 2000$ to 3000$ more off the price tag.

or like my brother in law got,a set of rubber mats and brand new winter tires mounted on a brand new set of mags,(not steelies).

scottacus

$48K is a joke, that's probably about the invoice price for the car when it was new.

You should basically treat a dealer demo as a used car. Both will have the remainder of the 50K warranty. I would think it might be worth around $42K or maybe $44K, but no way is $48K a good deal. You could also check used car values on Edmunds or another site.

If you're not totally comfortable with a dealer demo and you aren't really in a rush to get a car, you might want to wait and see what happens with 2010 models coming out. Maybe then you can get a leftover 2009 for a good price, too.

mgd99

Kelly Blue Book puts this car around $47k in Excellent and $45K in Good at Retail. Those prices seem high to me. Once the 2010's hit the lots in a month, those will drop again.

scottacus

Agreed. I find KBB is increasingly useless in how it calculates car values. Edmunds is probably a bit more accurate since they use more actual sales data. And prices will undoubtedly drop once 2010 models come out.

tiger4366

I find Galves.com a better indicator of trade values. It's a subscription service primarily set up for dealers, but you can get a one week subscription for about $9. I used this in negotiating my trade value recently and it was very helpful.

RoadTripper

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking, which is why I also scoffed at the $48.4K price tag.

Your ballpark estimate was outstanding, BTW: Edmunds prices the car, in outstanding condition with its exact equipment, at $43,016 retail (and just for comparison's sake, if the car was a CPO their price on it would be $45,882, which to my mind only underscores how high their current $48.4K price on it is).

Maybe it's a worth a little more than that $43K figure because it is technically a "new" car that's never been privately registered, but I think that price point is a decent general target to shoot for.

RoadTripper

(Accidentally hit the "submit reply" button before I was done with that last post -- oops!)

Thanks for everybody's feedback, I really appreciate it. And thanks for the tip about Galves.com -- I'd never heard of them before, and that's good info.

bb vign

FWIW when I had deposits down at two dealers for a S5 back in January 2008, both were willing to sell their S5 demos for MSRP less a dollar off for each mile on the car. Also, they were including a CPO warranty.

RoadTripper

Thanks again for all the helpful replies. Thought I'd check in since I stopped by the dealer last night to talk numbers.

After a brief negotiation, they brought the price down to $44K -- a $4,415 reduction from their initial "sale" price, and a total of $8,415 off the MSRP -- which is much more in line with my expectations.

I have little doubt I could get an even slightly better deal than that, but the more important question for me now is the one I've been asking myself all along: is this really the car I want? And a big part of that is, can I go back to a fixed-roof vehicle after loving having a convertible for my last three cars?

I'm the only one that can answer those, of course, just thinking out loud here.

If I do decide to get an A5, I'm pretty sure I'd value the higher fuel efficiency of the 2.0T available in the 2010 model over the greater power of the 3.2 in the 2008 I'm considering -- if, in fact, the 2.0T will really deliver appreciably better real-world mileage than the 3.2, which I think remains to be seen.

And the fact that the 2010 will be available (albeit in fairly limited numbers, probably) not only with the 2.0T but in a convertible version make waiting for that possibility even more tempting.

Still, the styling of the hardtop A5 is incredibly arresting, and the powerful, effortless acceleration from that 3.2 is a beautiful thing. If only the moonroof would slide back instead of merely tilting up a tiny bit, I might have gone for the hardtop 2008 already.

Decisions, decisions! Anyway, thanks for indulging my navel-gazing, and thanks again for all the friendly feedback.