khan

Hey all...I absolutely fell in love with the new design the first time I saw it. At the time, I thought only 06's had the new body style, and it became my mission to own one! Now I see that 05's and 06's both APPEAR to be nearly identical....and if that's true, I can save money, getting an 05. Can you all please tell me....form design (ext and int), to engine, to WHATEVER....are their any major differences between the two cars?

Thanks in advance....and it's nice to be here!

stewnstang

I'm not sure of all the differences between the 05 and the 06, but I did hear that there were a very small number of 05's that had an issue with the gas tanks (they would register as full at the pump and shut it off when they weren't), but that this issue was resolved after a certain month. If you were going to buy an 05 I'd do a search on Yahoo to find the article I read, and then make sure you didn't buy one before that month (from what I could gather it was a pretty rare problem, but better to be safe).

Also, in the 06 you can get the pony package - I don't think this was available in the 05.

With the '07's about to come out, you can probably get yourself a really good deal on an 06 - especially if you know what price you're willing to pay before hand, and can walk off the lot and shop around if the salespeople aren't meeting your needs. I just bought a car, and in my experience the internet departments at dealerships was the better place to start -- they usually quote you a better price at first because they realize you're comparison shopping.

Also, I paid to have consumer reports new car buying kit ($40) - and this was a very valuable tool for me, not only did it list lots of pricing information (kbb.com and edmunds.com) also lists these - but it had a good advice section on what to do once you were at the dealership.

I got my 06' for a great price because it was a fully loaded standard and they needed to make room for the 07's. I refused to pay extra for all the options and eventually they gave in because the lot space was worth more to them -- I had to go to several dealerships before I found one in that situation, so it's important to remember that not every dealership has the same pressure to sell. Also, sales people are under more pressure to make a sale at the end of the month because they need to reach their numbers.

With a little bit of effort on your part, I think now is the time to get a good deal on an '06. NOTE: I live in S. California where there are lots of dealerships close by and no one wanted a standard in LA traffic. Your area will have different advantages/disadvantages accordingly.