Golf R Observations and Questions

[Corey_R]

The spreadsheet has 0 sample data. It's not a collection of peoples drive-away prices. It's a calculation spreadsheet which shows what the exact drive away price would be for your car and its options in your state, with links for you to calculate or locate the rego/plates/ctp etc for your state (if they're variable), and also the opportunity for you to put in the discount the dealer is offering, or drive-away price, and for it to give you a discount % off the drive away price. You can then compare it to what people have posted. Which is how I was able to say that both you and Danny's discounts offered are within 0.1% of each other.

Don't get me wrong, there is probably more to gain in both of your situations, but just not for the reasons that you mentioned above. In addition, there probably isn't too much more, because the Drive-away RRPs are only like $64k, and not $70k+ where there would be more margin and more taxes to negotiate a high % discount on.

[SilvrFoxX]

ahhh.. my bad I was unaware there was a calc spreadsheet merely a spreadsheet where folk input their negotiated price

[Mr_Bob]

If you think there's more room to negotiate, why not try another dealership?
Personally, I wouldn't be walking in saying "i have a quote for $X, can you beat it?"
All they need to do is knock off $500 and leave it at that.

If you say you already have a competitive quote, but want a second before you commit,
Then the dealer needs to be pretty sharp to get your business, as he doesn't know what he's competing with.

you might find the new dealer is just as nice, and if the difference is considerable, then go for it.
Otherwise if it's close, then stick with the guy you started with, at least you've confirmed that the price is good.

[Danny]

Okay, so I got me another quote this time with corporate discount (as a member of master builders) $57,400 ON road with 3 dr man, nav, sunrooof, leather, mdi, bluetooth. Again asked this dealer about ACC and also the dynaudio and they all seem adamant that it is not worth it. Thanks heaps for your replies guys. Appreciated.

-Dan

[Corey_R]

Cool... so that quote is really about the same amount as your other one, just with the "rebate" to the dealer (and thus you) from VGA for the dealer delivery.

As for ACC and Dynaudio - do NOT take the dealers word for it. I've found that most people, including several sales people, simply do not understand what ACC is and what it does. Many think that ACC set to "normal" is the same as a car not fitted with ACC - this is rubbish. The ACC measures the suspension 1000 times per second, and then based on 3 profiles (sport, normal, comfort), dynamically adjusts the dampers to keep the car in an optimal travel position. This includes greatly reducing body roll in hard cornering. If you plan to spend $5k on aftermarket suspension and sway bars, then fine... but if you aren't, the ACC is a bargain, and also less of a compromise in ride quality than an aftermarket setup.

As for the Dynaudio, as with any audio topic, it's very subjective and the only right opinion is yours. Listen to both systems with a few of your CDs and make the decision for yourself. For the $1000 difference that the Dynaudio costs in combination with the Sat Nav, I'm of the opinion that there is no way you could install an aftermarket system which comes close to its quality for the price. So if sound quality is important to you, then it may be worth it for you.

[SilvrFoxX]

Cool... so that quote is really about the same amount as your other one, just with the "rebate" to the dealer (and thus you) from VGA for the dealer delivery.

As for ACC and Dynaudio - do NOT take the dealers word for it. I've found that most people, including several sales people, simply do not understand what ACC is and what it does. Many think that ACC set to "normal" is the same as a car not fitted with ACC - this is rubbish. The ACC measures the suspension 1000 times per second, and then based on 3 profiles (sport, normal, comfort), dynamically adjusts the dampers to keep the car in an optimal travel position. This includes greatly reducing body roll in hard cornering. If you plan to spend $5k on aftermarket suspension and sway bars, then fine... but if you aren't, the ACC is a bargain, and also less of a compromise in ride quality than an aftermarket setup.

As for the Dynaudio, as with any audio topic, it's very subjective and the only right opinion is yours. Listen to both systems with a few of your CDs and make the decision for yourself. For the $1000 difference that the Dynaudio costs in combination with the Sat Nav, I'm of the opinion that there is no way you could install an aftermarket system which comes close to its quality for the price. So if sound quality is important to you, then it may be worth it for you.

I agree 100% with this statement.. though I was wondering if Danny was referring to both ACC and the DynoAudio upgrade or just the Audio.. as I do think that is not a good bang for buck investment

[Fab_R]

Both ACC and the Dynaudio upgrade in my opinion are certainly worth it.
Time over again, i would tick both boxes for sure.

[AdamD]

As for ACC and Dynaudio - do NOT take the dealers word for it.

+1 more. I didn't option ACC because my dealer told me it wasn't worthwhile, and that's really my only regret with my order.

As for the Dynaudio Excite (not DynoAudio, people...), if you're fussy about your audio, listen to higher-quality input sources (CD, high bitrate digital copies, etc) and like your mids and highs, I would strongly recommend it. Personally, I think it's a vast improvement over the stock setup and represents great value for money considering its performance and when compared to alternatives. (I have spent many hours listening to both systems to compare.)

[Danny]

Cool, thanks guys. Looks like I might do the ACC and Dynaudio afterall (SFox, the dynaudio im referring to is the $1k upgrade from the Nav unit). I will see what the price comes to with those installed. Its very hard, as I want to keep it under the LCT Threshold.

Just had another dealer come in at $57k flat. The spreadsheet is showing a 12.23% discount on list price.

-Dan

[simonm]

Don't forget that the LCT threshold does NOT include stamp duty or rego, but does include GST and dealer delivery.

So at $57k on road, you probably have $2-3k (LCT threshold is $57,460; stamp duty at 3% on $50k is $1,500; rego is probably at least $500) to play with, which should be enough to bargain in the DynAudio upgrade to you nav and the ACC without paying LCT.