Buying a New Car

[jacob_s]

I'm a Canadian looking at getting a 2005 Subaru Forester XT. This is my first time buying a car in the information age so I want to take advantage of any new powers the net may have granted to car buyers. I've read the Motley Fool car buying guide at www.fool.com/car/car01.htm and I am wondering if the information is still relevant as the article is now a few years old.

One of the annoyances I'm running into right now is simply from shopping in Canada. The dealers here do not offer competetive rates compared to the American counterparts. The MSRP for the American XT is $25, 695 as compared to ~ $29, 116 (given a reasonable 0.8 exchange rate) in Canada. Furthermore, shopping in the United States is much easier as there are significant web resources offering dealer locators and price quotes whereas in Canada it is difficult to find anything of the sort.

For those reasons I'm considering buying in the US however I have no idea if doing so is feasible and even worthwhile after considering things such as duties. Are there any posters here that can offer advice for a Canadian looking to buy a new car in the United States? What kind of problems might I run into? Furthermore, would it be possible to use American quotes as a bargaining chip with Canadian dealers saying, "hey, I can get this car $4000 CDN cheaper in American, which I could put towards a 210 hp engine, leather seating, and a huevador."

If buying from American is unreasonable, or simply impossible, what advice can I get from Canadian shoppers? How much above/below the invoice price of a 2005 Subaru Forester XT is reasonable? What are some good online resources for Canadian shoppers? It's a bit difficult to seperate the wheat from chaff with a lot these websites.

Thanks.