Cato: I want to drive home two points today: First, Honda Canada does offer deals on its new models — though it's not something anyone at Honda Canada really likes to talk about.
And second, the slumping new car market in the United States, combined with our heavyweight dollar, is driving sales — and great deals — in Canada.
Vaughan: And these points you want to make are in some way related to the 2008 Honda CR-V? Correct?
Cato: Exactly. Your need — slightly neurotic and occasionally admirable -- to keep things as simple as possible, to reduce everything to its essence and cut away everything that might possibly be construed as extraneous and interesting, is serving you well.
Vaughan: Apparently not well enough to keep you on point now.
Cato: You are a simple man with simple tastes. So I will keep it simple. I am going to argue that the Honda CR-V, what I might be inclined to call Canada's own station wagon, is an excellent deal.
Vaughan: Perhaps, but Honda is not throwing huge bribes at potential buyers.
Cato: Not huge, but worth noting, nonetheless. Financing as low at 0.9 per cent for three years is a decent incentive. So is the 90-day, no-payment offer to buyers. But be careful with that. Interest starts to accrue on that deal after just 60 days.
Vaughan: Read the find print.
Cato: Naturally. Buyers should also add in another $350 in a cash incentive Honda Canada calls a "Dealer Participation Fee." That's cash on the table. New graduates also are eligible for a $500 cash incentive, too.
Vaughan: The handouts are starting to add up.
Cato: Shoppers also have some room to negotiate on price. Typically, the dealer markup on the CR-V runs to about $2,000 and that $1,540 freight charge is pretty outsized, if you ask me.
Vaughan: So an aggressive buyer should be able to get a CR-V with a sticker price of $27,790 for considerably less and pay almost nothing to borrow the money over three years.
Cato: You are following along; very good.
I have no trouble recommending the CR-V for many reasons, not least of them the utter practicality of the thing. This is a compact crossover wagon with excellent fuel economy, decent power from its four-cylinder engine — 160 horsepower — very pleasant ride and handling…
Vaughan: And all that would explain why CR-V sales are up nearly 68 per cent this year. A tremendous bump.
Cato: As you can see from the Power Information Network chart below, almost all of those buyers are loyal Honda owners. The people buying a new Honda CR-V are most likely trading in a used CR-V.
Vaughan: Or a Honda Civic or a Honda Accord.
Cato: That's a staggering degree of loyalty to Honda. But then if you look at the list of best and worst used car buys from Consumer Reports — the latest list was released last week — there is an explanation.
Vaughan: Yes, yes. The CR-V, Civic and Accord are all on CR's list of the best of the best 1998-2007 vehicles. They have performed extremely well in road tests and owners say they have delivered years and years of better-than-average reliability.
Cato: The other point I want to touch on, very briefly, has to do with sales in Canada and the U.S. The Canadian new car market is very healthy, with February sales up a whopping 14.3 per cent. Sales in the U.S., on the other hand, went in the exact opposite direction last month.
Vaughan: Which means there are very good deals down south.
Cato: And given our strong loonie, those deals are having an impact on what is going on in our market. Remember, Canadians have proven willing to shop south of the border.
Vaughan: Nearly 200,000 vehicles were imported from the U.S. last year.
Cato: Honda Canada and the rest of the manufacturers and their dealers here see what's going on down south and are reacting with deals generally sweet enough to entice Canadian buyers to, for the most part, stay home and shop domestically.
Vaughan: The global marketplace at work, Cato.
Cato: Thank you, professor.
2008 Honda CR-V
Buyer's Age Range:
- 16-34 years: 18.4%
- 35-54 years: 55.0%
- 55+ years: 26.6%
Gender ratio:
- Female: 43.4%
- Male: 56.6%
Type of sale:
- Cash/non-dealer financing: 39.0%
- Finance: 21.4%
- Lease: 39.6%
Most popular colours
- Blue
- Black
- Silver
Vehicle price: $31,841 (does not include taxes, license or title fees)
Days to turn: 20
Trade ins: 30.6% (does not include lease returns)
Top three trade ins:
- Honda CR-V
- Honda Civic
- Honda Accord
Average monthly payments: (includes PST & GST)
- Lease (48 month term): $480
- Finance (60 month term): $602
Source: Power Information Network
