Try this if, in Canada, the dealer says the extra 25% or so will come down over time with new inventory.

Tell him you want one of a certain colour and an unusual series of options. He says he'll can order it and that will take 2 months. OK. What price will you pay?

I assume your special order goes to Mexico. They run you ticket through the assembly line and the invoices (factory, distributer, dealer) are written over the coming weeks. Will the price asked in Canada be about the same as the price asked in the US?

 

I have always preferred tan leather. We have it in the wife's Spyder. Of course I did not have a choice having bought used on both, but it was one of the things I really liked and would have chosen in both cars

I had gray leather in my Explorer. I am not a big fan of gray leather. Tan looks more like natural leather should look to me . Black is nice as well. I clean it using a mixture of Lexol amd Mequires (for the smell). It stays clean since its really vinyl over leather.. I often take my Bostons out with me in the back and I find the seats clean easily.

I am a huge leather fan. I have leather couches office chairs etc. Only because They don't stain easily and are very hearty for animals and people spilling stuff. LOL. I eat in the car as well on trips so it is much easier to clean up small spills. LOL

Most of today's leather has a vinyl coating so real leather cleaners don't really penetrate. BUT its doesn't stain as easily either since it's not as porous as non coated leather. If you want to see if yours has vinyl rub some leather cleaner between the seat back and seat with a white cloth. If the cloth comes up with the leather's color you have non coated leather. If not, it's vinyl coated, (which for me is a good thing)

I do not like the plastic interior panels though. The PT's plastic looks more like padding until you touch it. The HHR looks like fake padding. So I bought the 56 piece wood kit to "dress up the interior" .

 

Most likely no, prices will continue to be inflated until some sort of consumer group or government action is taken in Canada.

These companies are making seriously inflated coin and they will not give that up.

Companies have gone so far as to chose to not honour warranties and also tell dealers to not sell to Canadians. This goes beyond the auto industry.

One company has been hit hard by the media recently, Bombadier. They are a Canadian company which makes such consumer products as sea-doo and ski-doo but also manufacture airplanes and commuter trains and such. This company is home grown and has had a very Canadian identity and lots of support. These guys have had huge tax breaks, lots of funding from governments and so on. Basically there's been a lot of hard working Canadian dollars that have gone into backing and making this company successful.
When comparing product prices there is still about a 40% premium on Canadian sales. This has Canadian consumer pi$$ed. For a truly Canadian company to rip off it's own people that badly is a real shame. Bombadier will likely see a huge public outcry and disapproval and hopefully that will make them open their eyes.

Companies like GM and Ford and the likes will probably not really care too much about public outcry but will likely have to respond to government groups if the prices remain high.

There's already a class action law suit that was filed late last month or early this month with respect to price inflation. I posted an article somewhere on this website. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

it is expensive to live and breathe in canada. I was just reading that the canadian dollar has reached an all time record high versus the american dollar. We pay way too much in combined taxes and real estate in our cities have become way over priced. Here in vancouver , an average starter home in the city is $550,000 plus....and that could mean a 40-50 year old house that needs renovations. Sorry, i didnt mean to turn this into a ***** fest of politics and high taxes...just was trying to show our american friends how expensive the little economy based HHR can be to purchase nicely equipped ...here in Canada.

 

I think you are just going to have to live with the price difference.How could they now adjust a thirty % exchange difference now they would not want to deal with all the people that bought cars for the last 3 years as they would all loose 30% on trade or resale.It`s not going to happen when I bought my HHR it was bare bones not one option.And if you think about it when you pass a car on the road you can`t realy tell what options it has or how much over base it cost.

I always buy beater cars and the truth is after 7-10 years old a stock or fully loaded car is only about a 1,000.00 dollars difference more.The HHR comes with everything I need at base price.I hate PW and PL becase they seem to go at 6-7 years.A base HHR has everything that 90% of used car buyers are looking for.If I was going to keep the car for 3-5 years only I would not get it loaded you will not get that big of a difference back when you trade it in.

I was surprised that a HHR could get up to $32,000 even in Canada that is just amazing that you can add $12,000 to a car that has everything other than an automatic trans.I would put the $12.000 into my family room so I could get some real enjoyment and use out of the options.

 

Well said, I did the same thing. I have the basic 2.2L 5 M and enjoy every minute of it. I miss the heated seats...
It is still unbelievable that a canadian dollar that went up 20 % during the last 6 months has no influence on the price when compared to the US price. Someone is laughing ans someone is getting screwed. I feel the latter may be the canadian customers.
There is a class action being processed here in eastern Canada and it includes GM.
Hope justice prevails..

 

For those of you Canadian folks interested in this class action lawsuit check out:

http://www.jruslaw.com/classactions/carprice.shtml

You can get more information there, get contact information and register to be part of the suit.

 

Chrysler Canada bows to price pressures
Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 07:22 AM
By: Leah Walker

Toronto - Chrysler Canada is boosting cash incentives on its vehicles to address consumer concerns that claim they're paying more for cars and trucks here than in the U.S.

Bowing to price pressures, Chrysler Canada has decided to increase incentives across the board, resulting in lower prices for buyers who pay for vehicles outright, as well as those who choose to finance or lease.

The move comes as the loonie trades near its highest level ever, against the U.S. dollar, and it follows sweeteners by automakers BMW Canada and Mercedes Benz Canada.

Chrysler Canada's Senior Communications Manager Stuart Schorr said they got the sense from dealers and customers that consumers are concerned about the prices and are possibly sitting back and waiting to buy.

In an early October National Post report, Auto Industry Analyst Dennis Desrosiers pointed out in a note to clients that negative consumer sentiment may be building against vehicle companies over the U.S.-Canada pricing issue.


More info @ http://www.wheels.ca/article/32528

What is interesting in a sick way is that these are not a lowering of the prices but incentives, not exactly the same, in that once all the crying goes away they can remove the incentives go back to the old higher prices.