All,

I asked the same question on the 3G TL page and it seemed like $26K was about what I would pay. Auto, non-navi is what I am looking for. I don't like the first model year, so I want to shy away from the 04's.
What would I expect to pay before TT&L, after negotiating of course?

 

I was looking at 04's under 40k and at a dealership I couldnt find one less than 18k even. You may be able to get a privately ownered 04 for 17-17500. For an 05 i would prob add another 1-2k in the price.

 

Edmunds is a good source of trade-in, private, and dealer pricing. I bought user car price reports from Consumer Reports (consumerreports.org; $12 per, or unlimited with their 3-month user car buyer's kit subscription), they will give you price based on the actual odometer range (e.g. 20k - 30k, 30k - 45k, etc.). Mosts bank loan reps can also do a black book lookup for you. Armed with both of those, you ought to know if a dealer asking price is under or over by a gross margin, and also let you set an offer price that a good dealer oughtn't refuse IMHO.

My own experience using these info sources was that I concluded a deal, sight unseen, on a CPO 2006 with 17k ODO, former corporate fleet car. On the day of pickup, the salesperson e-mailed me, "Oops, we sold that one weeks ago. We have the other 2006 TSX, with 34.5K ODO. Hope that isn't a problem." It was. Mileage effects price. I stared them down (over the phone) to a suggested dealer resale cost of $24,225 ($800 lower) based on CR's price report. Now this price suggestion was for simply "pre-owned," not certified, which generally commands a 7-9% increase (IIRC). They tried to up me $500, but I stood pat, and they met it. I think we all got a good deal, though they groaned that "we're not making a profit on this car."