As I said, I liked the Ranger drive a bit better than the Colorado, but the Ranger they had for me to drive was a V6, I'm looking for a 4Cly. Interestingly there are many 2.3L 4Cly manual trans Rangers available. They all come with the "employee price" minus a $2,500 cash back (have to pay sales tax on this rebate), and they are giving the A/C ($850) away for free, and on the base XL model. Now we're taling some real savings. The Colorado has a similar, but less, program, and the A/C is standard. But the end result is a very competitive price with the Ranger. I am leaning toward the Colorado as I can get it with Stability Control and the Locking Differential, almost as good as 4WD without the weight and cost. I can't say I know how well it works, but in theory it looks good.The 2.8L Colorado is also more powerful, I've look it is 175hp@5+K while the Ranger is 143hp at a similar rev. And the torque: 185@2800RPM Colorade and 154@3750 for the Ranger. This says a lot more "pull out of the hole" for the Colorado. Another reason to go with the Colorado, especially if one pulls a trailer at times. Funny, I have been defending Consumer Reports in a couple of threads and now I find CR telling me the engines in the Colorado are: "a bit crude and noisy" a negative and "Cabin is fairly quiet, and the ride and handling are more accomplished than in other compact pickups." a positive. My tests left me thinking the Colorade rides like a truck too (frame) and the engine (the 5cly in this case) wasn't particularly noisy, and I have not idea what CR means by "crude". So, there is a big question in my mind on CR in this case of their testing.

Well -- our old USED cars were bought in 1997: a) 1993 BMW wagon (146,000 miles) and had been repaired MANY times -- and currently needed the whole AC replaced. Frankly I was getting too scared to drive her anymore -- wondering what would break down next. This car did NOT qualify for the program -- and became a trade-in. I would imagine that its value was in the parts that I replaced over the last two years! So its parts may benefit someone! b) 1993 Lexus (185,000 miles) This car DID qualify for the program -- and was leaking "something" onto the driveway -- and the very last time DH drove it to the dealership -- even HE said that he was glad for it to be gone too! Interior lights didn't work; the sunroof didn't work -- lots of mechanical issues. I really don't think the either car would be a good "clunker" for anyone else -- unless they had the money for the expensive repairs! WE HAD ALREADY PLANNED TO REPLACE BOTH CARS! Out of sheer necessity. Again I state: we saved for TWO years. We argued and checked out cars for last six months. We NEVER planned to get NEW cars -- the "fates" simply rolled them our way!! We had been looking for USED ones -- but the prices for the outgoing 2009 ones were NOT that much more than the used ones!!! And we negotiated HARD. And paid in cash. So the program helped us! :) We ended up with two 2009 Nissan Versas (subcompacts) with warranties for three years. Jan at the poor-but-planned Rosemary Cottage

Most definitely a scam. I'm a huge fan of CL and have always had great success with it - both buying and selling. People just need to be wise to the scammers and don't give them the time of day. Certainly, I've had my share of scammers, but they are so obvious, I delete them immediately. I had a local woman offer me $25 extra for my posted washer if she could have it over others I heard from before her. I took the offer, she picked up the washer, and it was a done deal. You just have to be savvy when dealing with CL people.

Yeah, I agree with Dave. I can't help but think dealers aren't motivated to sell at the best price now because the Federal program is doing most of the work, although the dealers are saying that they are matching the $$, like most everything else, this may just mean they're marking up the original price so it may look like you're getting a "double bang", so to speak. LOL Car dealers know the art of win-win can be summed up in one sentence: "Ask for 'way more than you'd ever expect to get, and then let yourself be negotiated down." The dealer gets the price he actually expected in the first place, and the consumer walks away happy, thinking he was a master of negotiation. Considering that the new car depreciates greatly the minute you drive it out of the lot, if you normally buy used and you normally wouldn't be ready to buy another vehicle for three more years, I can't see that this program would be the best for you. There are hidden costs associated with a new car: higher insurance, higher tags and taxes, for two. You didn't mention how many MPG you get in your current car. That could make a difference and you probably need to do some figuring to see if it does. If your MPG's are low on your current car and you do a lot of driving now, then that alone might be a consideration. I don't think we've seen the end of astronomically high gas prices. I don't have a clunker to trade in, but if I did, I think I'd be thinking about what's possible to happen down the road. I normally buy my vehicle new or nearly new (usually I get a "program car") and keep it at least ten years. We turned over our sassy little red 94 chevy pick-up to our grandson and it's still dependable and seems to be quite a "chick-magnet" with DGS behind the wheel. What I'm thinking, down the road, is that the automakers are going to discover (if they haven't already) that there is a market for a vehicle that gets extremely high MPG. Once all the vehicles that they made under the "old" assumptions of what consumers want are sold in this program, creation of innovative vehicles will once again create a booming market. Think ahead to future months: If dealers sell most of the cars they had on their lots under the CARS program, what are they going to do, stock up with more of the same cars they couldn't sell before the program? Without the CARS program, and with everyone who might want to upgrade having already done so, where's their market? If I were you, I'd wait and watch. Lots can happen in three years. You might be really happy with your new vehicle that uses alternative fuels more efficiently than we have ever seen, in three years.