Best Cash-Back Finds: 2.15.08

President’s Day is Monday and you’ve probably seen a lot of commercials about big car sales. Automakers had a pretty dismal January for car sales across the board and they’re looking to pick things up in February. Besides our full list of incentives you can find here, many are offering short-term incentives for just the weekend. Here are some of the best we’ve found in terms of quality, safety and value. Yes, there are three minivans.

2008 Kia Sedona

MSRP: $20,695
Cash back: $1,500
Percent off MSRP: 7.2%   
Expires: 3/3/08
5-Year Ownership Costs

Kia’s minivan has been an underachiever for some time, but still is one of only three minivans to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick award. The interior isn’t the best in the class but the base price and long warranty are mighty alluring. Add up to $1,500 cash back depending on where you live and the Sedona seems mighty sensible.

2008 Ford Focus 

• MSRP: $14,300
• Cash back: $2,400
• Percent off MSRP: 16.7%   
• Expires: 2/29/08
• 5-Year Ownership Costs
• Cars.com Expert Review
  

Make sure you check out Ford’s own website to get the total cash back available for your area. We checked a number of different regions and found a combined cash back offer of $2,400 as the best available, but there could be more that we missed. $2,400 is quite a bit considering the MSRP. The Focus was redesigned for 2008 and its interior is much improved from the past model and has the optional Sync handsfree entertainment system. It’s not one of our favorites in terms of ride quality but it does get great mileage and has very responsive steering.

2008 Dodge Caravan, 2008 Chrysler Town & Country

• MSRP: $21,790, $22,150
• Cash back: $1,500
• Percent off MSRP: 7.0%   
• Expires: 2/29/08
• 5-Year Ownership Costs
• Cars.com Expert Review: Grand Caravan, Town & Country

Consensus among the staff at Cars.com has been pretty split on the two redesigned minivans from Chrysler. Most of us didn’t like the new interiors while the Suburban Dad was blown away by the bevy of family friendly features available in both. Ride and handling is vastly improved over the outgoing models but it’s still a minivan, not a sports car. Chrysler also recently announced more added features in certain trim levels of both minivans, including once optional items as standard. You can see a full list of those changes here.

Cash back offers can vary by region so make sure to check with the manufacturers’ websites.

Comments

[Pat]

has anybody heard about any incentives for the Jeep Wrangler for March 2008?