Is there a web site that explains the new car buying process? I'm going to start shopping early next year and want to do a bit of casual reading on the topic.

Her you go:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/artic...ng.feature..1.*

http://www.cars.com/go/newsIndex.jsp

For Many Car Buyers,
They are What they Drive
Source: The Chicago Tribune

While issues of performance and utility will be important to car buyers, auto industry experts say style and image can be equally or even more important. Car buyers may believe their purchasing decision is a fairly straightforward calculation--transportation needs divided by the amount of money in their wallets--but many experts say the process is far more complicated. Car purchases are extremely emotional, and often reflect a person's self-identity, said J. Paul Peter, chairman of the marketing department at the University of Wisconsin. That is, people buy cars based on how they would like to be seen by others or how they see themselves. "If I'm a person in my 50s or 60s and I'm buying a Beetle, I'm making a statement that I want to relive my younger days," Peter said. "If I buy a Corvette, it's because I want to project a certain image, not because I'm actually going to drive it 180 miles per hour." Peter and others said car buying is enormously complicated and difficult to decipher. Factors such as the image of a brand, reliability, functionality, price and even service play roles. However, many experts believe auto buying is fundamentally an emotional process. "It's very emotional, particularly on the new-car side--and almost out of whack with what's really important," said Art Spinella, general manager of CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Ore. "Good cupholders, for instance, regularly beat out safety in focus groups."