I hate the "how-much-a-month" approach to car sales but sadly, this is probably 90% of what dealers deal with when brokering deals. Most people, for reasons I can't comprehend, don't worry about the cost of the car as long as they get it down to the point where they can afford the monthly payment. The dealer tried that approach with me on the GTI until I informed them that I was not financing the car through them and then we quickly got to the point of negotiating the actual price of the car.