Last Thursday was a long day.
I look like a dork in these pictures, oh well.
Well, it's been a couple days since the event, but I just got pictures, so here goes.
I GOT A NEW CAR! I'm moderately excited.
Most of you already know this.
Now, on to the story.
Thursday morning, 9am. Dad shows up, we are going car shopping. First we go to the Trudy's on Guadalupe for breakfast. We both get the migas, which are good but cholesterol infested. I only finished half and didn't get hungry for 8 hours after that.
I had already look at a few cars earlier that week. I was interested in Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics at first. That first day, Tuesday I think, I drove at least one Corolla and one Sentra. The Nissan was suggested by the dealer (of course it was, it was 16K, which even for a tricked out 1.8s is a bit high). They are actually fairly nice cars, and the 1.8S I drove had a decent amount of pep. It impressed me much more than the Corolla that day.
After this, I switch my attention to looking for a few more Sentras to drive. There are more options as far as engine size and styling with that car, so there were a few choices. By Thursday I had located several cars I wanted to go look at at one dealer, so after breakfast Dad and I headed up to the place. It's between Mopac and Burnet on Research, but for the life of me I can't recall the name now.
The car that I had wanted to look at up there was a Sentra 2.5s. This has the bigger engine in it, plus a few other options. This particular car was tricked out, with 16 inch wheels, a sunroof, good sound system (Sentra systems are above average to begin with). Most importantly, it was a very cool blue color. All this for just under 12K asking. This would have been easy to talk down.
We actually went to a really small lot on Lamar before we got to the big one. We walked around and looked at the cars. There were some decent ones, but nothing that really grabbed my attention. What scared us off was the "untitled vehicle" label on every car. Neither Dad nor I had ever seen that before. We didn't know what it meant, and I didn't see anyhting I HAD to try, so we left.
We get to the dealer, and lo and behold, NO BLUE SENTRA. Apprently it was "sold". I don't know about that, but oh well. I'm disappointed, as I really wanted to look at that car. Oh well, as we walk around I notice several others I'd like to try out.
Just at this one dealership, I drove 4 or maybe 5 cars. A Nissan Altima, very nice sea green color. 2.5 engine, just like the Sentra. Good styling. It just felt a bit big. I don't want a huge car. They aren't as efficient as the smaller ones. I also drove a Sentra and a Corolla there. Both were good, better than the ones I had tried a day or two before. I was starting to develop a feel for how these car type drove at this point.
I think the last car I drove there was a tC. It was outside my price range at 19k, so I was driving it for the hell of it. I can see why Alex likes his. The styling is nice. The car has a clean look to the dash that appeals to me. I was not impressed by the "premium" factory installed Pioneer sound system, nor with the big plastic plate that folds down over the player. That could have been done much better. The car felt the right size to me, and had pretty good pull. I wonder if the engine is a slight variant on the Corolla engine. My favorite part about the tC was actually the seats. Nice deep bucket seats that hold you well on corners. They were the best I had sat in all day, I think they still won at the end of the day. The seats in my Corolla are nothing compared to these. Actually, the seats in my Volvo may even have been better as far as hold during turning. At least the Corolla seats are comfortable and not torn up. I will probably look into getting non stock seats for the front, when I get the money. Anyone have a good resource for that sort of thing? I've done a little bit of searching already.
So we get out of the tC and walk in to the dealership to see what sort of price breaks we could get on those cheaper cars. I'm honestly not sure why I bothered, but at this point Dad was still content to let me do most of the talking. This would change later, much to my detriment I believe. So we sat around for at least 20 minutes while Greg, the salesman that had been driving around with us ignores us and goes to a mandatory meeting (now THAT'S customer service). Of course he apologizes wholeheartedly when he gets back, but at this point I'm ready to go, so Dad and I bid him farewell and walk out the door.
Dad suggests that we head up 183, as there are several dealerships up that direction, instead of onto east 290, which was were I had been wanting to go because of a few autotrader adds. Turned out to be a good decision.
The first one we stop at is Leif Johnson Ford. If you look close at the pictures, you'll see this is where the car came from. I drove 4 cars there, a Sentra, a Focus, the Corolla, and a Taurus. I was actually impressed with the power the Focus had. It has more than a 1.8s Sentra, and probably a bit more than my Corolla. It didn't seem like a terrible car, but I doubt it has the reliability of the Corolla. A Focus might be a good option for someone that hauled long items occasionally but wanted a small car. The entire rear seat folds down to leave nearly 7 feet of space between the back of the driver seat and the trunk lid. I haven't seen another small car that does that. The Taurus had acceleration problems. It had absolutely no pickup. I know for a fact that most of them do, as Charles acts insane in his, so this was a car with a problem.
It was at this dealership that I made a mistake and Dad compounded it tenfold. I told Janie I was interested in the Corolla, before we even get into the building. I shouldn't have said a damn thing. Instead of getting the heck out of there after getting Janie's card, we sit down and she runs some numbers and decides she can get me in the corolla for 12.5k after tt&l. We talk for a bit and then leave. I had pretty much decided I wanted the Corolla at this point and I was losing my enthusiasm for shopping. I was also slightly irritated with my father for continuing to push me to look at other cars and for letting Janie smell blood a little bit. Eventually, we get out of there and head to a dealership up the road.
At this dealership, we meet AJ, an African chick with an accent I can't place at all. She was kinda cute, and she REALLY wanted to sell a car, as she was new. Here I take a look at another Altima or maybe Maxima as well as a 2001 Passat. Both were outside my range, I'm just humoring my father. The Passat was something I hadn't driven at all before. I didn't much car for the exterior look, as this was still Volkswagon's bulgy series of cars, but the interior was really nice. It drove very smoothly and was quiet, much like a luxury car should. But, I'm not interested. We walk into the building anyway (why the fuck do I keep doing this), AJ gets my information, and I somewhat rudely get us out of there. The receptionist was kinda cute too.
I'm getting fed up with shopping at this point. I've found the car I want. Dad makes us stop at one more place along Burnet, and I agree, just for the hell of it. It's here that I FINALLY get to drive a Civic. This particular one was black, not my favorite color by a long shot. It was nice on the inside and drove well. The engine was noisy. I am also not a fan of the engine arrangement in the Civic. Many of the components that have a tendency to fail are on the underside of the engine, making them twice as hard to replace at home. Still, not a bad car. If it had been blue or green, I might have considered that one, as we could have talked the dealer down to 8500 and I could have payed cash for the damn thing, AND kept the Volvo.
Car shopping overload. I'm done for the day, and I know what I want anyway. Now it's time to do some research online to see if I can get a better price on the corolla (because 12.5 is still too much). And wouldn't you know it, I find an add for the EXACT car I was looking at for another 600 below what Janie quoted me. If Dad and I had walked out after driving those cars, I would have been able to talk her DOWN from that point, instead of 13.9k. Anyone have any opinion on how tight an internet add price is for a car? I think I could have gotten down to 10.5 for everything. I would have been damn happy with that.
In any case, I'm still happy. I have AC and a car that will last me for a good long time I hope. And now I can concentrate on other things.
Later all.