Cars, Part n+1

[bertine]

Tonight I decided to start researching cars instead of how to buy cars. It is much more exciting to look at what a car has than how to get a good deal and how cars are a giant waste of money. I realized that my crush on the Mazda3/Mazda6 is just a crush and I might end up getting something that gets better gas mileage and is cheaper.

I came up with a list of cars I want to test drive on Monday:
Jetta
Mazda3/Mazda6
Ford Fusion
Honda Civic

I always thought that Jetta's were about 10k more than they are, which is nice to learn. It is surprising to see that the civic is such a practical car both in price and in options. My midwestern soul likes that.

Comments

[sterlingphoenix.livejournal.com]

There's two different classes of car in there (Jetta and Ford Fusion are bigger/more expensive than Civic/Mazda3). I know for a fact that the Civic has quite a bit of price ranges depending on which model Civic you get, too - pretty sure most of them do that, too. Come to think of it I know Fusion can do that too.

I can see you in a Jetta. Just cause it's kind of a yuppie car and I think you can go a bit more yuppie (:

Definitely make a day out of it. Make a dealership plan and go drive a whole bunch. You can usually find a while buncha dealers on one stretch, except VW tend to be loners.

Most of all, enjoy it. You're just there to TEST DRIVE and see how much you like it. Make sure you research which model you want to test-drive; a Civic DX will be way the hell different than a Civic EX (and definitely a Civic SI!) option-wise. You're not there to buy that day, just see how comfortable the cars are.

You can play Car Salesman Bingo, too. See how often they laugh at your jokes (even ones you know aren't funny), see if you can get them to agree with all your opinions, even when you make contradictory statements, and if they insist on going on the test-drive with you (some will, some won't) see if they try to make an all-right-turn route.

One of the BEST things you can do is come in with knowledge and toss it around. "Hi, uh... I'm looking for a car?" doesn't have as much impact as "I want to test-drive a Honda Civic EX with the nav package."

You can call up dealerships and make an appointment to test-drive a specific car in advance - that'd probably be even better, and they can have a car waiting for you when you get there (none of that "I'll have to check if we have one" crap).

Bring a friend, or at least something to read. They seem intimidated by smartphones, because you can look stuff up on them on the fly.

You can bring a note-taking device (or, uh, notebook) and write down your impressions of each car so they don't blend together.

Enjoy! Car-testing is way fun.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

I am not sure what size of car I need/would feel comfortable with so I decided to try a couple different sizes.

I am looking at test driving the Civic EX (cause it comes with a sun/moonroof). The Si only comes in a manual so while I can drive a manual I don't really want one since I mostly drive in the city.

Yuppie! :P

Your advice is exactly what Zach has been telling me. I just want to go out there and do it. I am starting to get excited about trying out different cars, which is good. I was dreading it so much that it was getting to me.

[sterlingphoenix.livejournal.com]

I don't know if all Civics are line this, but with the hybrid you can't fold down the back seat, which is a BIT ridiculous/dumb/annoying. So definitely check THAT with cars!

The Civic SI is the super-sporty one. But you know, it's still a Civic (;

Good, I'm glad you're going to have fun with it!