Yesterday, we went out to look at new cars, since kellyv‘s Eclipse was getting a bit long in the tooth. Needless to say, we came home with a new one:
It’s much more practical than her old Eclipse, and light-years ahead of my del Sol in practicality. Not that practicality is necessarily the best measure of a car, of course; but she kept saying things like “driving people around” and “long distance” and “carrying stuff” and who am i to disagree?
It was actually a cooperative effort between her and Lori. I was incolved only at the end, to sign the paperwork; she and Lori sat down on two different computers three thousand miles apart and coordinated a new-car search, so when we walked into the dealership she already knew exactly what she wanted and how many were on the lot. Gotta love technology; it makes taking money out of the consumer’s pocket so much more efficient.
It’s a cool car. Toyota is becoming the Apple of the car industry; from a user-interface point of view, the matrix is the most well-designed car I’ve ever seen. It’s also clearly aimed at the thirtysomething GenX crowd–it has a lot of gadgets with “Gee whiz” tech appeal. Which is, of course, very cool in my book.
Spiffy car. What site did they consult to get to know the right dealership? I’m in the market for a new car too…. hopefully a Honda Civic.
The Research
Actually I have been doing research on cars for about 6 months now. I have gone to all the acceptable car companie web sites and looked at what they each had to offer. I was looking for something bigger then what I had (seats more that 2 comfortably) but not a $30K SUV. I did not want a run of the mill sedan and for a while I thought that is what I was going to get.
I went to Toyota.com and found the car of my dreams. I had hoped Honda would come out with something comperable and they did not. I am sure they will soon. However my Ecplise was not going to make it too much longer.
L. and I did not go the local car dealer sites until yesterday because inventories change to quickly. At that time when the local dealers site showed it had what I was looking for I call and asked, if they answered the questions with the right answers they got a visit from me. There are 3 Toyota dealers close to me. Hate one dealership would not go their for any reason. I would let them do a dealer trade before I set foot in that dealership. That left 2. The most important features I wanted was a power package and a 5 speed manual transmition. Only one of the remaining dealerships had one of thoes on hand and they won.
Prior to yesterday F was not sure he liked the Matrix. After looking at it I belive he now does.
It was easy as falling down drunk and minimal stress. We knew what we wanted and did not let the sales men decide what he wanted to sell me.
I will say with out L. it would have taken a longer to do what we did.
Spiffy car. What site did they consult to get to know the right dealership? I’m in the market for a new car too…. hopefully a Honda Civic.
The Research
Actually I have been doing research on cars for about 6 months now. I have gone to all the acceptable car companie web sites and looked at what they each had to offer. I was looking for something bigger then what I had (seats more that 2 comfortably) but not a $30K SUV. I did not want a run of the mill sedan and for a while I thought that is what I was going to get.
I went to Toyota.com and found the car of my dreams. I had hoped Honda would come out with something comperable and they did not. I am sure they will soon. However my Ecplise was not going to make it too much longer.
L. and I did not go the local car dealer sites until yesterday because inventories change to quickly. At that time when the local dealers site showed it had what I was looking for I call and asked, if they answered the questions with the right answers they got a visit from me. There are 3 Toyota dealers close to me. Hate one dealership would not go their for any reason. I would let them do a dealer trade before I set foot in that dealership. That left 2. The most important features I wanted was a power package and a 5 speed manual transmition. Only one of the remaining dealerships had one of thoes on hand and they won.
Prior to yesterday F was not sure he liked the Matrix. After looking at it I belive he now does.
It was easy as falling down drunk and minimal stress. We knew what we wanted and did not let the sales men decide what he wanted to sell me.
I will say with out L. it would have taken a longer to do what we did.