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When we last left Beanie a Saturday ago, a car had not been purchased and test drives were plentiful. Safe to say, the status quo has not changed. I'm having bad dreams about car shopping now, so this had better be winding down. Saturday found us at Saab, Buick, Lincoln/Mercury, BMW, and Saturn. And like every weekend before this one, there was at least one bad experience. Luckily, the good outweighed the bad this time around.
Saab is a good solid sedan. Fun to drive, but not as Saab-like as they used to be. Rather, it's more like a GM clone that has some subtle European styling, but not enough to justify the price tag. Nice salesman though, and a good experience all around.
Buick, well... There's a chain of dealerships in our area. Actually there's two big chains of dealerships, but there's one in particular whose tactics I particularly disdain. Sadly, I didn't learn enough from the first experience with them to avoid a second helping. The idea works like this...greet you, get some very scant info from you and immediately make you drive a car. It may not be the right car for you, but that's fine. They'll try to make you love that car. This is also the group that makes you pick a color before you drive. For the life of me, I don't get that. The push was so fast this time at Buick, I'm not sure what we drove. In fact, the salesman never even greeted me. He never had a clue what my name was. The spouse, yes, but me, not important. We hated the car. It was too Buick-y. It's like riding your living room couch. It had no zip, no reedeming qualities. I might have liked the other model better, but we'll never know because I made the cardinal sin at the end of the trip, I produced a redemption slip. Right now, you can take a test drive with Buick and get $50 in golf merchandise. It's a Tiger Woods thing. I'm interested, I golf. Once I produced that slip though, the guy thought we had played him. He turned us over to the sales manager and walked away. Never got a book on the car, never even got his card. He never took any info from us. The sales manager had no clue about the promotion either. I'll never get those golf balls, but I emailed Buick anyway just because the whole situation was so crappy. I went to thank the guy for the test drive, but he had disappeared.
Lincoln/Mercury was also a semi-weird experience. This dealership also sells Volvos and Nissans, but you'd never know it. For once you mention an interest in one make of car, that's where you're stuck. In fact, we even went so far as to openly mention we might be interested in comparing the Lincoln we had just driven to a Volvo, and he shut us down. How crazy is that? The Mercury was a dog, and the Lincoln...well I'm 32. I don't want to be driving a Lincoln at 32. I don't care what their target demographic is. And anyway...that Lincoln should have been quiet as a tomb, and it wasn't. It wasn't worth the cash.
Our next choice was a fateful one. I was sort of indifferent about driving a BMW. Fighting back against the stereotype I suppose. A couple young professionals, I finally get my law license and go right out and buy a Beemer. How yuppie is that?!? I had no preconceived notions about the car though, and that was a good thing. The salesman talked to us at length about the car and then took us out in a 328xi. I didn't even drive first. But when I did, was it love at first shift? Oh, yes it was. It's everything I've been looking for. Quiet, quick, smooth and fun. When they say it's the Ultimate Driving Machine, it's not a lie. The price tag though is a bit hard to swallow. It's the next level all the way around. But wow, was that cool.
Finally, we ended at Saturn. Why Saturn? Because I had read a glowing review in the New York Times about the Aura. Built on the Opel platform, it was supposed to be this great pseudo-European sedan. It's okay. I know after driving the BMW it would be disappointing, but my biggest problem with it was the visibility. The front pillars flanking the windshield are enormous. Combine that with short side windows and you ended up with really large blind spots. That's the last thing I wanted in a car.
So, where are we now? I have my insurance check safely in the bank. We have a short list of sedans, and enough spreadsheets to balance the World Bank. The time for decisions is nigh. Stay tuned!
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