Leo Chiang DOT COM

I was running around town in the pouring rain today and was in the area of my local GM dealer. I received an invitation in the mail to test drive one of their cars and, with no obligation to buy, receive a free iPod shuffle. Even though today’s torrential rainfall was hardly optimal for a test drive I figured it’s now or never. After this year’s horrible winter with more than average snowfall. I had decided some time ago that my next car would be more practical than my beloved Mustang. This winter demonstrated to me how unpractical, but oh so fun to drive, my Mustang really was and I was lucky my girlfriend at the time came to my rescue with her Explorer. Driving her and her 5 year old daughter around also showed me that I required a safer, more easily accessible vehicle. At 31, I’m not getting any younger and I’d like to have kids in the next few years . . . after I find myself a wife of course

So in I walked into the dealership, which was dead, and was helped out by a very nice salesman by the name of Kevin. I explained to kevin that I was looking for a practical crossover sport-ute style vehicle and that 4 doors, rear hatch/storage and AWD/4WD was important. Kevin was very friendly and helpful and certainly not your typical pushy car salesman. He asked me all the proper qualifying sales questions and steered me towards some of the used cars he had available as he new I was looking for value. He originally wanted to show me a used Pontiac Vibe he had in stock that was AWD, but we found out it was sold and delivered in the morning. The new Vibes no longer come with an AWD option.

The next car he showed me was a used 2005 Cadillac SRX. Never considered a Cadillac on my budget but it was on sale for $36k. It’s a beauty! It was fully equipped with the Northstar V8 and had the balance of the factory warranty, which included free vehicle maintenance. Although I don’t think I could afford it, I decided to give it a test drive anyways (since I needed to drive a car to receive the free iPod) and hope that maybe they wanted to sell it bad enough to drop their pants. It was a luxurious car to drive and I was loving the dual climate controls and heated leather seats. The V8 was quiet and refined (a little too refined for this Mustang lover) but had lots of “oomph” when I stepped on the gas. Was disappointed to find that not only was the SRX a 2WD but a RWD, which would give me the same problems in the snow as my Mustang.

Came back to test drive the more affordable and quaint Chevy Equinox AWD. Not much to say about this car. It handled alright and the V6 engine was peppy enough for its use as a daily driver in the city. I was just not ready for a soccer mom car just yet.

The real decision maker or breaker would be how much they are willing to give me for my 2001 Mustang GT with the BULLITT package. I’ve got lots of mods but I will be swapping the stock parts back in and selling the mods, as you don’t get more money for after-market add-ons. I mentioned to Kevin that this was the first place I had visited and I still had interests in the new Dodge line, particularly the Caliber and Nitro. Kevin surprised me by agreeing and even walked me over to Carter Dodge and introduced me to a salesman. Kevin returned to Carter GM so I could continue my shopping. If I won the lottery today I’d go to Kevin and buy a Cadillac XLR just because I like him.

Franco was my salesman at Dodge. He was definitely a lot more gregarious than Kevin and didn’t seem too interested in really working. Which was fine, I didn’t feel like being pressured today as I’m in no hurry to buy. Nevertheless, he pointed out a silver Caliber R/T and I learned that they are only available in a 2.4L 4 banger. I know I’m looking for practical but to go from a 4.6L V8 muscle car to a little 4 cylinder just wasn’t gonna cut it. The Nitro comes nicely equipped with a V6 and I just love it’s aggressive styling. They had a flashy orange one in the showroom but I looked at a nice white Nitro with a 6-speed manual transmission (wow, that almost sold me right there as I’m not a big fan of automatics). I also came nicely equipped with mp3 player, dvd player, running boards, fog lights, etc. for only $30K. Didn’t test drive any of the Dodge line-up as by now I was quite cold, wet and very hungry.

I said bye to Franco and returned to thank Kevin for his time and service, I told him I’d keep shopping but to let me know if they decide to make me a deal I could not resist for my trade-in. Since both dealerships are owned by Carter, perhaps they can work something out for me.

I get my free iPod Shuffle in 4-6 weeks I think I might give it away as a contest prize for my blog.

Posted on March 22nd, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts