Monday, November 13, 2006
The proud owner...
of a brand spankin new 2006 Mitsubishi Endeavor. And, since it's a 2006, we got the car for nearly $10,000 off the sticker price. =)
Sunday, November 05, 2006
An Interesting Experience
Yesterday, Amanda and I went shopping for a new car. Not because we really need one, but because I have an itch for something new, and we really want to cut our monthly payments. The payments on the CRV are killing me, and we really want something $100 less a month or more. So off we went to browse the dealerships looking for a new car.
We started with Mitsubishi. The salesman points us to an Mitsu. Endeavor SUV he claimed was sitting on the lot and they were really motivated to move. We climb in, like it and decide to go for a test drive. The battery was dead. The salesman had to pop the hood and jump start the car, all the while saying it had just been sitting there and they would make sure to include a new battery with our purchase. Once the car started, it was really low on gas, so he said we would need to get some gas. He walks in to the office and brings back a fuel voucher so he can fill up the car and proceeds to drive off the lot with us to the corner gas station. He parks the car at the pump, leaves the engine running (isn't it normal to shut off the engine when pumping gas?), and runs inside (I guess with a fuel voucher he had to go inside instead of using pay at the pump. Whatever happened to a corporate credit card?). He comes back and proceeds to fill up the tank...with the engine running and us customers still in the car. Our test drive did go well after that. But man, talk about a rocky start. That guy really wasn't earning points with us. When we got back, I asked to see the car next to this one, since I liked the color better. He put the key in...and nothing. Yet another car on the lot with a dead battery. Come on... We let the guy down nicely and continue our quest.
We went to Toyota next and hated all the cars we looked at. As we were leaving, another salesman who was not helping us, practically jumped on the hood of our car and pointed to the Disneyland parking tag on Amanda's car. He literally asked do you work at Disneyland, do you get free tickets? We rolled our eyes and thought, Not for you. Next. We couldn't wait to get out of the Toyota dealer. They were vultures there.
How did we fare? We looked at the Toyota RAV4, 4Runner, and Highlander and hated them all. I don't even fit in the 4Runner, I was bumping my head on the roof of the car. I guess they only make them for really short people. Honda Pilot was ok but very similar to the CRV only bigger. Nissan Murano was really nice (and ended up being my second choice pick) but it is a little too expensive. The new 2007 Nissan Altima is really sweet, I loved it, but it's a car and I really want to stay with an SUV if possible. And the Nissan salesman was the nicest and least pushy the entire day. Gold star for him. The VW Toureg...it's the one I really want, but at $37,000, it's way out of our price range.
In the end, I really liked the Mitsubishi Endeavor the best despite our dealership experience. If we do end up purchasing it, it will definately be from a different dealership.
We started with Mitsubishi. The salesman points us to an Mitsu. Endeavor SUV he claimed was sitting on the lot and they were really motivated to move. We climb in, like it and decide to go for a test drive. The battery was dead. The salesman had to pop the hood and jump start the car, all the while saying it had just been sitting there and they would make sure to include a new battery with our purchase. Once the car started, it was really low on gas, so he said we would need to get some gas. He walks in to the office and brings back a fuel voucher so he can fill up the car and proceeds to drive off the lot with us to the corner gas station. He parks the car at the pump, leaves the engine running (isn't it normal to shut off the engine when pumping gas?), and runs inside (I guess with a fuel voucher he had to go inside instead of using pay at the pump. Whatever happened to a corporate credit card?). He comes back and proceeds to fill up the tank...with the engine running and us customers still in the car. Our test drive did go well after that. But man, talk about a rocky start. That guy really wasn't earning points with us. When we got back, I asked to see the car next to this one, since I liked the color better. He put the key in...and nothing. Yet another car on the lot with a dead battery. Come on... We let the guy down nicely and continue our quest.
We went to Toyota next and hated all the cars we looked at. As we were leaving, another salesman who was not helping us, practically jumped on the hood of our car and pointed to the Disneyland parking tag on Amanda's car. He literally asked do you work at Disneyland, do you get free tickets? We rolled our eyes and thought, Not for you. Next. We couldn't wait to get out of the Toyota dealer. They were vultures there.
How did we fare? We looked at the Toyota RAV4, 4Runner, and Highlander and hated them all. I don't even fit in the 4Runner, I was bumping my head on the roof of the car. I guess they only make them for really short people. Honda Pilot was ok but very similar to the CRV only bigger. Nissan Murano was really nice (and ended up being my second choice pick) but it is a little too expensive. The new 2007 Nissan Altima is really sweet, I loved it, but it's a car and I really want to stay with an SUV if possible. And the Nissan salesman was the nicest and least pushy the entire day. Gold star for him. The VW Toureg...it's the one I really want, but at $37,000, it's way out of our price range.
In the end, I really liked the Mitsubishi Endeavor the best despite our dealership experience. If we do end up purchasing it, it will definately be from a different dealership.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)