![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Car shopping adventures with Megan
Mar. 1st, 2004 01:27 pmThis is split off from my weekend entry because I figure people will want to tell me lots of opinions on cars, because everyone has opinions on cars.
First we went to the Volkswagen dealer in the U-District. We looked around at different cars... I think the Beetles are too small. I mostly was interested in the Jettas I guess (my brother has one). I got to test drive one -- it was pretty good, I guess, it drove well and I liked the way it felt, but it was vaguely uncomfortable in terms of the seat, and the brake pedal placement, and whatnot. The car salesman guy was pretty nice though, and answered bunches of questions.
Then we went up to the Lynnwood Honda dealer. I test-drove a Honda Civic Hybrid and a Honda Civic. I reeeeeeally liked the way the Hybrid drove, and felt, and I was really kinda surprised by that, but eh. I only got to take it around side streets and not go any faster than like 40 mph, so I wonder how it handles on highways, but, seriously, it felt like a really nice car. The normal Civic I felt was a really *comfortable* car. I drove their "value pack" Civic, which sells new for about $15k, and it just felt like, hey, I'm just like, drivin' this car, it's really natural, etc. To alleviate my concerns about security, they explained that all the Civics are chipped now so they can't be operated without the key there - most Civics that get ripped off these days are either earlier models or they're like, people who put $2000 tires on their cars, etc. So, hmm. The salesman at Honda kinda put me off though - he seemed interested in showing me cars but he didn't really seem interested in SELLING me a car. I guess it's a shame Charlie isn't selling Hondas anymore because I would have bought one from him in an instant!
After that we went to a Toyota dealer in Lake City. The salesman there had just started like ten days ago so he didn't know as much as other people would, I guess. What we did find out is that there was no freaking way I could test drive a Prius there as they currently had a 3-month wait for them anyway. I did test drive a Corolla because my brother used to have one of those too, and eh, it was comfortable, but LOUD. Not sure I really wanted to deal with it. I looked at the Echo cars too, since I remembered many a trip to the BVM in Rebecca's car, but eh, I'm not sure that'd really be the car for me either.
So then we were done for the day. Note that the reason I didn't actually buy a car is specifically because at the start of the day Megan said "Don't buy a car today. We're just looking." Although then she almost talked me into buying a Honda later on...
I guess what I really need to think about now is... can I really afford the Civic Hybrid? Or would I be better off just getting a normal Civic? Or a used Jetta? Or something else?
First we went to the Volkswagen dealer in the U-District. We looked around at different cars... I think the Beetles are too small. I mostly was interested in the Jettas I guess (my brother has one). I got to test drive one -- it was pretty good, I guess, it drove well and I liked the way it felt, but it was vaguely uncomfortable in terms of the seat, and the brake pedal placement, and whatnot. The car salesman guy was pretty nice though, and answered bunches of questions.
Then we went up to the Lynnwood Honda dealer. I test-drove a Honda Civic Hybrid and a Honda Civic. I reeeeeeally liked the way the Hybrid drove, and felt, and I was really kinda surprised by that, but eh. I only got to take it around side streets and not go any faster than like 40 mph, so I wonder how it handles on highways, but, seriously, it felt like a really nice car. The normal Civic I felt was a really *comfortable* car. I drove their "value pack" Civic, which sells new for about $15k, and it just felt like, hey, I'm just like, drivin' this car, it's really natural, etc. To alleviate my concerns about security, they explained that all the Civics are chipped now so they can't be operated without the key there - most Civics that get ripped off these days are either earlier models or they're like, people who put $2000 tires on their cars, etc. So, hmm. The salesman at Honda kinda put me off though - he seemed interested in showing me cars but he didn't really seem interested in SELLING me a car. I guess it's a shame Charlie isn't selling Hondas anymore because I would have bought one from him in an instant!
After that we went to a Toyota dealer in Lake City. The salesman there had just started like ten days ago so he didn't know as much as other people would, I guess. What we did find out is that there was no freaking way I could test drive a Prius there as they currently had a 3-month wait for them anyway. I did test drive a Corolla because my brother used to have one of those too, and eh, it was comfortable, but LOUD. Not sure I really wanted to deal with it. I looked at the Echo cars too, since I remembered many a trip to the BVM in Rebecca's car, but eh, I'm not sure that'd really be the car for me either.
So then we were done for the day. Note that the reason I didn't actually buy a car is specifically because at the start of the day Megan said "Don't buy a car today. We're just looking." Although then she almost talked me into buying a Honda later on...
I guess what I really need to think about now is... can I really afford the Civic Hybrid? Or would I be better off just getting a normal Civic? Or a used Jetta? Or something else?
