Ex-Car Hunting

At the beginning of November, my friend Terry and I went out on a little journey. With the influx of money I was getting from my job I decided that it was time that I stopped borrowing the spare car and get one of my own.

The timing couldn't have been better. I would have a few weeks to get used to it before the snow arrived, my Mother wanted to start using the spare car instead, and I was in high hopes that I was going to make probation at my job which would greatly help with car payments.

Though we all know how that went.

I'm still kind of miffed about it.

We had compiled a list of dealerships to go to and wanted to see as many as possible before the day was done. We started off with Nissan, though I'm certain it was Terry who wanted to see the cars more than me.

Immediately, the salesperson was very, very pushy. Maybe he was new, maybe he was just anxious about something, maybe it was the fact that I could see that his suit jacket was slightly too big for him and was slightly stained and I could smell freshly applied cologne on him.

The point is, I didn't like this guy. Nor the fact that he kept pressuring me to buy the first car at the first dealership I entered. And you know what, maybe if the cars I test drove were nice I wouldn't have be so bothered.

Both the sales manager and associate.

I tried the Sentra and the Versa. The first thing Terry and I noticed for both cars was the noise. This kind of rumbling/rattling noise from the engine. It wasn't bad now, but I knew that after an hour of this I'd go mad. I also didn't like how the Sentra controlled. Terry commented that both cars looked kind of like crap with crappy interiors. I'm going to default to his opinion because honestly, all the cars look the same to me.

When we mentioned our concern with the noise, we were assured that all cars in this price range would have this nuisance, it was an inevitability. Note that they also refused to give us a specific price. I smiled politely, and we left.

Next we went to the Mazda dealership, where to my surprise, we found a guy who:

a) Wasn't pushy.
b) Wasn't pushy.
c) WAS NOT PUSHY.

The Mazda 3 also surprisingly didn't have that awful noise, felt great to drive, Terry wouldn't shut up about how nice it looked, and it had heated seats.

Heated seats are the most amazing thing ever. I have no idea how I've managed to go so many Canadian winters without them.

My butt was so warm.

The Mazda salesperson was also the only guy to give me a price on the spot, no pressure, come back when you feel ready. Impressed, we then went to see what Kia had to offer. The Forte was... how do we put this... It felt like a cheaper Mazda 3.

Terry didn't like the interior, sure it had heated seats and handled as well as the Mazda 3, and the salesguy was considering offering it at several thousand cheaper than the Mazda. But something felt off. Something just didn't feel right. Couldn't put my finger on it.

Oh wait, yes I can. Pushy salesguy. Man, I'm a pretty easy guy to satisfy eh? Don't try and push me into a massive investment on day 1 and we'll get along just fine.

Unfortunately, we all know how this story ends. I got laid off, I can't afford a new car at this point in time and I guess I'll just have restricted access to the spare one.

But the entire trip wasn't for naught. At least now I have a better idea of what kind of car I'd be looking for in the future and where to go. Seriously though, heated seats are amazing. God I love heated seats.