Thinkcage

Over the past few weeks I have spent several afternoons car shopping. I have looked at countless models and have been serious enough to have driven the following cars:

• Toyota Celica GT
• Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T
• Volkswagen GTI 1.8T
• Mini Cooper
• Nissan 350Z

This was more or less my short list of cars from the beginning. I have weeded the list from there.

It was easy to remove the Toyota Celica and Nissan 350Z from the list. The Toyota, despite being an early favorite was the most disappointing. I rather like the styling of the car, even though I have my doubts about the long term likeability of that look, but in testing the car was the least fun to drive and had the fewest interior features. The interior style was bland and poorly designed. The 350Z, however, is a sports car in every sense of the word. It featured high power, high torque and a very “race car” feel in the interior. This is still one of my favorite cars on the road. Ultimately, though, the fact that it only seats two turned me off. I have a family of four and even though my next car will be used primarily for my daily commute to and from work, the fact that I can’t share my car with my family takes some of the fun out of it.

The final three, then are the Jetta/GTI and the Mini. I group the two Volkwagen models together because feature and trim-wise they are nearly identical. The choice between them comes down to body style. The Mini also can be equipped with very similar features. These three were the most fun to drive and really appealed to my sense of design with well-thought out features and beautiful design inside and out. Even the price is similar, leaving this mostly a matter of style. The VW models are both understated, but design-wise really appeal to me. The Mini is also very well designed, but in a more “hey look at me” style. That and its more classical feel leave me wondering if it fits my personal style as well as I feel the VW cars do. Still I can’t quite rule it out just yet.

It is interesting that my experiences at the various car dealerships were vastly different and seem to align with my choices. While I really feel that I am choosing a car based on its features and design, the dealer experience either effected or confirmed my choices. I found the Nissan, Mazda, and Toyota sales people to be pushy and lacking knowledge. These were auto mall stores that had several brands on the same gigantic lot. The Toyota salesman that showed me the Celica virtually ignored me, focusing on my wife who had some interest in another car. They even had us sign a purchaser agreement before looking that basically said we would buy a car if they met our terms. Kind of goes without saying, right? There was virtually no discussion of the car, itself, or why I might buy it – we were talking price and financing before I could ask about options. Very much the stereotypical high-pressure sale.

The Volkswagen and Mini Cooper (BMW) dealers were the complete opposite. Both salesmen started with a complete walk-around feature-by-feature discussion about the car. There was no pressure to buy or do anything else for that matter. Refreshingly, both salesmen seemed to be enthusiasts of the brand and knew the cars inside and out. Quite a refreshing experience. I just can’t tell how much that has played into my decision.

It has been a fun experience and I hope to make a decision and a purchase soon. Wish me luck!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 14th, 2004 at 2:47 am and is filed under Toys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.