Went looking at cars today

Haha hasn't seen that one yet

JaysonAych wrote:So yeah, the Dart's out of the running. Not as good as either the Elantra or the Focus.

I loved my Focus and the newer ones are even better. It was a great little car to drive around and the amenities were pretty sweet; considering I bought a 2011 SES in Oct of 2011 for just under $15k, it was a good deal too. If it's between an Elantra or Focus, I'd pick the Ford, especially if you're buying new and can take advantage of the Xplan. (If not, used ones are still quite a deal.)

Your Mustang is awesome, by the way

Yeah, the Focus and the Elantra both have great value considering what you can load onto them even at the lower price points. It's going to come down the deal, what I can get as far as options, and driving them both again and seeing which is better back to back (I liked them both, but didn't stray too far from the dealership...I'll need to take them out on a few certain nearby roads to get a better idea). I like the Sync system in the Focus and really want it in hatchback flavor, though the sedan is nice too. Oddly enough I don't like the Elantra hatchback as much and it's a bit pricey compared to the Focus 5-door, but I really like the Elantra coupe and sedan. And the warranty on the Ford isn't as good, and you have to spend a lot to get an interior that isn't a plain black or grey. But I do get the X-plan. I'm going to have to pare down a lot of fine details.

And I'm considering a couple of other things, but the Focus and Elantra are my front-runners.

I've decided to take a week off in early April, and I'm going to use that week to do my final bit of shopping and make a purchase.

Thank you. I love it.

Good luck!! Either way, those are both great cars and it's always fun to get something new!

Is your Stang okay? I saw on FB about the hail...

Thankfully, all looks to be okay. It made such a racket against our windows, I was certain the hail was larger than it turned out to be. I had a flashback to one of the car insurance commercials (AllState maybe?) where the guy is on top of his car, trying to protect it from hail.

It only stormed for about 20 minutes but wow. We couldn't even see across the little pond out back and a tornado (or funnel cloud) was spotted over in Windermere on the other side of town.

All is okay but now I'm super paranoid. This is what it's like to have a new car that I actually like.

pics or gtfo

The photos from the listing were better but they've pulled it down since. Here is one a co-worker took...



Mustang Club of America package, comfort package, rear sensing / security package, and a whopping 120 miles on the clock when I bought it. We're just getting into vert weather too.

Why is there a bar of soap on the windscreen?

So Central Florida Expressway Authority can collect their toll money like the greedy little trolls they are.

nice wheels.

It's gotta be on the outside of the car?

Went to drive a Fiat 500 a couple weeks back.

Fucking pile of festering, fetid shit.

Seriously.

You should tell that to Zuk

SBF wrote:It's gotta be on the outside of the car?

after studying the picture, It appears to be inside the windshield. It looks like the reflection is off of the sunshade, not the windshield.

SBF wrote:You should tell that to Zuk

Well, compared to the Samurai and Fiero......

thewalrus wrote:Went to drive a Fiat 500 a couple weeks back.

Fucking pile of festering, fetid shit.

Seriously.

how do you figure?

just curious, you can't hurt my feelings. Remember my job revolves around customer complaints

Turbojett wrote:

SBF wrote:It's gotta be on the outside of the car?

after studying the picture, It appears to be inside the windshield. It looks like the reflection is off of the sunshade, not the windshield.

You, sir, are correct.

clockbreaker wrote:nice wheels.

Thank you. Part of the Mustang Club of America package.

The Fiat and smartcar and all those little phone booth cars scare me. Too many people bashing about in their giant SUVs and trucks!

1300ZUK wrote:

thewalrus wrote:Went to drive a Fiat 500 a couple weeks back.

Fucking pile of festering, fetid shit.

Seriously.

how do you figure?

just curious, you can't hurt my feelings. Remember my job revolves around customer complaints

haha, I should have been way more precise in my last post. That was a gut reaction that's still lingering from the test drive itself, and not necessarily the car. I actually thought it was a cool little car over all, I only had a few complaints.

1. The clutch was a little vague (it engaged somewhere 6 inches above the floor from what I could tell).
2. The shifter was a little imprecise, sort of felt like the shifter on my old corolla (something I'd easily get used to).
3. The headlights were a bit weak (did a night time test drive).
4. The interior materials felt a bit cheap - hard plastics, a bit fragile, etc. (But for the price point, that's expected, and frankly necesary)
5. Acceleration felt reluctant. Not necessarily dangerous, but coming from the GTI it was noticable.

That was really about it for me. The biggest problem I had was the drive itself - went with this WAY over the top saleswoman who took the concept of "Always Be Closing" to the next level. She thought I was trading in my GTI on the 500 (in reality we were test driving it for my fiance's sister - and I was very clear about that at the start). When it turned out we weren't buying it that day she blew a fucking gasket in the show room, called me something not very nice half under her breath, rolled her eyes, and stormed away. The best part - the BEST PART - is that she's calling me three or four times a week (still!) to see if I'm still interested in buying the car.

I had the same issue with a salesman Wally. I had stopped by a Toyota dealer to check on some RAV4s for my MIL. I told the guy from the start that I was test driving stuff for my MIL and he proceeded to ask me questions of her interests and what she wanted.

When I was done with the test drive, I asked if they had any brochures I could bring back and he's like "Yeah, come inside, we have some".

What a fucking dupe.

He asked to get my number for some reason I don't remember, then proceeded to have his boss come ask how his performance was and blah blah blah. Well after 20 minutes of dicking around, I asked if he had the brochure and he was like "Oh we don't carry brochures, you have to order one from the internet".

I got my ass up and left at that point.

Dude called me 3 times a week for 3 weeks and finally gave up. He would leave me messages saying "I wanted to know if your MIL was still interested in the RAV4". Yeah buddy, by FIL will tear you to shreds when it comes to negotiating, so you don't want to know.

God I never want to be a car salesman.

xtine wrote:

Turbojett wrote:

SBF wrote:It's gotta be on the outside of the car?

after studying the picture, It appears to be inside the windshield. It looks like the reflection is off of the sunshade, not the windshield.

You, sir, are correct.

Ahh I see it now. I couldn't tell on my phone.

Still though, could you get a smaller one xtine? It's fucking huge.

SBF wrote:I had the same issue with a salesman Wally. I had stopped by a Toyota dealer to check on some RAV4s for my MIL. I told the guy from the start that I was test driving stuff for my MIL and he proceeded to ask me questions of her interests and what she wanted.

When I was done with the test drive, I asked if they had any brochures I could bring back and he's like "Yeah, come inside, we have some".

What a fucking dupe.

He asked to get my number for some reason I don't remember, then proceeded to have his boss come ask how his performance was and blah blah blah. Well after 20 minutes of dicking around, I asked if he had the brochure and he was like "Oh we don't carry brochures, you have to order one from the internet".

I got my ass up and left at that point.

Dude called me 3 times a week for 3 weeks and finally gave up. He would leave me messages saying "I wanted to know if your MIL was still interested in the RAV4". Yeah buddy, by FIL will tear you to shreds when it comes to negotiating, so you don't want to know.

God I never want to be a car salesman.

High pressure tactics are the worst. They make me FAR less likely to buy antyhing - whether it's a car, or a TV, or a piece of jewelry for my fiance, or clothes. I did find that both the Honda and the VW places I bought my cars were great for that. No pressure at all, and they were much more effective. The worst place I've seen was a local Hyundai dealership - my friend went there to look at a Gensis Sedan (the big V8 RWD car. The dude was negotiating hard from the start. Even went so far as to say that unless they sold the car (last year's model), they weren't going tbe shipping any more cars - literally saying, without a shred of humor in his voice, that there was some big freighter tied up in Korea, and it wasn't going to sail until my friend bought this car. So ludicrous! THey called him for a good year afterwards. Even when he told them to stop and that there was no way he was buying a car from them. I half jokingly told him he should get a restraining order.

SBF wrote:

xtine wrote:

Turbojett wrote:

SBF wrote:It's gotta be on the outside of the car?

after studying the picture, It appears to be inside the windshield. It looks like the reflection is off of the sunshade, not the windshield.

You, sir, are correct.

Ahh I see it now. I couldn't tell on my phone.

Still though, could you get a smaller one xtine? It's fucking huge.

For the longest time, this is all they had. SunPass and ePass are the two companies that service the toll roads in Central Florida and they both have these obnoxiously large transponders. They introduced a sticker a few years ago but it's just easier to have one transponder for both cars. I think they recently introduced a smaller transponder one but I'm not shelling out another $25 for one.

Ahh because my company gave me a IPass transponder that's half the size of the one I got a year ago for my personal vehicle.

That reminds me, I still have iPass velcro on my windshield. On the INSIDE.

In the end went used:

lookin' good.

That is quite nice

Nice! The A3 is a good car.

do you still have the mr2s and the caterham?

The MR2 is sitting in front of the A3.

The MR2 looks like a piece of crap in that pic - the missing rear spoiler doesn't help. I still have the (unregistered) V6 MR2 but the Caterham never existed. You may be thinking of that crazy thing Dunnas was posting pics of at his dad's place.

The A3 is a lot of things I don't like - FWD, clutchless, VAG. But considering it isn't technically mine, it is an amazingly good compromise. The DSG paddle changes are instantaneous, the turbo has a kick and it feels very well put together.

It also leaves me free to buy something crazy, but I think I'll just do up the MR2. No car I've driven recently is so ergonomic for fast driving. It really is a pleasure that DSG transmissions (fun briefly but undoubtedly boring in the long run) and BMWs (pedals too close together to heel-toe as naturally with my size 14s) can match.

Jay, get that Challenger if you can stretch...

Nice Audi!

How's that magenta Fiesta, Jay?

Magenta? I thought it was Puce.

Oh wait I think Arthur Dent had the Caterham 7 project.

clockbreaker wrote:Oh wait I think Arthur Dent had the Caterham 7 project.

correct, he was building a locust