I hate buying cars. It’s so stressful. It’s why I’ve had my Jetta for 11 years. I planned to buy a hybrid. I researched them obsessively over the past several weeks. I test drove the Ford C-Max and Toyota Prius. I loved the Ford, which I didn’t expect. I fully expected the Prius, being the hybrid standard for so long, to be the one. But the Ford felt roomy although it’s actually smaller than the Prius, and accelerated well. And the salesguy was really laid back and nice. The saleswoman for the Prius was just plain weird. After telling her I was on my lunch hour and just wanted to test drive the Prius and Prius-C, she wasted a lot of time putting my information into her computer and asking me all about the car I might be trading in. Then after driving the Prius, she said they didn’t have any Prius-Cs on the lot but we could look at the one in the showroom. I did, then said I really needed to drive it to tell. She said there was one in their other lot, then looked at me like she was hoping I would say never mind. I told her I would like to test drive it, and she repeated that it was in their other lot. Finally, she took me there, which was only about 2 minutes away and I test drove the Prius-C, which felt really claustrophic. I asked to sit in the Prius again. I said I needed to get back to work, but I just wanted to compare quickly how it felt. She said she needed to get back to work, too. Really? Isn’t what you’re doing your work? Then when we got back to the dealership, she really put the hard sell on me, asking what it would take to buy a Prius right then. I said I needed to think about it and talk it over with my husband. She said “if he’s the one making the decision, then let’s get him in here.” I replied it was my decision, but I just wanted to talk to him about it. Man! I flashed back to when I was buying my first car and my dad came with me and the salesman talked only to him, like I wasn’t even there. Grrr, I’m done venting about the Prius experience. I really liked the C-Max, but after thinking it over for a week, I realized I don’t drive that much, so the savings on the gas wouldn’t equal the price for a hybrid. I’d be doing it so I’d feel green, but was that worth a higher price tag?
So if not a hybrid, then what? Honda Fit? Yuck, although a couple people recommended it. Ford Fusion? Or Focus (I always mix those two up)? Mazda 3? After doing minimal (for me) research, I thought I should test drive the Mazda. I had a Miata (when we lived in LA, pre-Astrid) and loved it. Then as we were leaving for the Mazda dealer, we ran into the couple that has lived down the hall from us for the past 5 years but we're only recently becoming friends with and they have a Mazda and love it. So that’s what I got. Mazda 3 iTouring sedan 6-speed. I don’t feel excited about it, like I think I would have with the C-Max, but it seemed fine and was a lot less money. I don’t know what I would have ended up paying for the C-Max, but most likely it would have been at least $5–6,000 more. And $5,000 pays for a nice vacation, which we’re hoping to take later this year. So, I’m happy, relatively. Not being in love with the car made it easier to negotiate. I kept thinking that if they don’t accept my offer, I can walk away. But they came close enough that it was hard to say no. Maybe when I actually get the car, I’ll feel more excited. They didn’t have the color (Indigo Lights, a sparkly dark blue) I wanted, so I have to wait until this weekend.
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