Since I’ve moved into my new apartment for my new job, I’ve been relying on Lava’s car. That was the best idea we could come up with at the time. She loaned me the car for a few months until I could get on my feet. How long that’s supposed to take, who knows? She’s in school right now and doesn’t really need a car right now. She is living in the same apartment complex as many of her friends, all of whom have cars; so she can get to the store if she needs to. There is also a shuttle that takes students to school so she’s covered all around. It is, at best, a bit of an inconvenience for her because she has to rely on people to get stuff done. And, of course, she can’t go to her favorite place in the world (Walmart) and walk aimlessly through the isles while looking for nothing in particular. But this time has come to an end. She going to be taking a class where she will need to get to different places around to different places and she needs her car.

I’ve gotten quite attached to her car actually, I mean I did pick it out last year when she was in desperate need of one. I even got the car payment in my automatic bill pay on my credit card. But all good things come to an end sometime. So, I needed to find a car and relatively quickly. Step number one was to go online. I had a budget in mind, so I decided to work with that. The problem is I didn’t really see anything very appealing in the budget. There were tons of Kias, a few Chevy Malibus, Nissan Sentras, a million Chevy Cavaliers, Hyundai Elantras, of course Accents, and one or two Mitsubishi Lancers.

First off, I have a predjusdice when it comes to American cars. They just don’t last as long, bottom line. This has been debated again and again, but out of all the cars that I’ve seen exceeding 100,000 miles, most of them are Japanese cars. And the few American cars I’ve seen in this category aren’t in good condition. Some may argue that it all depends on how you take care of the car, etc, etc. Some may argue that American cars have come a long way since then and that right now they are on par and may even exceed the quality of Japanese cars. I don’t really have time for arguing and I just have a preference.

Honda and Toyota

Based on this preference, I would have really wanted a Honda. A nice lil’ Honda Civic. Great on gas, very reliable, but also costs an arm and a leg. Although I would have loved a Honda, I’m not one of those Honda By Any Means guys. Who would pick up a ten year old Honda, because it’s a Honda. After Honda, Toyota would of course be the next one on my list, but this comes down the the same thing, they just cost too damn much.

Kia and Hyundai

A Kia Spectra. It’s a nice lil car. Its….cute I guess, but it looks like a toy. And the gas mileage isn’t as spectacular as it should be for a car its size. Also, the resale value sucks. Now there’s this 100,000 mile warranty on a Kia. The arguement is that the manufacturer isn’t going to give that kind of warranty if a lot of things can go wrong with the car while still in warranty, so “they must be good cars”. Um, I don’t know. My gut tells me to pass.

The Accent is a tiny car. It’s a good first car if you’re in college. But I plan on keeping whatever I get for a very long time, so I was thinking it doesn’t feel right. If you’re going to drop that amount of money on something that you’re going to have a long while, then you might as well like it. And I didn’t like the Accents. Same goes for the Elantra’s, and aren’t they compacts? I’m looking for a nice mid-sized car. But kudos to the Accent for the gas mileage though. There were no Sonatas in my price range, but that’s ok because the gas mileage it’s that great.

Nissan and Mitsubishi

Now we’re down to the two contenders. I love the way the Maximas look since 2005. They just have a mean, aggressive look and the Altimas have a nice elegant look. However those looks come at a price: a big sticker price and a price at the pump. A V6 engine would be nice, but in this day and age where gas prices seem to have the sky as a limit, it’s not really going to be very practical. So, I’m down to a Sentra. Now these cars aren’t too bad. Nice mid-sized car, relatively low cost. Great on gas mileage, but then there is the resale value. I need an affordable car, not a cheap car. There is a world of difference between those two things.

With Mitsubishi, it’s the Lancer for me. I love the way they look, I love the way they drive. Everything just works. To make my final decision I went down to a dealer that had both types of cars and took them for a test drive. The Nissan was a 2005, the Lancer 2006. The Nissan was the Special Edition: alloy rims, sun roof, 6 disc CD changer, spoiler, etc; the Lancer was just plain: no cruise control, no keyless entry.

At that point I couldn’t make a decision. I was torn between the two cars, until I took them for a test drive. The Sentra’s suspension was worse than the 2002 Lancer I drove in on. After making a few phone calls to some of my more informed friends, I learned that Sentra’s don’t come with independent suspension. Now that sucks. So, even with better gas mileage, cruise control and keyless entry, I had to default to the Lancer.

A Lancer but Which Lancer?

I had two choices. A 2006 ES (regular) edition for a lil’ bit more money or a 2005 OZ Rally (sporty: rims, spoiler, euro lights, cruise control) edition for well within my budget. At first it seems like a no-brainer. But the 2005 was bright RED. I’m sorry but I couldn’t do that. No way no how. It’s like having a huge sign on the car saying “Here I am!!! Someone please pay attention to me! Hey thieves, I might have something nice inside!!!”.

So, the gray ES model it is :-). I would have to add about $1,000 to have cruise control and keyless entry added on, but that was my best bet. Went inside the dealeship and started negotiating, when they threw me a curve ball: for $2,000 more than what I was trying to get them down to on that car, I could get a brand new model with cruise control and keyless entry already on. The first car had 16,000 miles on it, the new one had 24, yes 24 miles. So, after much consideration I went with the newer one. I figure they are really only $1,000 apart since I would have to add features to the older one to make it on par with the new one, so why not?

Was It a Good Deal?

Was this the best deal that I made, of course not. I made a ton of mistakes while car shopping. I bought at the first dealer I went to because it was close and convenient. I’m not saying that I didn’t check prices online, but maybe I could have haggled a better deal somewhere else. One thing I kept me close was that I would drive onto the lot with my old car and somehow, I would need to get them both back to my apartment. I’m new to the area so I don’t have the luxury of bringing a friend with me, and since I’m not trading in, I didn’t exactly know how this would work with a dealer a lil’ bit further away. This particular sales man had agreed to drive one of the cars back to my apartment if I simply brought him back to work. Should this have been a factor in my choice of dealerships, hell no, but it was.

Letting the sales person, his manager actually, talk me into something that I didn’t consider. I came in looking for used car. I did all my research on used cars. Yes, the new car was the same model, but there are different things to consider when buying new. The manufacturer sometimes gives customer cash rebates directly to the customer. When negotiating a price a sales person always knows this. If they sell a car for $15,000 the customer may only pay $13,000 because of manufacturer rebates. So, theoretically, you could have talked them down maybe another $1,500 because they would still make profit. I did know about the $2,000 rebate in my case, but what I didn’t know is that Mitsubishi also gives an additional $500 if you have a degree. I wondered why they asked to see my diploma. Knowing that I could have brought them down a lil’ bit further. There are also different incentives that the manufacturers pay directly to the dealer for moving certain new cars.

Bottom line, a dealer is never going to offer you something different than what you were looking at if it’s not going to benefit him. He brought up the new car idea because it was more lucrative for him.

Am I Happy?

This is the eternal question. And to that I’d have to give a loud resounding YES!!!

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