Car Quest 2010: Day 2

Day 2.  I drove to Infiniti of Syracuse on West Genesee excited to drive a G35 or G37.   I got out of my car and looked at a few in the lot and then entered the showroom.  It was a ghost town.  I could have driven out of there with one of their cars and no one would know.  I wandered around for a few minutes and then left and stood out in the parking lot.  One of the service guys noticed me and went and talked to someone in the office (not me).  The guy from the office came out and said, “nobody’s helping you?” to which I responded, “that’s right.”  That guy disappeared, I hung around a few minutes more and then got back in my car.  Very. Disappointed.

Some of my friends say that I should have made an appointment.  I’m sorry, but car shopping should not be by appointment.  If they don’t have someone available to wait on me when I want to ask a question, that is really bad customer service.  I don’t have to make an appointment to go to Pottery Barn, do I?

Luckily, Crest Acura was right across the street.  I had already decided I didn’t want to drive the Acura, but since it was just across the street and I was so mad at Infiniti….

When I walked into their showroom, someone greeted me pretty quickly and then I was matched up with a salesperson, Bill, who was really nice.  Bill explained everything I ever wanted to know about Acura, never outright dissed another car manufacturer and gave me the straight scoop on a number of issues.  He took me out on three test drives, and I walked away very impressed.  Here’s what I drove on Friday:

2008 Acura TL – A very nice looking car with every amenity.  Nice ride, nice handling…and I like the entire Acura package.  Since I’ve driven Hondas forever, it’s very familiar to me.  Maybe not sporty enough, a little bit soft.  I really like the white color, with parchment leather.

2008 Acura TSX – Really like the look of this car.  Again, everything is standard on an Acura, so there is nothing missing.  Love the fact that it has heated seats!  This one was black with parchment leather.  Another color combo I like, but having had black cars in this climate, not really a fan of getting another one.  They look like they’ve been dipped in salt all winter.  This car was fun to drive…and actually was reminiscent of my little Civic Si in terms of pick up.  It’s a 4-cylinder V-tech engine which gets great gas mileage, probably close to 35 on the highway.  Another huge plus for me.

2008 Acura TSX

2010 Acura TSX – I drove this one because Bill said it might make sense to get a new one if they were in my price range and I was only paying a few thousand less for used.  AND, the financing on a new one is 0.9% right now…which is amazing!  The body style has been changed since the 2008…it is a little bit longer, a little bit wider and to me…much more Accord-y looking.  Bill says it’s only a inch or two difference each way, but to my eye, it looks like a much bigger car.  Plus, they have this huge Knight-Rider grill in front which I’m not a huge fan of either.

So…it’s the 2008 Acura TSX, if I can get it in white with parchment leather, and low miles.

This doesn’t mean I’m not driving anything else.  But what Bill talked about in terms of German cars made a lot of sense.  And since they are AWD, they are several thousand dollars more expensive right off the bat.  Reliability is huge as well…and German cars don’t have that in comparison to Japanese.  At least not in my experience, or that of Consumer Reports.

I think I will still drive the Audi A4 and the Volvo S40.  That’s it.  Then I will make my decision on which model.  After that I will wait for the right one to show up on the lot.

Sidenote:  I checked what I owe on my Si and it looks like I am upside down on my loan…which kills me because that’s usually never the case with Hondas.  On my 2004 CRV, it’s been paid off for a year and I could still get $7K on trade-in!  So this presents a bit of an issue.  Art says wait a year…like that’s going to happen.  I guess I will have to suck it up or try to get as much as possible from the dealer on trade-in.  Any suggestions?  I really don’t want to sell it outright.