First stop on yesterday’s Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour was the Hyundai dealer and first up for a test drive was the Sonata, the car I have been lusting after for some time. It’s assets are it is a big car, nice looking (inside and out), comfortable riding, and quiet. On the debit side is it is big (Donna had to jack the seat up as far as it would go to see over the hood), comfortable riding, and quiet (no real connection to the driving experience.) In short, it is a perfect rental car. I felt a little like George Webber after an evening with Jenny Hanley.
As we waited for our salesman to get the keys for vehicle #2, the Elantra, we wandered the lot a bit and a bright yellow Genesis Coupe caught Donna’s eye. This car was on my initial list, but I crossed it off after (seeing one in traffic one day) I queried Donna on its looks and she pooh-poohed it.
The Elantra it was smaller, but a better fit to what we are used to and still very nice looking inside and out, but it was not, as expected, as comfortable and quiet as its big brother. The deal breaker for us was that neither of us could get comfortable in the seats.
Car number three was a Genesis Coupe 2.0T Premium with an automatic transmission. Not the yellow one, it was the 3.8 Track model and about 10 grand over our budget. Plus, while the yellow is eye catching and an awesome color for a car, neither of us want to own one, but we applaud those who do. Ahhh, this car is more like it. The Sonata was Papa Bear’s chair, too big and the Elantra was Baby Bear’s chair, too small, but the Genesis Coupe was just right. It was comfortable, there was gobs of interior space and plenty of driving experience for Brian. The Premium level car would not be on our shopping list, the $4k uptick in price included only one thing of marginal value, a sunroof. The proximity key with push button start turned Donna off and for me the nav system was the stumbling block, I didn’t even look at it once and I’m not sure I want to have to push a button saying I agree to anything just to drive to the store. But that said, the base 2.0T coupe was right up our alley, so this was the brochure we took home from the dealer and the one he wrote down on his sheet as what we were interested in. In Mirabeau Blue.
Tomorrow I’ll let you know how it went at the next car dealer we visited, Mazda.
I will be disappointed if you don’t end up with a new Miata. (Or even an old one)
the staus of your emotional fulfillment will be revealed in tonight’s post.