Month: March 2011

KIA Kicked It Away

When heading home after leaving the Mazda dealer on the Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour our route took us right by the KIA dealer. I waved at them as we went by. Donna suggested we go back and drive the Optima because we had a certificate to get a $25 gift card for test driving one sometime during the months of February or March. I doubled back and parked next door in the used car area. A local radio station was doing a remote broadcast from out front, loud urban hip-hop is not on any radio preset of ours, but they had a grill going and a sausage dog with a Sprite went down nice as we wandered the lot unmolested. The Optima had one strike against it going in, in that the colors it is available in, with he exception of the Spicy Red, were picked out by defecting members of the old Soviet Politburo – white, silver, light gray, dark gray, dark red and black (it does come in a bright blue, but only in the high zoot turbo model.)

Walking back towards the Miata after getting our fill of looking at the pine pollen covered cars we passed right by the showroom and there was one salesman standing near the front door just staring off into the distance. Donna said, “If he doesn’t approach us, we just keep on going.” I said, “Nah, I’ll walk up to him so we can test drive a car.” I showed him the certificate and asked if we could drive one. He looked at it kind of sideways and said come on in and held the door for us. I’m not sure if his reaction to the certificate was, what is this or oh, no, not another one, but after about a five minutes he came back out of the sales manager’s office with their part of the form filled in. He made a copy of my license and said, “I’ll be back up in a minute, let me get a car.” After another five minute wait, he pulled up in a Metal Bronze LX. The color isn’t half bad, but it is not going to going to get the neighbor’s all jealous and oohing and aahing over it.

As I set about adjusting the rear view mirrors (both inside and out) our friendly salesman proceeded to count off the interior and exterior features of the automobile from the backseat. Unfortunately he kept that up for the entire 5 mile loop of our test drive. It was like he memorized the glossy brochure produced by Kia’s marketing department and was reciting it for us. He tripped himself up though when he veered off the script and mentioned that the Optima was recently picked the #1 best buy. Donna asked him by who and he didn’t have the answer, he hemmed and hawed and finally I volunteered J.D Powers and he said, “That’s it.” (I looked when we got home and it was really Cars.com 2 months ago.)

While not exactly appliance looking like a Camry, the Optima is kind of a wallflower next to its cousin the Sonata. It’s saving grace is that it isn’t the seller the Hyundai is, so it will retain a bit of exclusivity. The interior is very modern looking compared to my 7 year-old Miata, but looks dated compared to the Sonata. The surprising thing was the driving experience, the Sonata drove like a big fluffy Old Man With A Hat car, but the Optima felt like a driver’s car with nicely weighted and crisp steering feel. While not exactly BMW-like, a 5 Series sized car at half the price makes this a winner in the cost/fun ratio. The handling and engine response wasn’t up to Genesis Coupe levels, but all and all I could see me owning this car.

The big down side to the Optima was once again size. In the Sonata Donna had to jack up the seat to the highest level it could go, slide the seat way forward and then still do a little leaning forward to see where the hood ended. This car as expected, was the same way and to make matters worse the Optima’s head rest was positioned in a manner that poked her in the back of the head no matter the height it was placed at.

When were were done test driving the Optima we asked if we could try out their Elantra sized car, the Forte. The Forte comes in a coupe form which is a plus, but it’s exterior styling is in serious need of updating. Because of the differences in the Sonata and Optima, maybe the Forte would surprise us by being quieter than the Elantra, more comfortable and a more engaging drive. We never found out.

We asked if we could test drive the little black Koupe (their spelling, not mine) that we had parked the Optima next to. Our salesman said, “I’ll go get the keys.” We waited the five minutes required by the Secret Car Salesman Manual. Then we waited about 3 or 4 more minutes more before walking back by the showroom to the Emperor and driving off. Maybe he sensed we weren’t buying today, so not worth the effort or he got stuck trying to find those keys, but either way he lost himself and his company any chance at our money.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

Miata Takes A Fall

Stop number two on Saturday’s Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour was the Mazda dealer. We test drove a 3rd generation Miata way back in 2005 and didn’t really like it. The back up plan to this current car shopping extravaganza was that we could always trade in the current one and buy a new Miata. Today’s second look was to see if still was a viable option.

A salesman greeted us and after a bit of chat we asked to drive a Miata. We picked a Copper Red Sport which is the closest to what we would probably buy. He took my license and insurance card inside to make a copy and get a key. He came back out a few minutes later and went to start the car, but hopped back out apologizing that there was almost no gas in the car and he’d have to go back inside and get the key to another one. We pointed at a red Sport Model and off he went again. This time he was gone for a lot longer time. We had time to peruse the other cars on the lot. I pointed at a Mazda 6 in a similar color, dark blue, as the Sonata we drove and asked Donna what she thought of it looks-wise compared to the Hyundai, her reply, “They look the same, I can’t tell the difference.” There were a bevy of 3’s and these don’t really appear to be “small” cars. There was a 5-door in a bright blue that we agreed was too bright and there was a grayish blue that might have been acceptable, but none of Mazda’s other cars were anything we wanted to be seen in.

We got bored looking around and went inside the showroom to see where our salesman was. I found him sitting in front of a computer screen looking at something. When he saw me he got up, mumbled something about a key and headed off. I peeked over at what he was looking at and realized it was the Mazdausa website for this dealer’s inventory. He was already trying to figure out how much to try and sell the car to me for instead of getting the key, and taking care of that little detail while we were out driving the car. After he disappeared we noticed a Miata sitting open on the floor, so we went over and got in it, me behind the wheel and her in the passenger seat. It didn’t feel as much like as a bathtub as it did the first time, maybe from driving a few regular cars today the door sills didn’t seem that high. I think we both felt it and were ready to chuck all our grandiose plans for a second car and just replace the Emperor with a new Miata. Until we changed seats.

Way back the first time we got in a 3rd generation Miata Donna complained that she didn’t have nearly the foot well space in it as she did in our current car. I knew that they had encroached on into that area with the rerouting of the exhaust manifold, creating a small hump along the transmission tunnel near the seat. What I didn’t remember was that they also shortened the leg room on that side by 3 to 4 inches. There was no way for me to stretch my legs straight out and get comfortable. Not only that it made my bent legs end up near the shifter which would be intrusive to Donna’s driving. This was a deal breaker. By this time our salesman had finally made it out to the lot with the key and he was looking around for us. We went out and thanked him for his time, telling him of our discovery that Mazda had short-sheeted the passenger side of the car and there was no way we were going be buying a Miata. Hot, hungry and tired we headed home.

Come back tomorrow for the final installment where our heroes help themselves to some hot food, drive a car and get a cold shoulder.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

Made In Montgomery

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.

Mr. Aiken & Me

Donna and I went for a little bike ride this morning. First off we chased the 14% larger moon as it set in the southeast to the Post Office to mail something. Once the moon disappeared behind the clouds and the envelope disappeared in the slot we headed back northwest to go downtown and drop the power bill in the slot outside the SCE&G office. While we were that way we stopped in to see what the so-called founding father of Our Fair City(tm) was looking at. Near as I can tell he is looking down the Alley trying to catch a glimpse of a Tipsy McStumbles waitress. Thirteen miles is all our backsides could stand considering the last time we were on a bike was, as near as I can figure, around Thanksgiving last year.

After breakfast I went out and rinsed all the pine pollen and tree bits (seedling covers and flowering things) that were covering he Emperor. Because it is early in the spring yuck season I didn’t bother with soap, just water and a towel. Later in the day on a trip to the mall I parked, against the expressed consent of my wife, near a tree. In my defense, I figured it was through dropping stuff because it had tiny leaves already showing. I was half right, it wasn’t dropping solid bits, but when we got back to the car it was covered with tiny droplets of sap. At first I considered leaving it on there giving the pine pollen something to stick making the Emperor appear to be wearing a polka dotted robe, but instead when we got home I spent 45 minutes or so with some Quick Detailer wiping off that gunk.

During one of the top transitions while cleaning the outside of the car (I also cleaned and protected the leather seats) I noticed that the top was bunching up on the passenger side at one of the metal bows. Turns out, right where the bow has the radius between vertical and horizontal, the inner dark layer of fabric has been separated from the tan exterior layer. This means that this spot where the top material is very taught, only has one layer of fabric there which will probably tear in the not too distant future. I’m going to call the top guy over in Augusta to see when he can look at it and determine if it is fixable or it is new top time. If a new top is required it will be a big disappointment. The OEM top lasted 5 years and this one will have only made it half that long.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

A Walk in the Woods

We did a little geocaching this morning, very little, one cache. We also made a half-hearted attempt at a second and a no-hearted attempt at a third. The first one was worth the drive. A nice little 2.2 mile hike in the Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve. From there we headed into Augusta to test drive some candidates for our next new car. We drove four, nearly drove 1 and didn’t even sit in the sixth, but that is tomorrow’s post.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 975

Hello Mr. Aiken

In a story that would be perfect fodder for Garrison Keillor, Our Fair City(tm) yesterday unveiled a statue of a man that never set foot in the town named for him. Not only that, there were no known pictures of him, so the artist used photos of descendants and other folks from that time period to create his “likeness.” Read the whole story – Statue honoring Aiken’s founder makes its debut

In other news that could be just as well be set in Lake Wobegon, a new bar pub opened in the Alley on St. Patrick’s Day here. The alley is what serves for nightlife in the town that was founded by the president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. It has several popular eateries, most with their own bar area and one end is anchored by a micro brewery. Apparently, the good citizens are aghast at the attire of the waitresses, sort of Hooters-ish with an Irish twist. Tipsey McStumbles draws ire opening day over skirt length

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 974

An Irish Family Tradition

Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday. On that special day, they’d each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.

So when Paddy’s, 18th birthday came ’round, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake, Paddy, stepped out of the boat …and nearly drowned! Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety. Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.

“Granny,” he asked, “It’s me 18th birthday, so why can’t I walk ‘cross the lake like me fa, his fa, and his fa before him?”

Granny looked deeply into Paddy’s, troubled brown eyes and said, “Because your fa, your grandfa and your great grandfa were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and you were born in August, ya right eejit.

This wasn’t intended to be today’s post, but with March Madness in full swing, it just turned out that way.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 972