Car Buying

Where Does That Leave Us?

Right now the top two contenders for our next car are the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and the Kia Optima EX. There are a couple of cars left to try before we make a final decision, a Honda Accord Coupe and a Hyundai Sonata SE.

While I loved the Genesis Coupe, the downside of this car is that it might be too sporty in nature. We already will have a sports car in the stable and we were looking more for a touring car. And frankly, Donna was looking forward to being driven to work in relative comfort and not always having to brace herself against the g-forces generated while I try and late brake, nip the apex of every turn and accelerate briskly towards my next cornering opportunity. This is where the Accord might come in. The coupe, like the Prelude before it, is nothing much more than an Accord sedan all tarted up. A sheep in wolf’s clothing if you will.

The Sonata SE will be my last chance to dance with the supermodel of sedans, but I am hoping it will have a more connected to the road feel ALA the Optima. Part of the SE package are 18″ wheels with lower profile tires and what the manufacturer calls “Sport-tuned suspension and steering” which sounds a lot like what the Optima mentions in its brochure for the standard suspension setup.

Both the Optima and Sonata have a major fault and that is size. Donna had a heck of a time trying to get the right seating position in them. I’m thinking maybe some of it was the pressure of having both myself and a salesman stand out side looking at her fiddling with the seat controls in the dealers lot. I’m betting if it was just me in a quiet spot she could get it easier. Plus some of it will be driving the car and learning where the external edges of the it are.

Who knows, maybe the Accord Coupe will be the winner. We used to be a Honda family and even owned a couple of Accord “coupes” back in the day. Our 1978 car was a 2-door hatchback that was about the same length, with a 7″ shorter wheelbase and 500 pounds lighter than today’s Honda Fit! It was Honda’s “big” car. If the Accord Coupe is not the answer, we may just end up with a Genesis Coupe. We saw one pass by us at a corner today and even our anti-red bias didn’t prevent us from liking the car in Tsukuba Red.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

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.

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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.

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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.

More Car Shopping

On the way back into town after our unsuccessful attempt to rent a Sonata yesterday, Donna posed the door question, i.e. “Why does the next car have to have four doors?” My answer was, “It doesn’t. The only reason I’m so hot for a Sonata is that of all the cars in our price range it is the best looking (IMHO) thing for a second car.” Her timing was just right, we were approaching the Honda dealer outside of town, so I pulled in and pointed out an Accord Coupe and said,” It has two doors.” Her reply was, “That’s big.” The sticker was too, $30k. How about the Civic Coupe she asked and I said, “I’ve never been comfortable in a Civic Sedan. We’d have to try that one out.”

I love shopping, even if it is just an exercise, so I rounded up 7 candidates on the short list for the next car in the Bogardus stable to compare size and cost. All in all, you watch, when we finally do pull the trigger on a new car, it’ll be another Miata. For now let’s play. I spec’d the cars the way I would like them, mostly base models with little content and some would probably be hard to come by that way, but hey, it’s my party. There are quite a few returnees from similar speculation of 10 months ago, a couple new ones and a few drops.

Mazda Miata #1 Sport M/T w/ Convenience Pkg & Cargo Net
Mazda Miata #2 Touring M/T w/Cargo Net
Mini Cooper M/T w/ Cloth Sport Seats, Center Arm Rest, Carpet Floor Mats & Grocery Bag Holder
Hyundai Genesis 2.0T M/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Hyundai Sonata SE A/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Honda Accord Coupe LX-S A/T
Honda Civic Coupe LX M/T w/ Sport Suspension & 16″ Alloy Wheels

Here is the chart:

All numbers reflect the difference between the Emperor and the new car (except interior volume.)

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Gonna Need A Bigger Garage

We have been virtual wishful car shopping recently, maybe it is because we are under a year in the countdown to a New Miata or maybe it is talk of taking this year’s trip out west in a car instead of a plane or maybe it is because automakers are offering great deals at this time of year (Mazda is offering $4500 off left over 2009 Miatas), but I have been hitting the web and having fun.

If you had told me 4-1/2 years ago that I might be driving anything other than a Miata I would have told you you were crazy. But now I’m not so sure. It all harkens back to our first ride in the current generation Miata back in October of 2005, we were underwhelmed, so the seed of doubt has been planted. The Miata is still at the head of the list, but there are a couple of other contenders on our radar, cars that are in our cost comfort level, around $25k and are convertibles and are available in blue. From worst to first they are:

  1. Sebring. This only makes the list in that it fits all three criteria, but its faults are many, chief among them is that it is as ugly as sin.
  2. Mini. High fun to drive factor, but we were underwhelmed when we drove one back in 2003 and the convertible version takes a big hit in the looks department, both up and down, over the closed car.
  3. VW Beetle. Donna has always liked the looks of these, I have to admit that I do too. Downsides include no manual transmission and cockpit wind with that big an opening.
  4. Mustang. The base V-6 falls in our price range, but the blue is kinda odd and it is 7″ wider and over 2 feet longer than a Miata, contributing to the title of this post.
  5. Miata. Needs another test drive and to take advantage of the the current deal we would have to accept a color that sucks.

Now let’s go a little further out there, what if we don’t get a convertible at all. Wild huh? Suppose we consider a little larger “sporty” car instead of a convertible. The car would have to be in the same price range and it would have be a coupe (I may be getting older, but I’m not ready for a 4-door Buick just yet.) From worst to first they are:

  1. Accord. We were Honda folks (2 Accords, 2 Civics and a Prelude) before the Miata revolution, but my how this car has grown. It weighs as much as a Mustang and is a foot longer than one too!
  2. Gensis. The front look leaves me cold and there is that still lingering Hyundai crap car association.
  3. Altima. Really like the looks of this and the blue is a terrificly bright shade, but I know nothing else about it.
  4. Mustang. With the convertible we were stuck with the V-6, but a coupe means we can squeak a GT with a V-8 in under our spending cap.
  5. Mini. It has lots of techno gizmos to go wrong and doesn’t have the best reliability record, but it is fun to drive, good looking and will fit in the garage.

A wild card in the coupe class would be a Miata with the detachable hardtop, leave it on nearly all the time and just pop it off for nice weekends.

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