Considering a New Ride for Monique
Thursday June 22, 2006 at 12:51 am | Filed under Family, General, Me
Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been buried in research. Researching the option to trade in our ‘03 Mazda Tribute for a new car. This originally stemmed from Monique having a pretty long commute to work and the idea of getting a smaller car that had better gas mileage. I’m sure we’re not alone in thinking of trading in an SUV for something more economical. An economical car for commuting…. that’s how it started.
During our research we looked into a lot of different kinds of cars. One of our criteria for a new car is some cargo room. We didn’t want to entirely lose the space that we had with the Tribute, so we narrowed the search to hatchbacks and wagons. We test drove the Honda Fit, the Toyota Matrix and the Volkswagen Rabbit (yeah it’s back), but also had the Nissan Versa, the Mazda 3, and the Golf TDI (Diesel) on the list. The Golf was very promising and the diesel idea was very intriguing, especially with the new bio-diesel fuel on the horizon. But due to higher emissions it was nixed since it can’t be sold new in California. The Mazda 3 didn’t have glowing reviews and the Matrix’ styling is crap (although the car is a good value). this left us with the Honda Fit and the VW Rabbit.
Monday night of this week we again went to two different Honda dealers to seriously consider buying the Fit. The first dealer was Norm Reeves Honda in Cerritos where we checked out the demo “You can win this car” Fit while we waited for someone to come and pressure us into buying one. No one approached us at all. We were there nearly 30 minutes before I yelled at some salesman and asked him if they had any Fits in stock. He said no. We left for another Honda dealer, this time in Santa Ana. It was getting late, so they were closing/closed when we got there. Sooo… there was a VW dealer in the same area and we stopped in there at 3 minutes to 9pm. We noticed on the window that they closed at 9, but we were content with just looking at the rabbits they had on the lot. You see, the Rabbit was edging out the Fit for the car of choice but it didn’t have the MPG that the fit did. It did however drive a LOT nicer. So we’re looking at the Rabbits and a salesman comes out of the building looking like he’s heading home and he asks if we need any help. We asked about the Rabbits and he opened one up for us and we checked it out again (we had test-driven the Rabbit twice before). He mentioned he had a blue on in the showroom so we followed him in there to get a look at that.
Funny thing happened on the way to that Rabbit… We passed a bright red 2006 GTI. It was all over, especially after we saw that the GTI had 50 more HP (200 total) and got better MPG than the Rabbit! We didn’t even make it to the Rabbit (although we did see a real rabbit on the way out). I remembered that I had read online that VW was planning on offering a 4-door model of the GTI in the 2007 model year! The next night, Tuesday, we went to another dealer and test drove a 2-door GTI to get the feel of it. The car delivered. It was so much fun to drive! One review I saw of the car said that “you can drive [the GTI] like you sat on a wasp”. I agree with that statement, but it’s got enough of a family car in it to be functional as well. Truly the best of both worlds for us. Are we havin’ cake? Are we gonna eat it too? It sure looks that way.
So two weeks into it we’ve pretty much made up our mind about what car we’re going with, while the GTI does get better gas mileage than the Tribute, it’s not as proficient in that category as the Honda Fit, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun to drive, and we found out that matters to us. We also get to keep some cargo space (I think we’ll be buying a removable roof rack someday for it as well for bigger trips). What started as a quest for a car we felt we needed to buy has turned into a pursuit of a car we want to buy.
I’ll be really happy if this all goes through and Monique has a car that she loves as much as I love the Acura TL that I drive. Not to mention it will be nice to have a VW parked in our driveway. When I grew up, in this very house, we had two VWs out there! Stay tuned for new developments, we’re planning on ordering the car soon. I’m in the process of working with the dealers to swing a deal (not fun at all).
5 Responses to “Considering a New Ride for Monique”
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Don Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:45 amHey Joe, Did you check out the demo “video” on the GTI’s website? That might help convice you guys for sure.
Don -
Joe Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:54 amIf you mean “Did I take a joy ride with Helga?” — I sure did. I think I did about every combination there is. Not only is that a cool tool to build a GTI, but it’s an amazing web site. Danke schön!
And Don, I’m also checking out the Costco route, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to help on a pre-order.
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Monique Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:00 amThe picture shows a 2-door but we’re waiting on the 4-door. Also…this car is HOT! Well worth the wait!
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Don Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 11:54 amCostco worked for us and we did have to order the MDX in order to get the red one. We did not get as big of a brake since the MDX was an in demand vehicle though.
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Shana Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:33 pmI think Monique needs that car - who else would have plaid interior? It’s perfect for her! I can’t wait to drive in it!