Car Shopping...again.

We wanted an SUV, but I'm very picky. I really liked the Pontiac Torrent, but Jeff was very nervous that it would be loud and less reliable than a foreign car. He really liked the Murano, but I discovered that I hate the dash boards in them and I couldn't get passed it. So last Thursday and Friday we started going through the pictures of every SUV on the market. We don't like Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, I don't like the Muranos anymore, I hate the Rav4 (because it has a tire on the back), and we won't shell out the money for a Lexus, Mercedes, or BMW. I only like the 2008 Honda CRV and we won't buy a new car (on principal I can't purchase something and have it decrease in value more than 10% just by driving it off of the lot). We went through them all again and it was depressing because I didn't like any of them (except the really expensive ones). Then Jeff stumbled upon the Acura MDX. I had never noticed them before, but I know Acura is a very good car. Jeff researched it a little and it was one of the highest rated SUVs for consumer reports of customer satisfaction. The only negative is gas mileage, but I drive less than 8,000 miles a year and you can only get a max of 5 more miles per gallon in other SUVs, so we decided to look around. Once again, the only good prices were in New Jersey and New York. We decided to take the trip to Jersey first and if that didn't work out we would make one last effort for New York.

On Saturday we drove to a very poor neighborhood to a hole in the wall place in New Jersey and met the worst car salesman I've ever met. He was foreign and he didn't know that he was supposed to try to persuade us to purchase the vehicle. He just kind of stood there looking at us until Jeff said "Ummm, yeah, can we get the keys to this one." Jeff drove first and didn't say much and then I got in and drove it around a huge parking lot. One of the first things I noticed was the wheel vibration when you turn the car. I thought it might just be me, so I asked him if he felt it too. He had felt it, he just wanted me to come to that conclusion myself, so he didn't say anything at first. We both decided that if you have a gut instinct that something is wrong from the first 30 seconds you are in a car, you don't buy it.

So we went and ate at a very scary Subway and had to figure out how to get back to I-95. We almost got in an accident leaving Subway, but thanks to Jeff's skepticism of other drivers, he was able to anticipate that the man was going to run the stop sign and try to broadside us. Driving to New York was terrible. I wanted so badly to find a car in New Jersey, so we wouldn't have to go through driving to NY again, but there we had already come that far.

We pulled up to the Federal Auction House in the Bronx at about 4PM. There were boards on the windows, an alley in front of me with a cat sleeping on a huge pile of garbage, and I had a very overwhelming feeling that we made a huge mistake. I'm certain that most people wouldn't even get out of the car. When we finally found the entrance and then found some "salesman" on the phone speaking Spanish, we asked if any of the five cars we came to see were there. They weren't! A bad day got worse. We asked if there were any Acura MDXs left and there was one. One had just been delivered and it wasn't even detailed yet. It happened to be white with tan leather interior, less than 35,000 miles, and the price range we wanted. We started the car, tested the windows, locks, stereo, and that was about it. If it were a normal lot, I would have jumped on buying that car, but this was not a normal car lot. Jeff talked them down $500, got them to waive the $700 auction fee, $700 financing fee, and we thought detailing and new-er tires. By the time they got around to processing our paperwork and dealing with our car, the garage had closed. They told us we could come back on Tuesday if we wanted the newer tires (yeah, drive to NY for newer tires!) I was getting so mad at these irrational, erratic people that I had to go wait in the car while Jeff took care of it. We all have our limits and I can admit that I have limited patience for irrational people. Jeff knows my temper with the sub-par intelligence and once again, thank goodness he was there.

Jeff almost got attacked by a drunk bum while pumping gas in the new car. He had to drive a new SUV out of New York while I followed and he read directions. We were both exhausted by the time we got home. At least this time we came home with a car.

So far so good. Jeff was able to get any minor scratches out of the paint and the only thing left is to get new tires within the next couple of months. Jeff is jealous of my new car now though. I wonder how long he can go until he wants a new one too.