Buying a New Car: the Alltrack

As mentioned earlier, I test drove a white Alltrack SE with the driver assistance package on a Thursday. I told Chris I would return the following week, ready to buy a black Alltrack SE, and again specified the driver assistance package. The buyback money came through on Saturday, and was available to me on Monday, so I took off work a bit early on Monday afternoon, called Chris to let him know I was coming, and went to the bank for a cashier’s check.

My wife and I arrived at Metro VW (now Principle VW) about 2:30pm on Monday. My wife is a master of haggling and she enjoys it, so we were all ready to make a deal on a black Alltrack SE with the driver assistance package. We waited about 30 minutes for Chris to bring the car around, had a quick look at it, and commenced to haggling. Continue reading “Buying a New Car: the Alltrack”

Buying a New Car: Saying Goodbye to Hank

My first car was a 1968 Chevrolet Suburban. It had issues (an undiagnosed cracked manifold among them) and after many months of frustration, sat in the driveway for a few years before being sold for scrap metal. After that, I drove a Civic (flipped 1 ½ times, totalled), an Accord (transmission failed), a 1971 Beetle (t-boned by a mid-1980s Blazer, totalled), a Prelude (rear-ended, totalled), and the Forester that I traded in when I bought Hank.

Hank was the first car I bought all by myself, and the only one that I said goodbye to over many months. It was hard.

Continue reading “Buying a New Car: Saying Goodbye to Hank”

Buying a New Car: Brainstorming, Research, Test Drives

Hank was a great car, for a single, apartment-dwelling, man, and it was ok for a newly married, apartment-dwelling couple, but with only two doors, it wasn’t really practical for more than 2 people, and while the huge hatch space and 1100lb payload was great—I carried 18 bags of mulch, twice, and a ¼ cord of wood in the hatch—I really needed something bigger for both family outings and for home improvement-type tasks, something with 4 doors, a decent payload capacity, and a roof rack, and something that wasn’t too much of a departure from the comfort and quality of Hank, that also looked good.

That’s not so much to ask, is it? Continue reading “Buying a New Car: Brainstorming, Research, Test Drives”

Buying a New Car: Intro

Shopping for and buying a new car is huge pain. I’ve bought three cars in my adult life: Hank the Golf, over which I hemmed and hawed for about 9 months before suddenly pulling the trigger one Saturday morning; my darling, adorable wife’s Volvo, which was also a total spur-of-the-moment Saturday thing; and this new one, which was a considerably different, deliberate, long and drawn out affair.

I really wish it had been more similar to previous car-buying events, and I hope to never experience something like this again.

What made it so bad? Well…[READ MORE] Continue reading “Buying a New Car: Intro”