My wife drive's a 2011 Nissan Maxima. Pretty nice car... although the CVT trans kinda freaks me out when I drive it. A couple of small issues have been bothering her. The parking brake light will come on randomly, as does the passenger air bag light. Plus I think she gets Nav Envy whenever she drives her Mom's Lexus ES350... So we've been talking about car shopping.
We're both believers in the "let the other guy eat the depreciation" theory and like cars that are a few years old.
After clearing it with my banker I went on point yesterday and did some scouting around. I know she likes the CTS and the newer body style of the Maximas so I started there... but pretty much told salesmen Leather, sunroof, navigation, heated seats and remote start.. show me what you got.
Ended up driving a plethora of Cadillac's. STS, CTS, ATS, XTS.... I liked the STS but all the others, EVERY single one of them, had scratches and bubbled up plastic all over the plastic around the nav screen, center vents, and the lift up doohickey where the phone hidey hole is.
Then went to the Nissan house where they had a black 2015 Maxima RS. She loves black cars and her Maxima is black. So I tell the salesman my wife might like that one and he's laying out a plan... we drive the car to her work, show it to her, bring her car back for appraisal and we're signing papers before she gets off work... I send her a pic of it and she text back "I don't want another black car". ... okay.. So I get to bust the salesman's bubble. Bonus!
Then I head to another dealer. I've dealt with this salesman a few times over the last 20 years or so. Good guy. And Old School. So he says Try this one, I haven't driven it yet... 2013 Hyundai Equus. I'd never heard of one. I thought the Genesis was the Hyundai top dog.
Holy crap that's a nice car. I've been in the occasional Mercedes and BMW and the Equus is right up there. Super nice. Quiet as a tomb inside. The ride was just a little squishy, even squishier than my wife's Maxima. It's a big heavy car and felt like it was lumbering through traffic. But a refined lumbering... not like the spastic Joe Cocker lumbering that my truck does.
But this thing has a 429 HP V8 in it. With an 8 speed transmission. Ridiculous. We went a few miles outside of town, was turning around at an exit and David says When we get to the onramp nail it. I wanna see what this SOB will do. So I do. Wow. The quiet went away and the cabin was filled with the sweet tones of a V8 at 8,000 RPM. Very nice.
I think my GTP might be able to take it off the line but would be in the dust shortly after that.
Me and David both knew that car wasn't for her... crappy gas mileage... but we had a little fun. 5 mile run was 1/8 of a tank.
He was taking me to look at a white XTS when I realized my wallet was missing. One of the other salespeople said she saw it on top of the Equus earlier. So I guess it was lost along the way.
No spoiler on the back of that car so I don't see it making more than a block before falling off. But we checked the parking lot and made a run along the route we took watching the shoulders. Then I walked the first 2 miles. Nuthin. My next wallet will be bright neon orange.
So, got a new debit card, canceled the store cards I had. Still need to call LifeLock and let them know my drivers license is missing, No cash in wallet but lots of old receipts and notes... like my checking and savings account numbers...
sigh. After my wife got off work we did go drive a couple more cars. A red ATS and a silver VW CC. She liked the CC but isn't a fan of silver cars. And she was disappointed the sunroof just popped up in the back, didn't open all the way. She loves a sunroof. It was a 2013 model that never sold, has 1800 miles on it.
I guess she's been shopping online at work today. I had a BMW 328i and the first STS I drove lined up for her to look at after work and she texted me and said she might like a brand new Chevy Trax. So now I'm all kinds of confused and will do no more pre-shopping.
... DOH! ... she is diabolical..
We're both believers in the "let the other guy eat the depreciation" theory and like cars that are a few years old.
After clearing it with my banker I went on point yesterday and did some scouting around. I know she likes the CTS and the newer body style of the Maximas so I started there... but pretty much told salesmen Leather, sunroof, navigation, heated seats and remote start.. show me what you got.
Ended up driving a plethora of Cadillac's. STS, CTS, ATS, XTS.... I liked the STS but all the others, EVERY single one of them, had scratches and bubbled up plastic all over the plastic around the nav screen, center vents, and the lift up doohickey where the phone hidey hole is.
Then went to the Nissan house where they had a black 2015 Maxima RS. She loves black cars and her Maxima is black. So I tell the salesman my wife might like that one and he's laying out a plan... we drive the car to her work, show it to her, bring her car back for appraisal and we're signing papers before she gets off work... I send her a pic of it and she text back "I don't want another black car". ... okay.. So I get to bust the salesman's bubble. Bonus!
Then I head to another dealer. I've dealt with this salesman a few times over the last 20 years or so. Good guy. And Old School. So he says Try this one, I haven't driven it yet... 2013 Hyundai Equus. I'd never heard of one. I thought the Genesis was the Hyundai top dog.
Holy crap that's a nice car. I've been in the occasional Mercedes and BMW and the Equus is right up there. Super nice. Quiet as a tomb inside. The ride was just a little squishy, even squishier than my wife's Maxima. It's a big heavy car and felt like it was lumbering through traffic. But a refined lumbering... not like the spastic Joe Cocker lumbering that my truck does.
But this thing has a 429 HP V8 in it. With an 8 speed transmission. Ridiculous. We went a few miles outside of town, was turning around at an exit and David says When we get to the onramp nail it. I wanna see what this SOB will do. So I do. Wow. The quiet went away and the cabin was filled with the sweet tones of a V8 at 8,000 RPM. Very nice.
I think my GTP might be able to take it off the line but would be in the dust shortly after that.
Me and David both knew that car wasn't for her... crappy gas mileage... but we had a little fun. 5 mile run was 1/8 of a tank.
He was taking me to look at a white XTS when I realized my wallet was missing. One of the other salespeople said she saw it on top of the Equus earlier. So I guess it was lost along the way.
No spoiler on the back of that car so I don't see it making more than a block before falling off. But we checked the parking lot and made a run along the route we took watching the shoulders. Then I walked the first 2 miles. Nuthin. My next wallet will be bright neon orange.
So, got a new debit card, canceled the store cards I had. Still need to call LifeLock and let them know my drivers license is missing, No cash in wallet but lots of old receipts and notes... like my checking and savings account numbers...
sigh. After my wife got off work we did go drive a couple more cars. A red ATS and a silver VW CC. She liked the CC but isn't a fan of silver cars. And she was disappointed the sunroof just popped up in the back, didn't open all the way. She loves a sunroof. It was a 2013 model that never sold, has 1800 miles on it.
I guess she's been shopping online at work today. I had a BMW 328i and the first STS I drove lined up for her to look at after work and she texted me and said she might like a brand new Chevy Trax. So now I'm all kinds of confused and will do no more pre-shopping.
... DOH! ... she is diabolical..