(no subject)

[noahgibbs]

I'm about convinced that 1) I'm getting better at dealing with car dealerships and 2) there's no good reason to want to be able to.

So I've been to the Mazda dealership and now I'm driving... A Dodge Neon, actually. I think they specifically give really odd loaner cars of other brands to make Mazdas look better. The Neon has a lot of resistance before it begins turn-signaling, accelerating or braking, giving the whole thing a weirdly "crunchy" feel. That's okay, though. This is a car I got for two specific trips -- one from the dealership back home (done) and one more back there when my truck is ready.

It's decent. It's a 1999 model, though the mileage is comparable to my current (former -- *sigh*) beastie. It's got six cylinders and seems to handle its size and weight better, which isn't shocking for a largish truck. I can't for the life of me recall the model number -- a bit like Ford and the F150, Mazda just seems to label its trucks with numbers, not really names or letters.

We'll see how things go. I got very good value out of my 626 over the time I owned it, which isn't bad given that I was an idiot with no negotiating skills. I don't feel like I could have done much worse this time and with this vehicle, which doesn't necessarily say much.

Still, I'll shortly have a vehicle with tolerable handling (though it's a bit big for my normal tastes), good braking and without the transmission problems I've had up to this point.

And I also learned: never assume that a pleasant-sounding car salesman (woman, actually) with nothing to gain by lying to you is therefore telling the truth. Good to know.

Comments

[oren.livejournal.com]

Mazda and Ford have merged. Mazda trucks are actually just rebranded Ford trucks.

I'm thinking about picking up a used Toyota Tacoma at some point (after I get a job).

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Then I suppose the Mazda 2300 is just an F150. I still don't recall what number mine was, though, so I'm not sure what current Ford truck it corresponds to. I knew the basic Ford pickups when I lived in Texas, but they look rather different now.

[bk2w.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, how was she lying to you?

On a different note, this obviously means you need to invest in a ramp and tie-downs, so you can put a bike or two in the back (or the occasional V-8 block..er, nevermind that last)

[gaaneden.livejournal.com]

I had a 626 Mazda for 5 years. I loved that car. I wanted another one when I went looking for mine. However, Saturn of Fremont gave me an awesome deal on my 200L Saturn. If you are still looking, I'd recommend going there. You can look at their used selection online first, too.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

About the trade-in price on my old car. By, like, a factor of two. *After* she already knew the model, mileage, condition, etc. The thing is, I made it clear that I wanted to know this to find out whether getting expensive body work done was a good idea, or if I should just junk the car.

After the factor of two reduction, I basically broke even on the body work, just barely. So she lied to me about how much I'd get for the car, and as a result a body shop she didn't know and I hadn't yet chosen got money that would otherwise go toward a new car, plus I felt kinda cheated when I got to the dealership and she'd been lying. Honestly, I should probably have found that out and gone to another dealership, it's just that the other places were offering pretty much the same (reduced) trade-in value. I *did* wind up bargaining harder because I wanted to get more value from the body work, but that's neither here nor there.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the 626 was definitely an overall good car. I had a 4-cylinder automatic from 1997, which, as it turns out, had transmission problems. Not just my car, all of the 4-cylinder automatics of that model year, and I think one or two before and after. The concensus was that Mazda would have issued a recall on them if it thought it could afford to, and for lack of that it denied the problems (since if it could identify them, obviously the existed).

That's a problem because I couldn't find any shop that would admit to knowing about those problems, or tell me what they were caused by, so attempts to repair it were futile -- "sure, for $800 we can tear down the transmission and see if anything obvious is wrong." I had a service contract rather than a factory warranty, so until total transmission failure it wouldn't cover any work on it. Have I mentioned I'm not thrilled by service contracts?

Anyway, that's basically why I wound up trading my car in for another with similar mileage. That and the fact that I use my motorcycle for almost all day-to-day driving, so the car (a pickup truck soon) is just for cargo, road trips and the occasional passenger. Mainly cargo. Thus the change to a truck.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Heh :-) But yeah, I need to get a ramp and tie-downs, and yeah, we can definitely haul around whatever else you feel like. Dude, truck!

Plus, if we're both going to be moving in the next couple of months, I'm thinking a truck is pretty convenient for that too.

[oren.livejournal.com]

Motorcycle show is this weekend in SF. I want to go, but I'll probably pass and wait for the SoCal one.

www.motorcycleshows.com.

truck!

[ironangel]

dude! I want a truck :(

not that I don't *heart* my saturn. but I miss the explorer (ben got it in the divorce).

maybe someday I'll get a ford pickup. mmm.


"..it's a girl, my lord,
in a flatbed Ford,
slowin' down to take a look at me."

I am not sure what it means that I capitalized Ford and not lord. heh.

Re: truck!

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Heh :-)

It's like with clothes. Women manage to look better in traditional "men's cars" (and what's more a "men's car" than an old beat-up Ford pickup?) than men do, but they also look better in every other car than a man does.

TRUCK!!

[jd5p.livejournal.com]

Woohoo!
Pickups are great if you are moving . . . five miles and have ten of them.
U-Haul though they are crooks and bastards, are still helpful when you are talking about moving out of a place.
Owning a truck is great for things like, picking up a freezer listed on craigslist . . . driving an engine block to a shop to have it cleaned or other such stuff . . . picking up large items from CostCo or Ikea.
In short cool!!

[miss-mimsy.livejournal.com]

Well, hey, one more storm navigated, and it sounds like you did it with aplomb. Yay you!