I had to drive a Jetta and a betle as loaner a couple of years ago.
Compared to a W210, they seemed like rattletraps on the highway...
Light, tinny, and with blindspots you could lose a convoy (or at least
a semi) in.
--
John W Reames
jwrea...@comcast.net
Home: +14106646986
Mobile: +14437915905
On Feb 15, 2010, at 2:26, Redghost <redgh...@comcast.net> wrote:
Have been drug out to the car dealers since Gump is on injured
reserve. SWMBA wants a "reliable" back up car she is willing to
drive. Turns out that is Cleo, the E300D, and I have to sell cars.
Spent a few weekends out on test drives. I thought the 2008 CDI
would have been great. She was not interested in the $48k price.
She got very serious about the TDI jetta wagon. 47+ MPG highway. A
bit cramped and premium price for diesels. This weekend it was
Toyota and Honda. Nothing really jumps out from either marque.
Basic econobox bubbles.
She wants a "nice" car. I needed to find one able to fit an old man
and two teen boys. Youngest prone to motion sickness. I got back
seat duty checking legroom and propensity for jiggle and jostle.
Hard to find a car now in her price area that is not as smooth as a
paint mixer. And the build quality or choice of materials is pretty
lackluster compared to the Benz.
She tried an 08 Accord. It was on special for the weekend sale. It
was pretty loaded, but very riced out. Spoiler, ricer wheels,
leather was not cared for, plastic had been scuffed. Heavy use of
the Smoker B Gone spray to mask the cigarette residue. And the
carpet and trunk liner where just crap compared to what was used in
the 95 civic she used to own. Even her 87 Acura was really nice in
comparison. This thing was "certified" but rode like a buckboard.
Sales boy said Honda builds them like that so you can feel the
road. I figured that a few miles in the back of that thing and kid
would have lost his lunch.
At that point, I just figure she needed anything that was going to
roll and meet her price point. Off to Huyndai for a ride in what
could not be any worse than what Honda and Toyota had to offer in
build materials. She looked at the Sonata. Drove it and was happy,
but the ride is vomit inducing from the back seat. Used car, but
not worth having to worry about the technicolor rainbows as you
drove. I said to look at the Genesis. She was not going to spend
that much on that quality of a marque.
SWMBA wandered around and I pointed the sales guy at the Azera. He
found one that had been used as Demo and was selling as new with all
the warranty and such. She liked it enough to make the poor sales
people dance around while we just looked at them from the other side
of the desk and muttered when they made offers. She made them go
up the line to the store manager to get the most screaming deal they
would be willing to make. They included the first 50k miles of
service free, increased the warranty to 120 months/100k miles
bumper to bumper and came in under $20K.
I now have to prep the E300D for back up use, and she is driving
this boat. Sort of craptacular, but no worse than a Government
Motors or other mid size sedan on the market in that price range.
Will be worth nothing in 10 years, but she will be happy until
then. And I still get to drive Gump.
clay
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_______________________________________
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For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
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To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
