A new car!!

That's right folks, I have a new car. A few weeks ago I intended to blog about my search for a new car, but unfortunately never took the time to do so. I was even going to put a poll so you could vote on which car I should get. Yeh, that didn't happen either.

Jeff had been hounding me to start thinking about getting a new car for a while. The Cavalier is 7 years old and starting to show some age. I thought that with buying a new house and all, we shouldn't be spending the money on a new car. But when one of the brackets holding my muffler broke or came loose, I changed my mind. The constant rattle was driving me batty. Jeff even pulled out the (teal) zip-ties and ghetto fixed it for a while but they either melted or stretched out cause the rattle came back.

I went into the car search wanting something practical, yet fun. And I was really hoping for the color to be orange. So, naturally, I gravitated toward the Mazdas, specifically the Mazda 3 Wagon, and the copper red color it comes in. Also, the Wagon version reminded me of the old Civic Hatchbacks, which I really liked.

Jeff of course was leaning towards a Toyota (no need to explain that one), so I wanted to check out the Matrix as well.

The Scion tC was another car I put on the list too. I wasn't really looking for a 2-door car, but liked the look of the tC and wanted to check it out.

We test drove all 3 one Saturday afternoon. I was pretty nervous about that part at first. I've never particularly liked driving with other people in the car, especially strangers so I wasn't looking forward to the test drives. Luckily, both dealerships allowed us to take the car out on our own. I guess we looked like responsible adults, not just crazy kids. That was a relief, and made testing the car out and getting a feel for it easier.

The Mazda, outside, was just what I was looking for; I loved the hatchback rear and the spacious passenger and cargo areas. The interior detail however, was not so impressive. The seat fabric comes in 2 colors: black with blue accents or black with red accents. Neither were really great, and the fabric, I thought, was kind or scratchy, and cheap feeling. It was probably meant to be a durable, rugged look, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Rubbed, get it? Fabric rubbed? Nevermind.

It drove and handled great, no complaints there. The dash layout/functionality left something to be desired. We never did figure out how to operated the radio during the test drive. It's this weird one knob does everything set up. I guess that's what they make manuals for though.

The next car we drove was the tC. Unfortunately for me, it started raining while I was on the interstate. But, it was a good way to test how it did in the rain. The tC had a more sportscar feel than the Mazda, but, obviously, it being a 2-door car, had less passenger/cargo space. And it didn't come in orange.

The interior however, was great. The seats were so comfortable and the detail out into the dash, and cup holders, even the change tray, was amazing. For a cheap car, it had some great features.

We drove the Matrix next, also in some rain. After driving the other 2 cars, I was hoping the Matrix would be the perfect blend of the functionalty the Mazda Wagon had, and the comfortable interior the tC had. Unfortunately, it had neither.

Yes, it is a wagon, but the rear passenger area seemed very cramped. The dash wasn't as 'fancy' and the engine was terribly loud. Overall, very disappointed in the Matrix.

Not having any other cars I was really interested in, I went back and forth for a long time between the Mazda 3 Wagon and the Scion tC and made (mental) pros and cons lists for each car.

...
Eventually I decided I wanted to pursue the tC. We went back to McGeorge and talked with our sales rep about finding one in the area in the color I wanted, Flint Mica, or just ordering one from Toyota. He indicated they were to get another allotment soon, so he would let us know what he could find out.

Last Monday, when Jeff called him, we found out that another customer backed out ona car that had been ordered for him so they had one sitting on the lot to sell. The only problem was it had a lot of extras we didn't want. The sales rep was going to talk to his manager about taking some of it off, and selling us the car.

By Friday we hadn't heard from him. Jeff called again to find out what was up and was told our car had been ordered and it would be in at the end of the month. Frustrated by this guy's lack of communication, Jeff called up McDonough Toyota, in Staunton. He had seen a Flint Mica tC on their inventory sheet and wanted to know more about it.

Turns out it was the exact car we wanted. We talked about it and decided to tell McGeorge to give us our deposit back and take our name off the car that was being ordered. We had given them a week to find a car in the area, and Jeff had even mentioned the one at McDonough. Not really sure what happened there.

So Saturday we drove to Staunton and bought a car.

As sad as I am about giving up the Cavalier, I love my new car. It has a double sunroof, radio controls on the steering wheel, and a little hook thing to hold the floor mat in place! I know, but it's the little things. :)

Having a 2-door car is going to take some getting used to, but I think I can do it.

Oh! Two more things, McDonough gave us $250 more than either McGeorge or CarMax would, for the Cavalier. And I got a $100 gift card to Sheetz. It was definitely worth the drive.