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In Between...
Aug. 16th, 2008 04:54 pmOn today's list of cars that were test driven:
Saturn Astra
Kia Spectra
Toyota Corolla
Volkswagen Jetta
They all have their strong points and their down sides, go figure.
The Astra actually compared favourably with the Mazda 3 which surprised me. I wasn't expecting it to. The Jetta as well. The Spectra is not at all half-bad for the price - it's the cheapest of the lot. But it doesn't have some of the advanced features I'm inclined to include this time around. (If it had been an option the last time I was buying a car - oh yeah, it would have been prime number one choice.) The Corolla is a really comfortable car to drive. I thought the Jetta was a little noisy when I was riding in it, compared to some of the others. At least on the highway. The Kia salesguy was the only one who wouldn't let me go on the highway. He said if I decided it was the right choice and wanted to finalize, maybe then. Hrmph. The Jetta guy just handed me the keys and let me go. I went for a good solid half hour drive in the Jetta, which was nice. It handles really well and is made of titanium or something. (Galvanized steel maybe? It's heavy anyway.)
If I had to pick a favourite out of today's ... huh. The Jetta and the Astra are kind of up there with the Mazda 3. The Corolla I'm going to include for comparison purposes because it really is a comfortable ride even if it's not as peppy and doesn't have the same coolness factor. Yes, I know, at my age, there is still a coolness factor - deal with it, people.
The problem with the Prius is that they're special order only. They're not really in the showrooms, there are no 2008s left (so I'm told up here in the Great White North), and the 2009s aren't available yet. Aggravating. And the Audi just is too much, if that makes sense?
But now I think it's time to get down to seriously comparing the models and everything. (Last call for suggestions for other cars I might like to try ... seriously.)
So, let me see, first draft of what to compare, not in any particular order:
price
warranty
features
fuel efficiency
safety
maintenance - required/cost
resale value
insurance cost
reliability
There - not a bad set of ideas to start wtih. We'll see how it goes...
Saturn Astra
Kia Spectra
Toyota Corolla
Volkswagen Jetta
They all have their strong points and their down sides, go figure.
The Astra actually compared favourably with the Mazda 3 which surprised me. I wasn't expecting it to. The Jetta as well. The Spectra is not at all half-bad for the price - it's the cheapest of the lot. But it doesn't have some of the advanced features I'm inclined to include this time around. (If it had been an option the last time I was buying a car - oh yeah, it would have been prime number one choice.) The Corolla is a really comfortable car to drive. I thought the Jetta was a little noisy when I was riding in it, compared to some of the others. At least on the highway. The Kia salesguy was the only one who wouldn't let me go on the highway. He said if I decided it was the right choice and wanted to finalize, maybe then. Hrmph. The Jetta guy just handed me the keys and let me go. I went for a good solid half hour drive in the Jetta, which was nice. It handles really well and is made of titanium or something. (Galvanized steel maybe? It's heavy anyway.)
If I had to pick a favourite out of today's ... huh. The Jetta and the Astra are kind of up there with the Mazda 3. The Corolla I'm going to include for comparison purposes because it really is a comfortable ride even if it's not as peppy and doesn't have the same coolness factor. Yes, I know, at my age, there is still a coolness factor - deal with it, people.
The problem with the Prius is that they're special order only. They're not really in the showrooms, there are no 2008s left (so I'm told up here in the Great White North), and the 2009s aren't available yet. Aggravating. And the Audi just is too much, if that makes sense?
But now I think it's time to get down to seriously comparing the models and everything. (Last call for suggestions for other cars I might like to try ... seriously.)
So, let me see, first draft of what to compare, not in any particular order:
price
warranty
features
fuel efficiency
safety
maintenance - required/cost
resale value
insurance cost
reliability
There - not a bad set of ideas to start wtih. We'll see how it goes...
