Car Shopping
May. 10th, 2021 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerSaturday morning Hawk and I set out to go car shopping. Late last week we learned our 2008 BMW convertible needs expensive repairs. it's old so it's probably cheaper in the long run to replace it than repair it.
Normally car shopping is something I'd approach with gusto. I enjoy reading about cars, looking up options, visiting lots, and test driving vehicles. This time, though, I barely wanted to go. I was still miffed about the sudden imperative to spend many thousands of dollars I hadn't intended to spend right now.
Hawk wanted to get it over with, though. She drove us out to a dealership in Fremont, where there's a 2018 model similar to ours. I sat in the passenger seat, dejected the whole ride. But once we got on the lot and started checking out the new car, something good happened.
![Test driving a BMW 230 convertible [May 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/717506/717506_original.jpg "Test driving a BMW 230 convertible [May 2021]")
The new car fit. First, it fit size-wise. Many other cars we looked at are materially larger than ours. We don't want a bigger car. Ours is the right size for us. Sure, we'd take a few extra inches of length if it appeared in the right places, like making the trunk a bit more spacious, but not 10 inches overall. Or 12. Or 20. Just walking around the car we felt a sense of familiarity. That continued as we sat inside. Everything was right at hand and where we're used to finding it.
Next, speaking of sitting inside, the seats were comfortable for Hawk. That was a huge because when we test drove a 2019 model similar to this in 2019, she couldn't adjust the seats to get comfortable. Something about this 2018 model (we're looking 3-year-old lease returns in the certified pre-owned program) gives it seats that offer greater adjustment.
Finally, the car's not annoying to drive. When we test-drove a pair of 2019s two years ago I disliked the lag between pressing the throttle and getting acceleration, and the excessive number of informational icons on the dashboard that lit it up like a Christmas tree. This car had a bit of throttle lag, but not too much, and it had a not-garishly-distracting dashboard. Also, though many controls are integrated into the multiple menu levels of the computer display on the center console, a) commonly used controls like audio volume and temperature and fan settings have dedicated knobs and buttons, and b) Hawk quickly found that the center screen computer menu/navigation system can easily be switched completely off.
Update: continued in Car Shopping part 2 (Salespeople Still Mostly Suck).
Normally car shopping is something I'd approach with gusto. I enjoy reading about cars, looking up options, visiting lots, and test driving vehicles. This time, though, I barely wanted to go. I was still miffed about the sudden imperative to spend many thousands of dollars I hadn't intended to spend right now.
Hawk wanted to get it over with, though. She drove us out to a dealership in Fremont, where there's a 2018 model similar to ours. I sat in the passenger seat, dejected the whole ride. But once we got on the lot and started checking out the new car, something good happened.
The new car fit. First, it fit size-wise. Many other cars we looked at are materially larger than ours. We don't want a bigger car. Ours is the right size for us. Sure, we'd take a few extra inches of length if it appeared in the right places, like making the trunk a bit more spacious, but not 10 inches overall. Or 12. Or 20. Just walking around the car we felt a sense of familiarity. That continued as we sat inside. Everything was right at hand and where we're used to finding it.
Next, speaking of sitting inside, the seats were comfortable for Hawk. That was a huge because when we test drove a 2019 model similar to this in 2019, she couldn't adjust the seats to get comfortable. Something about this 2018 model (we're looking 3-year-old lease returns in the certified pre-owned program) gives it seats that offer greater adjustment.
Finally, the car's not annoying to drive. When we test-drove a pair of 2019s two years ago I disliked the lag between pressing the throttle and getting acceleration, and the excessive number of informational icons on the dashboard that lit it up like a Christmas tree. This car had a bit of throttle lag, but not too much, and it had a not-garishly-distracting dashboard. Also, though many controls are integrated into the multiple menu levels of the computer display on the center console, a) commonly used controls like audio volume and temperature and fan settings have dedicated knobs and buttons, and b) Hawk quickly found that the center screen computer menu/navigation system can easily be switched completely off.
Update: continued in Car Shopping part 2 (Salespeople Still Mostly Suck).
