Technology and Cars
Trying to choose a car now is like trying to choose which electronics store you want to support. Shall we follow the GPS herd or just pick a vehicle with OnStar and hope that it will find us if we are lost and send help with electronic bread crumbs.
I went looking for a car for my senior citizen mother recently. I had a specific car in mind. One I would fit in. I’m a big guy and I wanted to find a fuel efficient car for not a lot of money. I live in a town where most dealerships are represented but all of them are shy on cars.
Here’s what I went through to make a buying decision.
I started out in sequence, as I am a person who likes to do things in a logical order. I started with my local Hyundai Dealership. The salesman did his best to sell me an Elantra, but it simply did not fit. He then showed me a new Sonata which fit, but simply was priced way above what I wanted to spend. I left feeling a bit disappointed, because I knew I had to continue on.
I next went to one of several local Chevrolet Dealerships. This salesman laughed at me and told me there was no way I could get anything new for what I wanted to spend. He then ran me around his lot four different ways in a golf cart showing me the 3 ragged out Impalas he had available. I finally ordered him to return me to the showroom and left, fully disgusted.
I bypassed Ford completely. Two cars worth of bad treatment by several Ford Dealerships guaranteed I would never buy another.
I next went to Toyota and they told me unless I bought a Suburban style vehicle, I would never fit in any of their cars.
Kia drove me around in a vehicle I was ready to buy, but then they decided to play hardball in the price negotiation. .
Nissan had nothing I could fit in and they were too expensive anyway.
I hit three more Chevy Dealers and hit 1 new salesman that was clueless, a dealership that wanted to sell me a white car after I told them I did not want white or black, and a third dealership who had a returned 2009 that came back 3 days after its original sale. No thanks!
I went to a second Toyota Dealer and they tried to sell me a Kia.
So after reading volumes of information on the Internet about various vehicles, I went back to the Original Hyundai Dealership looking for a used Tucson. I did not fit in that and nor did I fit in their Sante Fe. I was about to give up and walk away when he suggested I try a used Sonata, they had just gotten in on a lease return.
I tried it. While it is not as comfortable as I would have liked, it was acceptable. It had all the standard features and some that make it really cool to drive. It has a fast start from go and accelerates quickly. It also has traction control which makes winter driving something to look forward to, instead of something to avoid. Add to that Cruise control and other fun features and it makes for a nice car. Plus, it had BY FAR the least problems reported by owners of ALL the the cars I looked at.
Anyway, mom got the car and we are looking forward to a life without the Ford. There’s a running joke about Ford. Found On Road Dead. People used to claim that about their cars, but I think it also applies to the drivers who have to deal with rude insufferable employees and policies of FORD while owning the car. Time to go drive the car.
A NOTE TO ALL CAR BRANDS!
No one bigger than a Munchkin from OZ can fit in these damn cockpit driver side designs with the floor shifters and huge center consoles! KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!
Update 01-12-2010:
Hyundai service has been expensive and a total drag.
They lied to us and told us 30,000 maintenance had been done on the car. Only part had been done. It was over $100 to get transmission fluid changed two weeks after purchase. Only after I raised cain did they cut the price to half. Like they were doing us a favor after lying to us.
Three trips to the Dealership to find a nail in the front tire, they kept blowing the issue off as weather caused tire pressure changes. They soaked us $20 to pull the nail and plug the tire.
(A note to the US Government. These over sensative tire pressure sensors are a P.I.T.A)
Three trips to get defective trunk lid pistons replaced.
The loose track rails on the driver seat were verified by service and then denied when I reported the issue to Hyundai Corporate. The seat rocks front to back on every acceleration and deceleration.
Also, the car has the same type of electronic fuel control that the Toyota’s have that have caused crashes.
The loose seat and the fuel control are both being reported to NTSA as safety issues.
Last but not least, calling Hyundai Corporate is a waste of time.
It’s a bunch of 12 years olds in a phone room in Utah.