DaddyBear’s Den

Automotive Rumblings

So, in a few weeks, I’ll have a brand spanking new Subaru Crosstrek. First Japanese car I’ve ever owned. I’ll have to explain that to my great grandfather next time I see him.

I looked at the Forrester and Outback, but would have been waiting almost until April for one to come onto the lot that hasn’t been bought already.

Volkswagen lost out because they didn’t have a Jetta for me to test drive and wouldn’t have one until February, at the earliest.

Toyota lost out because I got snotty responses from both dealerships when I asked about Camry availability over the phone.

Honda lost out because all SEVEN salesmen who responded, repeatedly, to my internet query acted like that girl in high school who was just a little too driven to have a date for the Sadie Hawkins ball. In this market, if you’re that desperate to sell a car, something’s going on there, and I didn’t like the Accord I got as a rental last year enough to go into the dealership to look at them in that climate.

Chevy, Jeep, and Chrysler lost out because I’m not paying what they want for what they have to sell. I also took a peek at Volvo, Audi, and Mercedes, had a good laugh, and closed those webpages.

Ford had first pick, but they don’t make cars anymore. They make Mustangs, trucks, and malformed minivans. I have a truck, can’t fit my kid in the back of a Mustang, and already know how their crossovers look and feel. Plus, all of the reports I’m seeing of Fords getting sold missing parts put me off the brand this time around.

The Subaru salesman was a laid back dude, mid-twenties, who was cool with taking me for a test drive in their base model and shooting the shit for 15 minutes before being patient with me for an hour as we looked at all the options.

Did I strike a good bargain? Probably not. It’s a seller’s market, and he’s selling cars before they leave the factory. I got a couple of deals on add-ons, but that’s about it.

If I had waited 6 months, I think things would have been different. Things are starting to trend down in the economy, and new cars are the first things that take a hit and go on sale.

But, I need a good, reliable car for commuting and for a couple of long road trips coming up, and the cost of a rental for said trips was just a tad more than 10% of the purchase cost of a new car in the class I was looking for. The truck is 10 years old, has small nagging things, and the big nagging things are soon to come.

One good thing Subaru did was not tack several thousand dollars onto the purchase price because their cars are popular. Several other brands around here are doing that. So, they got struck from the list entirely.

Now, I just have to come up with a cool name for it. The truck is WeissTod, so the silver Subaru needs something with style.