My New Car! (Yep - Another One)

I had my sporty Mazda Rx-8 for 5 (mostly) wonderful years. The serious flaw to my wonderful car? Well, there's really not one unless you live in a part of the world in which it snows a lot. Welcome to Boston where it snows a lot. A rear wheel drive car is not what you want to be stuck in when there are multiple inches of unplowed snow on the ground.

Last year, we had a nasty, unfortunately timed, snowstorm that left the streets completely gridlocked and the plows unable to clear the roads. I was in that gridlock, along with many others, and after getting my car pushed several times and my gas light showing that I wasn't going to last longer in the traffic, I seriously considered abandoning my car (as many people did that day) and walking the 4 miles home. In a stroke of luck, I turned around and found a different route that got me home safely. However, the scary experience stuck with me and I have just not been able to drive my car on a snow day since. Obviously, a little bit of an issue where I live.

So, now with the additional issue of a baby on the way, it was time to get an all wheel drive car for me. After shopping around for a long time and test driving about 10 cars (and having to deal with car salesman for almost every single one of those), I chose what I wanted. Then for bargaining.

You would think, in this day and age of car companies going under, this wouldn't be difficult. However, about 4 different Nissan dealerships made it extremely difficult for me to get a fair deal so it made the process extremely frustrating and tiring. Most of this happened before we left for PR. This is what happened this week.

Monday night we went to car dealership #3, title to my car in hand, insurance binder ready, Internet quote agreed upon and checkbook open. I still left without a car. We couldn't get anywhere close to what we wanted for a trade in. Oh, and I guess it's worth mentioning that we had to spend an hour of craziness jumping the car to take it in (wouldn't work, jumped with alarm going off, calls made to dealership to problem solve, etc)...ugh! One of the "quirks" of the design of my car is that it's "meant to be driven" and the battery will be drain if not driven for, let's say, a week while you're on vacation.

Tuesday, Mike took my RX8 to another dealership to see what they could do for us. Still no dice. I contacted my Mazda dealership and they said they did buy backs, so Mike then took it there. They gave us, by far, the best price yet so Mike sold them the car on the spot and I took a lunch break to go pick him up.

Once I got to the dealership, Mike let me know that we had to head down the street to their sister Nissan dealership to pick up the check. Um, hello, Nissan dealership? I had no idea they were associated with one. My Mazda dealership has been great to me over the last 5 years so we had them set us up with folks to talk to once we got over there. Sure enough, we were easily able to come to terms with them on a deal and signed the paperwork! Of course, they didn't have the car in stock and had to track it down, but by Thursday, I was driving my new car!

2009 Nissan Murano LE with Navigation and Dual Moon Roof

So far, I absolutely love it and am more impressed with the options and handling every time I get in the car. Can't wait to take you for a ride!