enlightenment

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:20:27 -0500

Finally???....coming soon.

bandwagons

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:04:53 -0500

Or should I pronounce it with a French accent? The French, as always, hate being left out of a party. And this once trickle of a cool utility vehicles (CUVs) which has turned into a veritable tsunami of choices, was leaving the Frogs behind. And, as a gentleman from Marseille may have said years ago, “Sacrebleu, zat can not be!. We must be at zis party. We are French!” And so they have come.

First it was the Renault Koleos, a car we looked at on Feb. 11. But now Citroën and Peugeot are tagging along. And much to their regret, they don’t get to show up at the party in Paris, they have to dress up for the party in Geneva — the Geneva Auto Show. Too funny.

So although we’ll probably never see their fashion statements in the US, Citroën will be launching their C-Crosser and Peugeot will be introducing the 4007. We’ll wait and see how they stack up.

anticipation

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:43:36 -0500

Ah, yes. Anticipation. Or as the French would say it, anticipation. Or maybe more likely the Genevois. Those are people from Geneva, Switzerland. They are holding their Swiss breath in anticipation of the 78ème Salon de L’Auto, “one of the largest automotive extravaganzas on that side of the Atlantic”. And that’s not just me saying it, it’s a quote from somewhere. That’s why it has those little quote marks around it.

The Geneva Motor Show (not my translation -- a literal translation would be The Geneva Car Room, which is so underwhelming) holds a special place in my heart. When I used to live in Geneva, I would go to the show every year. No fourteen year old boy can live in Geneva and not go to the car show. My friends and I would plan the outing weeks in advance. Well, maybe not weeks, but certainly days. We were all consumed by the same drive that all fourteen year old boys have. Ogle at sleek cars? Nope. Drool at pretty car show ladies? Non. Grab more car stickers than you’ll ever need? Mais oui! Cars? We couldn’t afford them. The ladies? We were too young for them. But there were thousands of stickers to be had. We’d make a contest out of it. He who swiped the most stickers won the admiration of us all until the following year. Gavin Taylor usually won. He was amazing.

Anyway, fast forward thirty-three years to the present. I’m sure some things haven’t changed a bit — I’m guessing there will be stickers galore, and I’m sure Gavin will be out there swiping them. But none of that will matter. Mostly because I won’t be there. However, l’anticipation is reaching a fever pitch regarding the cars that will be presented for the first time. So far the limelight is being stolen by Les Allemands and their LEPV’s (Lorraine and Eddie Potential Vehicle): the Audi Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV), the Q5, and the BMW Sports Activity Coupe (SAC), the X6. We shall continue to report here.

You may be wondering why the show poster depicts a gigantic Orwellian-like eye instead of a sleek car. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they have installed two webcams (#1 and #2) high above the show floor so the entire world can watch it. It will be like being there. Well, except for the stickers.

perfect measurements: 49-26-45

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:03:56 -0500

As much as they remind me of Jayne Mansfield, a truly outstanding actress of her time, the measurements that I’m thinking about are measurements or dimensions that are going to be critical for our happiness with our purchase. How do I know this? Because Lorraine said so. Not in so many words, but she did come home the other day from a photo shooting trip with some friends who own a 2007 Nissan Murano. She said that one of the things she had really liked about their Murano, even if it’s not the 2009 model, (which we’re still waiting to see even though we are already 6 weeks into 2008) was that she had been able to lay flat her Beach Rolly in the cargo area without having to flatten seats. This was a Big Deal. But she didn’t say “Eddie, this is a Big Deal.” She just said it was really cool. The clue however was that she said it twice. That basically meant “Eddie, get your tape measure and make gosh darn sure that whatever car we get lets me lay flat my Beach Rolly in the cargo area without flattening any of the seats.”

I know some of you are asking, “What the heck is a Beach Rolly?!” And I would reply “Ha! You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter what a Beach Rolly is. The important question is ‘what are the dimensions of a Beach Rolly?’” And more importantly, is it taller than my golf bag.

So I pulled out my inch/centimeter tape measure (which are really, really hard to come by in the U.S.) and measured Lorraine’s Beach Rolly. A few more key measurements later and I had determined what the three critical measurements are for our future car: 49-26-45

-> Behold them here <-

fashion

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:28:34 -0500

I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, a Renault logo. Eddie and Lorraine went to go see a Renault! I can’t wait to read what they have to say about those cars from, um, let’s see.....they’re from Europe, right? They’re Ducth. From Denmark. No wait, they’re from Belgium. Well, it sounds Belgish. Is that the word, Belgish? What’s the word for things from Belgium? Like the chocolates. Belgian! That’s the ticket. Boy, those Belgians really know how to make good chocolates. Especially the dark chocolate with almonds. They’re as good as the Swiss...wait, is Renault from Switzerland? I guess I just haven’t seen any Renault dealerships in a while. There’s one down by...nope, that’s a Volvo dealership. So where the heck is there a Renault dealer?”

Yep, that’s what’s going through your mind. Well, don’t worry if you can’t remember where there is a nearby Renault dealer, or even where they are from. First, they are Français, as in French, from France. Yes, the French make cars. No, it’s not Canadian. Just French. Second, you haven’t seen a Renault dealer nearby because Les Français don’t sell cars in the U.S. Maybe they don’t think we’re worthy of driving French cars. Or maybe they got their teeth kicked in when did try to sell cars in the American market, just like Peugeot/Citröen did. (Do you even remember those?)

So why the Renault logo? Well, it’s because I did want to point out that even though Renault doesn’t sell cars here, they still seem to be paying close attention to market forces here. So much so, that they have been reading this blog and decided to come out with a premium crossover/SUV of their own. Leave it to the French to arrive to this upscale party fashionably late. Fashion is paramount to them, as you may recall. And food.

So they have announced the Koleos. Koleos? The French may know about fashion and food, but they know diddly about good marketing names. Geez. No wonder they couldn’t sell cars here.

In all fairness, Lorraine and I have a history with Renault. I learned to drive in a Renault. Yep, my first driving steps were taken in a Renault Cinq. And Lorraine had a Renault Cinq stolen. Neither of us have even sat in a Renault since those episodes, many years ago. Mostly because there are no dealers here in the U.S....

the whispers become screams

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:46:14 -0500

More and more people are hearing the crescendo voices that this website has helped raise. Now Consumer Reports is telling the world that the next big thing is small, luxury SUV’s. However, do note that the date on their ‘epiphany’ is January 16, 2008. That’s like a whole three weeks after we started to note on this website that there is a demand out there for that type of vehicle. So in the future, if you want a blog that really identifies the cutting edge trends in the Crossover/SUV/SAV/PUV/PAV* market, read it here.

*Personal Utility Vehicle and Personal Activity Vehicle -- hey, don’t shoot the messenger, I just report the acronyms.

more listeners

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 08:33:44 -0500

Well, that didn’t take long...

Another car show, another manufacturer that is reading our blog and paying heed. This time it’s Lexus. They’ve added their name to the long list of manufacturers that will be coming out with new premium compact SUV/Crossovers/SAV options in the near future. Currently they’ve just made an announcement of their intent, but when they saw the exposure their competitors got on this blog, they couldn’t wait any longer.

So will we be waiting for all these new, amazing cars to come out? Not unless they pay Lorraine lots of money.

But while we wait for the fabled 2009 Nissan Murano LE to show up in some showroom, we (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’) will be checking out the announcements made at the major car shows. This month it’s Chicago and early next month is the very important Geneva Motor Show as well as the New York Car Show. I wonder if Lorraine would want to go to that?...

it coulda ben a contenda’ or is it the end?

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:21:08 -0500

Up the street from Land Rover was one of those multiple car dealers. You know the type, they sell many brands of completely unrelated vehicles as if someone had been randomly giving out brand licenses to the person who was standing first in line. These multiple brand dealers offer the convenience of checking out an elegant $300,000 Bentley and then turning around and then checking out a $22,000 Mini Cooper. If you’re a good negotiator, if you buy the fully loaded Bentley (is there any other kind?) they’ll just throw in the Mini Cooper. Literally, they’ll pick it up and throw it in the trunk. See? Convenient.

This particular multiple dealer represented Suzuki, Subaru and Isuzu. One thing in common among these three brands is that they all contain the syllable “su”. Other than that, it was hard to figure out why all three brands were under the same roof. You might think that Lorraine wanted to see the Subarus again or that she wanted to check out a Isuzu truck, but you’d be wrong. She wanted to see the Suzuki Grand Vitara. And no, I do not know what a vitara is, much less a grand vitara. All I was wondering was, as I drove into the dealer, was whether or not they would have salespeople. But my concerns were washed away as we were greeted as we exited our car.

Lorraine told the guy she wanted to see a Suzuki Grand Vitara, he nodded and took her straight to a Subaru Forester. And she started checking it out. So did I for that matter. It looked nicer than what we recalled from that first encounter on that dark from what seemed weeks ago. Wait, it was weeks ago. As Lorraine started thinking well of the car we were looking at, I had to remind her it wasn’t the car we came to see. I knew it wasn’t a good sign for the Gand Vitara that Lorraine was already showing more interest in a car she had already seen than in seeing the car she came to see in the first place. Begrudgingly, like a digital photographer being pulled out of B&H in New York, she exited the Forester and we were guided to the Grand Vitara.

So here’s a question for car manufacturers out there. How is it that premium voitures like the BMW X3 and the Land Rover LR2 don’t have intelligent keys or iPod integration but un-premium cars like the Grand Vitara have both? That doesn’t make any sense. And a question for Suzuki: Look, guys, if you’re going to offer intelligent keys and iPod integration, would it kill you to also offer a navigation system? Wouldn’t that make sense? OK, that’s two questions, but you get my point.

All kidding aside, this was an interesting car in that if offered a lot for relatively little. In the end, the navigation system, or lack thereof, and its underpowerment (yes, I know that’s not a word) killed it for us. But as with the case of the Hyundai Tucson, my respect goes out to any car manufacturer with a 100,000 mile warranty on their powertrain. These guys even go one step further, the warranty is transferable if you sell the car. That statement alone just sold a bunch of cars for Suzuki. You’re welcome guys.

We asked some more questions about other cars, but it was all small talk really. On the surface we were talking cars, but deeper down we were just realizing the long, arduous car search journey was coming to an end. No more new cars to check out, no more glossy brochures to collect, no more unexpected surprises from car salesmen, no more new dealer visit blog entries. It was like, as they say, graduation day — happy, yet sad.

Our task now was to analyze, think, and wait for someone in Florida to actually receive a 2009 Nissan Murano LE so we could actually check it out. Until then we were going to have to figure out what else to do in our spare time.

a new bar in soft sell and seats

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:19:33 -0500

Ah, Sunday. A time for rest, a time for pondering, a time to see cars. On our way back from The North back to Latin America, we decided to visit the only British car manufacturer on our list. We’d heard from a number of people that Land Rovers aren’t the most reliable cars, but given Lorraine is one fourth British, we ignored them.

We found out Land Rover had moved when we got to the dealer. There were selling Ferrari’s now. Didn’t know what to make of that. For our second attempt, we did what most bipeds with the ability to learn do -- we called ahead. Once we got directions, we made it fine, sans an electronic navigation system I may add.

As always, we entered a showroom full of spanking new, shiny cars. A receptionist asked if we wanted to see a salesman. How civil, how absolutely British. We stated we did and she said it would be a couple of minutes. Lorraine told me she’d be right back and I went to the coffee machine to pour myself some horribly tasting coffee. Yep, the British don’t know how to make coffee even here in Florida.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Lorraine came back.

Waiting.

She went to look at cars and I stayed waiting.

Waiting.

I went to join Lorraine where I figured I could start evaluating the LR2 while we waited. I opened the passenger door, got in, sat down, and immediately realized that the British may not know anything about coffee, but boy do they know how to make comfortable car seats, complete with adjustable arm rests. I felt like I was sitting in one of those cushy seats in the business class section of British Airways. I’m guessing some people buy the car just because of this one feature.

Lorraine kept asking questions about the car, and I kept answering them as fast as I could look them up in the brochure we had procured. She did ask a couple of questions I didn’t have answers to, but can you blame me? My experience with the car was limited to the last 30 minutes.

After a few more minutes, we gave up on the salesman showing up. We had seen what we wanted to see and were ready to leave.

Could we be done? Could this be it? Could we have finally seen everything?

Nope. Uno mas.

ipod epiphany

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:20:05 -0500

We exited BMW and drove down the street for about 300 feet and we swung into Infiniti, sans the tire screeching this time. Infiniti is not a tire screeching kind of place. One of the first things you notice when you walk into the showroom is that it reminds you that you are very far away from Calle Ocho. It looks nothing like Calle Ocho, so the sights, sounds and yes, the cafetín smells are all different. Actually, there are no cafetín smells because there is no cafetín, but the do have a rather upscale coffee/pastry shop.

We had told the salesguy who had met with us last time that we were planning on stopping by. They paged him and he came to greet us. Then he told us that he was with another customer and introduced us to the guy who was going to help us. Our guy gave him very detailed instructions as to which EX35 he was to show us, and gave him the precise car ID number so I guess he could get the parking spot location and the key or something.

We walked out with him and he promptly was unable to find the car we were looking for. Sure, there were a good ten EX35’s there, but we couldn’t get into any of them because, you guessed it, he didn’t have the key. He told us he’d be back with the key.

His boss was the one that came back. I’m wondering if that guy who went to get the key is still working at Infiniti... With our care in the hands of the boss, we proceeded to have one of the most impressive car experiences we’ve ever had. Certainly the best in this journey (no pun intended, given the EX35 model we were looking at is called Journey). This guy was simply a-mazing. His demeanor, his knowledge, his comments, everything was impressive. Especially his knowledge of the car.

We had come mainly with one thing in mind: we wanted to see if the EX35’s interaction with an iPod was all it was cracked up to be. We wanted to be blown away by ‘full iPod integration’. Our host pulled out the special iPod integration cable that came with the EX35, plugged it into the iPod, the other end into the EX35, turned on the car with the push of a button, turned on the stereo, pushed another button and boom! there it was, “Lorraine’s iPod” in blazing color glory on the EX35 screen. All the playlists, song names, etc. were within command of the buttons on the steering wheel. It was so complete and easy. I was blown away. I hadn’t been as impressed with the marriage of two technologies since the time I slid a CD into a Mac with iTunes and saw iTunes recognize the CD, look it up somewhere on the Internet, and then automagically download the song titles, artist names and the album cover. “This” we thought “makes a big difference.”

“And the iPod is being recharged anytime it’s plugged in.” chimed in our host. Had he been in the passenger seat instead of in the back, I think Lorraine would have kissed him. Heck, I would have kissed him.

The rest of the Journey (pun intended that time) was equally impressive. The walk-through of how the intelligent key works made us wonder why all cars don’t have it. The car even recognizes which of two keys is being used and automatically adjusts the seats, steering wheel, and mirrors.

We would have been ready for a test drive but we had to get going. We had a surprise party that we had to get to. I’m guessing we shall return for the test drive.

unplugged stadium seats and questioning gods

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:59:59 -0500

We were on our way to a overnight surprise birthday party way up North so we figured we’d pay a visit to our Northern car dealers while we were up there. So we packed our bags, the birthday present, tons of car magazines and buying guides, our passports, and Lorraine’s photo equipment, all the time thinking that if the Audi Cabriolet had lots more trunk space, we wouldn’t need all the trunk space to pack all the car magazines and buying guides.

The first dealer we hit was BMW because as we were driving to Infiniti it popped out of nowhere on our right, and prompted on by my very vocal navigation system, I tested the limits of said Audi Cabriolet’s turning capabilities. The screeching may have turned a few heads, but they all probably thought I was a BMW driver wannabe.

Speaking of BMW drivers, I think the biggest problem BMW had, even before we walked into the showroom, was expectations. Expectations run high with this brand. Given it’s so ‘brandy’ we didn’t even think about testing out a BMW until after we saw a number of X3’s on the road and commented that they were just the right size. If they have the right size SUV, we deduced the rest was a piece of cake since we figured BMW is not going to skimp on features.

A friendly salesguy greeted as we glanced interestingly at the BMW 328xi Touring (‘touring’ is the BMW way of saying ‘wagon’). We explained our wants, and when he understood we were looking for a compact SUV with a bunch of nice features, I think he automatically thought that the X3 was going to be a done deal, mostly because supposedly it’s a compact SUV with a bunch of nice features.

We got into the X3. Thunk. Ouch. Wow, the seat was hard. I felt like I had just plopped down on a leather covered bench at the Miami Dolphins stadium, curved but rock hard. I didn’t know how to react to this. The “ultimate driving machine”? Heck, if I had to drive while sitting on this bench for more than twenty minutes, I’d have a serious butt ache.

Given we weren’t impressed with the rock hard seats, we started asking questions about the many nice features we were expecting from this ultimate driving machine.

Does it have a power lift gate?
No.

Intelligent key?
Nope.

Push button start?
Nein.

OK, does it have iPod integration, you know, so we can control our iPod from the steering wheel?
Again, nein.

But this one gets better. Even though it doesn’t offer iPod integration, the guy started explaining that there is an auxiliary jack so you can plug any “MP3 player” (honestly, do BMW owners have music player other than iPods?), and listen to it via the speakers. He was explaining this as if we should have been saying, “Ooooooooo. Ahhhhhhh.” He was puzzled we weren’t. We were both sitting up front so we started looking for this ‘miraculous’ jack he was talking about. “Oh no,” he explained from the back seat, “the jack is here.” Craning our necks back, we could see he was pointing to a jack behind us, close to the floor in the back. “You plug it here.”

I actually thought he was joking. But instead of saying, “Are you joking?” I said, “So we have to plug it back there and bring the cable up front?”

He didn’t answer, but his expression told me I had just stated the obvious. So I tried a different tactic. “Why did they (and by ‘they’ I meant ‘those idiots in some automotive design room in Bavaria’) decide to put the jack back there instead of up here where it’s located in every other car we’ve seen?”

At this point I think we lost him. We had just questioned the BMW Gods, and by virtue of questioning Them, we obviously were not BMW People. In technical terms, I guess we weren’t BMW-compliant.

And I think that was it for the X3. But we weren’t quite finished being surprised by BMW. We did ask to see the BMW 328xi Touring we had noticed outside, although we called it the ‘small wagon’, a fact that probably upset the BMW Gods a bit more.

He started showing us the Touring. The seats weren’t rock hard. Next he started demonstrating the intelligent key and push button start. “They have intelligent keys and push button start on this wagon (rolls of thunder above)but not on the X3?” I asked. He looked at me like I’m someone who catches on quickly as opposed to someone who questions stupidity. And then he explained how there is [I’ll pause for a moment for effect.......... wait for it..........] iPod integration in the Touring. “They have iPod integration in this wagon (louder thunder claps) but not in the X3? Why do they do that?” Again, I was questioning the BMW Gods. And that was probably it for me.

It turned out after all, that the “really nice” features of the X3 were all put into the wagon and all that’s left of ‘nice features’ in the X3 are the“BMW” emblems all over the place.

Next stop, a re-visit to our friends at Infiniti.

we're baaaaaaaaack!

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:48:17 -0500

At 9:15 I called the guy. Receptionist said he wasn’t there. Did I want his voicemail? Sure. It was full. Called at 9:45. Receptionist said he wasn’t there. Did I sant his voicemail? Nope. Left a message. He called back ten minutes later. “I have The Key,” he said. Sounded like some kind of code word. I told him I’d be there within the hour.

Not only did I see the Tiguan’s innards about an hour later, I went back that evening with Lorraine to see it all over again. The did a really good job with the Tiguan’s external looks. They achieved a cool, slightly ‘angry’ look that has a certain unique umph as opposed to all the smoothness exhibited by other cars like the CR-V, CX-7 or the RAV4. I even took some really mediocre pictures with my cell phone. -> click here <-

But inside it was even better. Once again, like all German cars, it looked very German. Really liked all the circular vents -- very retro, as opposed to all the rectangular ones you see these days. The dual climate control could be toggled from dual to single. Made me wonder if that’s possible in other cars. The guy told us that fully loaded it was going to be about $30K. Looking around inside I said to myself that this was definitely going to give the CR-V, CX-7, etc. a real run for their money.

For Lorraine the purse placement was less than ideal.

We also checked out the Jetta Sportwagen. Yes, I said Sportwagen. Did I stutter? The one they have was on site today. Bright, bright red. It’s the only one. It looked a bit like someone had put at Passat wagon’s tail pipe to their mouth and inflated it a bit. The Sportwagen was a more rounded version of the Passat. And as much as my male genes are resistant to wagons, I have to admit that the Sportswagen had the best thought out cargo area I’ve seen yet. Golf club bags could easily fit across -- fifty inches, I measured it, twice. Forget doing that on the Tiguan (41 inches). And you can barely do it on the Touareg 2 (45 inches). The cargo area was also very deep. Amazingly deep for a relatively small wagon. And underneath the cargo floor was an organization tray for store stuff. I wish they had this kind of intelligent cargo space in the other cars we’ve seen.

At the end of our visit, the incredibly insightful salesman commented, “I already have to two pegged. You’re the very analytical types. You like to take your time evaluating things.” Boy, he came up with that and he doesn’t even know about this website.

So we’re doing as he suggested. We’re seriously considering our VW options, and since he said the Sportswagen and the Tiguan won’t be here until late March, we’ve got time.

a different one and only...oh yes, and umbrella holders

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:03:00 -0500

On the way home, on our left, we saw another one of those blindingly bright car dealer lots, a VW dealer. Lorraine asked, “Are we missing any cars from there?” and I said, “Well, they only had one Passat Wagon at the other VW we went to, they had no Jetta SportsWagens (I said that with a bit of a German accent, as I’ve read it should be done) and who knows when the Tiguan will come out.”

Paying absolutely no heed to my negativity, “Well, let’s go! Turn left here!” was her energetic response. I dutifully obeyed my very vocal navigation system.

We were greeted at the entrance by, you guessed it, a male receptionist. He inquired as to how he could help us, if we needed sales assistance. I asked, sort of under my breath, “Do you know when they’re going to get the Tiguans?” He was taken aback. His eyes glanced side to side, as if he was seeing if he was being watched. He leaned forward. “We have one. Maybe two. I’ve seen them.” he said in a hushed whisper, as if he had witnessed himself the proverbial water that had turned into wine.

Wow.

Again, wow.

A salesman came out and confirmed that the Tiguan sighting was in fact, real. Yes, they have a Tiguan, but it wasn’t really theirs. It belonged to The Company, he told me. He said it as if one had to beware of those in power at The Company, even if I don’t think he meant the CIA*. He led us to the elevator and pressed the top floor, the fourth. Lots and lots of VW’s and one Tiguan. White. Right size. Looked great.

Wow. Today we were actually in the presence of what I think is the only Tiguan in Florida! Maybe the entire Southeast. We even touched it. Well, at least I did. I’m not sure if Lorraine did. It’s being used to film some kind of commercials in the US, and they happened to have at the VW dealer that we just happened to walk into tonight.

BUT, we couldn’t get inside. The only person with the key to this one and only, very, very special Tiguan was The Manager. (I spell it with a capital M because that’s the way our friendly salesman seemed to pronounce it.) It was like taking Lorraine to her favorite restaurant, Les Halles, and telling her, “Madame, ve can show you les pommes frites.”

HOWEVER, the sales guy did say that if we called him tomorrow morning, he might be able to let us see it inside. So I’ll call him early.

And as to not make the Jetta Sportswagens of the world feel slighted, we asked the salesman about them too. He winked at me and said, “We have one of those too, but it’s not here right now. Maybe I can show it to you tomorrow too.”

Wow, wow.

But for the time being we were more than happy to have him show us the Passat Wagon they had. They had one. (Are we surprised?) Just like other German cars, it was, umm, very German, and it was just like the other Passat we had seen. However, we were told about a great feature we didn’t know about. Actually, I don’t think it’s in any of the literature. On the side of the driver door, there is a long hole. We were told it’s an umbrella holder.

I’ll pause as I let the coolness sink in.

[pause]

Next we saw the inside of a regular Jetta car, not the wagon. Jetta is a lower grade of VW. And when Lorraine stepped out, her face indicated that things didn’t bode well for the Jetta Sportswagen.

We were ready to leave. It had been an amazingly productive evening. We had seen six cars. OK, five and a half since we hadn’t seen the inside of the Tiguan. Still, very productive.

And now to wait breathlessly for tomorrow’s potential viewing of the Tiguan.

*Inside the Company: CIA Diary by Philip Agee

the very first one

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:03:17 -0500

Next stop was yet another Nissan dealer, chock full of 2007 Nissan Muranos. But we didn’t want to see the 2007 Murano. We wanted to see the 2009 Murano. Yes, you read correctly, it’s January of 2008 and Nissan just came out with the 2009 model. It was starting to hit the dealers this week.

We inquired about it to the salesguy who introduced himself and he said, “Yes, we have two!” as if that was very superior to any other Nissan dealer in the US. We figured he’d show us some special, raised, rotating platform upon which the brand new car was parked, but no. He led the way to the back of the showroom, past some offices, out the door, to the dark part of the parking lot.

It was starting to drizzle so he quickly hustled us all the way to the end where he pointed out a car and said, “This is one of them.” But before we could even begin to think how great it looked, he ran over to take cover from the drizzle in a garage bay nearby. He crossed his arms and looked out at us from afar.

Lorraine and I didn’t know what to make of it. “Um, is he going to open the car for us?” I said out loud. “Maybe it’s open.” We tried. Guess what. It wasn’t. We shouted out to him, “CAN WE GET INSIDE?” He looked genuinely surprised, like if we were the first people to ask to look at the inside of a car! He actually shouted back, “YOU WANT TO SEE IT INSIDE?” At this point I actually thought he was kidding.

But he wasn’t. He shouted that he had to go get the keys and he’d be right back.

The rest of the visit went normally. Cool car. Lots and lots of cool stuff. Power rear seats, power lift gate, intelligent key, and all that stuff. But when Lorraine saw that they had fixed a design issue with the 2007’s purse compartment, she actually yelled out “Hallelujah!” Again, I don’t make up any of this.

Understandably they had no brochures, but despite that, we left thinking this was definitely a contender.

At this soggy point, we were ready to call it a night.

respect

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:24:11 -0500

On the way to the Lincoln Mercury dealer, a Hyundai Tucson passed us. Under normal circumstances for Lorriane it would just have been another white car. But these days, with her keen sixth car sense heightened by weeks of seeing cars and then the sudden withdrawal of all such activity, not only did Lorraine see said Tucson, she actually noticed it and it registered a blip on her compact SUV radar. She pointed at it, looked at me as if I had been hiding something from her, and quietly commented that “that car” looked about the right size. She asked what it was and I told her it was a Tucson, but I also pointed out that the Tucson was not on The List. And as is often the case when I say something, she didn’t seem to pay much attention to it. She wanted to see one.

Fate was on her side, and certainly not on the side of The List, because like right next to the Lincoln Mercury dealer there was a Hyundai dealer. So against my better judgment, we pulled in to see the Tucson.

In the showroom, Lorraine quietly got into a Tucson, looked at it for a bit, and then quickly got out understanding full well why it wasn’t on The List.

But I will say this about the Hyundai. First, I have total respect for a car company that has a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty on it’s powertrain. Yes, that is correct, I’m not getting paid to say that. Basically it’s free advertising and it’s going to sell a ton of cars for Hyundai, but they deserve that for their boldness.

Second, no car commentary of mine would be complete unless I mention at least one really cool feature. In the back of the rear seats, they have hooks that look like those hooks for hangers that cars have above the rear doors. These hooks are meant for grocery bags so they and their contents don’t go flying all over the place as you race down the street in your 140 horsepower Tucson*.

And Hyundai was just as guilty as all the others in that if you wanted more and better features, you had to move up to their bigger and bigger SUV’s. Doesn’t make sense. Size should not matter.

It was starting to get late and dark. So we started to think that it was time to hurry up and get to the next car dealer. We’re having way too much fun at this...

*the Tucson received a ‘Recommended’ ranking for vehicles in it’s class