Zoom zoom!

I suspected the fuel pump in my '95 Chrysler Cirrus was starting to fail (the car would ranomly stall, at speed or at idle), and replacing the pump would have cost about $800 and not guarantee that would fix the problem. The car was 11 years old, and while it was a good car and I loved it, it was starting to show its age.

You no doubt have noticed I'm referring to the Cirrus in the past tense.

On Saturday, March 4, I took delivery of a brand new Mazda 3 S Touring. I had done some homework a few days before, because the stalling problem was slowly becoming worse. It was around the Wednesday before that I realized it was just time to move on to something new. I was planning to get a new car by the summer anyway, so it wasn't a huge shock to suddenly be looking at new cars, but I did feel a little rushed in that I had to pick out and buy a new car in about 3 days. I had been looking at the Mazda for a long time (since November, at least), but also checked out the competition.

So on Saturday, I ended up test driving four cars. First was the new Dodge Caliber, which replaced the Neon. It's a crossover SUV; it sits lower than an SUV but higher than a regular wagon. The Caliber was interesting, and the engine/CVT transmission combo was smooth though a little less eager to scoot than I'd have liked. Next was a Hyundai Sonata, which my father suggested I drive (because of the 10-year powertrain warranty). It drove better than the Caliber, and had a big-ass 3.3L V6, but looked too much like an old fart's car to me.

We drove across town to a Volkwagen dealer where I drove a Jetta. The Jetta drove pretty nicely, but there were some interior details that bugged the hell out of me, and the salesman was a complete jackass (was only going to offer $1500 tops for my Cirrus). The Jetta also would have cost about $3k more than I had planned to spend if I got all the options I wanted with it. I would have had to go with a Value Edition (crappy steel wheels, cheap-looking fabric seats, etc.) in order to stay in my budget.

We then cruised over to the nearby Mazda dealer, who I had called the night before asking about their inventory. I met with the lady I talked with the night before, and she had a 3 with all the options I wanted waiting for a test drive (it was literally 5 minutes between walking in the front door of the dealership and getting in the 3 for a test drive). I got a good long test drive with the car, on a variety of roads (city streets, back county roads, interstate) and was very impressed with how the car handled and responded.

My first choice of color was a hot-looking white pearl coat, but all the ones they had in stock were 5-speed manuals (actually, none of the Mazda dealers in the Twin Cities had a white one with an automatic). The next closest two to what I wanted were a darker silver color called Titanium Grey, and a lighter silver called Sunlight Silver, both of which were metallic paint (sparkly!). As soon as we came back from the test drive, the Titanium one was sold, so unless I wanted a black one, the silver one I had test drove would be my only option. I said I'd think it over and get some lunch. The saleslady wrote her cell phone number on her business card and told me to call her if I needed anything.

As soon as I left the dealership, I knew that the 3 was the car for me. I fit in it just right, the car drove the way I wanted it to, and with all the options I wanted I'd be right on budget. Basically, it was the perfect car. I was really hungry (by that time it was 1 pm and I had started doing my test drives at 9 am), though, so I decided to at least eat before I made my final decision. After leaving McDonalds, I called the saleslady back up and told her I wanted the silver one I had test driven. She said she'd hold on to it for me, and I said I'd be by in about 2 hours with my old car for the trade-in.

Just for kicks, I made a detour to another Mazda dealer to see what they had in inventory. After telling the salesman what I wanted, he said they had nothing like that in stock and ran off to see what they could get in a dealer trade. After waiting half an hour while he searched, I snuck out the back door and drove home (was driving a loaned car). I didn't have time to wait while they looked around to see what they could have driven in from Iowa or whatever. I needed a new car that day.

So I got home, grabbed the keys and title to my Cirrus, and decided to just cannonball it to the Mazda dealer. The car stalled on me once, at a stoplight before I got on the freeway, but I managed to get it restarted and just floored it from there. I figured that the dealer would probably notice that the Cirrus was having problems, but I also knew that it wouldn't cost them $800 to fix it (it would be only their cost for parts and labor, probably no more than $300). I braced myself for a somewhat low trade-in offer.

Halfway to the dealer, the saleslady called and asked how important the trade-in value I was offered was in selling me the new Mazda. I said it was somewhat important, and that I knew what the value of my car was and that I'd like to get a reasonable offer. She said she understood and that she'd see me in a few minutes.

I made it to the dealer fine, and pulled into the service bay for the trade-in inspection. I went to talk to the saleslady, to tell her I was there. She said it was a good thing I had called her to tell her I wanted the car, because another couple had been looking at it and was about to buy it (if they had, I would have gone home without a new car at all). The sales manager looked the Cirrus over, then took the keys and we went on a test drive. To my absolule amazement, the car behaved perfectly. Not a single hiccup. The sales manager was impressed at how good of condition my 11-year-old car was, and was also impressed at how good of maintenance I had been keeping on it (I didn't have a choice, all of the parts I had replaced in the past 3 years had worn out). After getting back to his office, he ran some numbers and said he would normally have offered $1800, but because I was buying a new car that day and also because of what good condition the Cirrus was in, he'd offer $2300. I was hoping for $2500, so $2300 looked very good to me. I told him he had a deal.

The next few hours were just paperwork and learning about all the features of the car. Saturdays at car dealerships in Minnesota are really busy, because by (stupid) law, cars can't be sold on Sundays (neither can liquor at liquor stores). They were also down one finance agent, so it look 4 hours from arriving at the dealer with the Cirrus until I drove off in the 3. The dealer had actually been closed for an hour when I drove off, but the sales people were really nice and wanted to make sure I was happy. I got a good deal on the price of the new car too, just a couple hundred over invoice, plus $250 off because the Minneapolis Auto Show is this month. After taxes and including the trade-in value plus some cash I put down, I ended up having to finance exactly what I had calculcated.

The dealer put one of their logo bagdes on the rear trunklid, but did a sneaky trick that was in my favor: They had washed the car, then immediately put the sticker on while the car was wet. So when I went into the service bay to drive off with the new car, the badge just fell off. As I was going to get the car, I bumped into the couple that had been looking at it earlier -- they were about the same age as my finacee and I, and seemed pretty convinced that the 3 was right for them, too. Later on, my saleslady said that they were going to either get the black one (the last S Touring model the dealer had) or that they'd have to wait while another car was driven in from Davenport, Iowa. My timing was perfect.

So in the end, I ended up getting pretty much exactly the car I wanted. I had to compromise on the color, but silver looks good and wears well.

Enough of the jibba-jabba, here are the pictures:

NOT FOUND: 1

When I drove the car home, it was already dark. It snowed overnight, so the car got a little messy.

NOT FOUND: 2

The interior is a charcoal grey with good, high-quality cloth seats with red inserts (the red looks bad here because of the camera flash and the fact it was sleeting when I took the picture).

Here's the list of specs:

Mazda 3 S Touring

2.3L DOHC I4 with variable-valve-timing
5-speed automatic transmission with manumatic control
4-wheel disc brakes with ABS
17" alloy wheels (not steel wheels with hubcaps!)
Front, side and curtain air bags
Power one-touch moonroof
6-disc CD changer (gonna get replaced in 6 months with the rest of the stereo bits)

I get the plates in a couple weeks. Tempted to get vanity plates that read "TROGDOR". If anyone asks what that means, I can just say that Trogdor is a burninator, and then just do a good, long burnout for them.

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