Car Talk

I think we've decided against the Cruiser, for a variety of reasons.

Not the least of which is that I have serious doubts as to whether I'm cool enough to pull it off.

Seriously, we really like the looks of the Suzuki, and I test drove it this evening. Shrike was at work, but I didn't want to wait until Saturday (the first time we can get there together) to see it up close.

It drives pretty well and is just as nice inside as it is outside. I'm pretty sure we're going to get it, unless our research turns up something really bad about that model.

I told the salesman that it was more than we really wanted to spend, and told him that we'd really like to be "out the door" for a nice round number, almost $400 less than the price of the car - and a little more than $1000 less than the "out the door" price.

After the drive, he asked if we'd have a deal if he could get it for me at my price, and I said sure, with the caveat about the research.

After talking with his boss (yeah, I know, that's all a big game "Let's me see what I can do. Well, my boss won't go for that, but . . . .") he offered to "split the difference" between their price and mine, and offered it to me "out the door" (including tax, title, tags, fees, etc) for $500 more than the price I'd suggested, and barely $100 more than their starting sticker price.

Not too bad, considering that I didn't expect them to budge at all. Of course, now I'm thinking I should've said we wanted to be $500 lower than that!

I still want to check with our insurance company and see what it's going to do to our premiums there. I'm sure it will cost more than the Escort, and I want to include that in my calculations

I put down a $200 refundable deposit, which will hold it through the weekend.

The salesman is going to call me back tomorrow with the warranty details (with barely 21,000 miles on it, there should be a good bit of factory warranty left).

We'll talk it over a bit more and will probably give him an answer tomorrow or Wednesday, pending checking out a few little things, like the cd player/changer (6 disc, in-dash), and making sure they work or will be fixed (for the price we've been quoted).