Car Shopping Day 1

Stopped by the car dealerships in Redwood City, and learned the following things: Lexus IS300 Sportcross was discontinued, so that’s out, I probably should’ve figured that out before we went. The Lexus RX330 is pretty nice, but it was already more money than we wanted to spend, and we probably solidified the decision that it wasn’t worth it. And the Lexus hybrid SUV is way out of our price range. I wanted a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, but the salesman said there was a 1 year wait list, so that’s been eliminated from contention. It’s possible we could get one sooner/cheaper out of state, but i’m probably not willing to go through the effort to do that.

It wasn’t really on my list, but we were right in front of the dealership so I also took out a VW Passat wagon for a spin. It had a nice interior, and pretty decent power, but reliability was a concern for me. I was left with a pretty favorable impression, much better than I expected going in.

At the Subaru dealer I wanted to drive an Impreza WRX wagon, but the salesman wouldn’t let me. He said they were understaffed on weekends for it because they wouldn’t let anyone drive a WRX without a salesman in it because two weeks ago they had someone total a WRX. Also when we looked at it, it was even smaller than I expected so I have pretty much eliminated it as an option. They would let people take out other cars though(without a salesman), so I took one of the new B9 Tribecas out for a spin. It was very nice, good handling, reasonable power, and it doesn’t feel too big. The 3rd row seating is tiny, but that’s expected. I left with a new car to add to my list. It’s not as refined as the other cars, but the price is better. The mileage isn’t that great at 18/23, and that’s a concern with gas prices rising. At about $39k for a fully loaded one, it’s a bit on the higher end of what we wanted to spend, but not totally out of contention.

Still to come is an Audi A4 wagon test, probably a quick look at the MDX and probably more, probably next weekend.