the search

We’ve been talking about getting a new car lately. We’ve both spent time looking at different cars on websites, and we’ve discussed what we’d each like to have in our next car. I don’t think either of us really thinks we’re going to get a new car right now, but since we’re boring people and couldn’t think of anything better to do yesterday, we went to three different car dealerships and test-drove cars.

Our first stop was the Infiniti dealership. I’m pretty fond of the new G35’s, so we test drove the G35x, which is an all-wheel drive variant and similar to my current car in size and price. It had a number of “techie” features that I liked, including the ability to control the navigation system by voice and the ability to see traffic conditions on the map and get different directions to a destination if traffic conditions are bad. The car’s pickup wasn’t as good as mine at first, but after a few seconds, it was clear that it was faster than my car, as well it should have been, considering that it had almost 50 more horsepower than mine.

I liked the Infiniti salesman more than most car salesmen I’ve dealt with. I rarely go into situations where I’m going to spend more than $10 without having done considerable research on the item in question, so it bothers me when salesmen automatically assume (as they often do) that you know absolutely nothing about the purchase. The Infiniti salesman asked if we were familiar with the Infiniti brand, the car’s specs, etc., and when I told him that we had both been researching the car, he backed off and didn’t try to ram a lot of information down our respective throats.

I would have preferred it if the BMW salesman had been like that. Despite what I told him, he felt it necessary to continuously shove specs and that “we’re better than everyone else” bs that I often expect to hear from BMW owners. I appreciate the BMW brand and history, but I don’t need all that jazz about what we’re “not going to get from the other guys”. Thank you, but I think we can decide that for ourselves. The BMW salesman also felt it necessary to interrogate us on why we were interested in a BMW. I haven’t been questioned like that since I was offered a job at the NSA. The experience would have been complete if he had hooked me up to a polygraph and beaten my deepest, darkest secrets out of me.

We test-drove a 335xi at the BMW dealership. Again, an all-wheel drive variant of the 335. If we didn’t live in Minnesota, this wouldn’t matter, but I almost feel like it’s a requirement for our next car. Anyway, this car was more fun than all the other cars we drove yesterday. Better acceleration, tighter handling, excellent braking. If I had a car like this, I might feel inclined to drive faster than I usually do. BMW has some incredible financing offers going right now, so it’s very tempting.

Our final stop of the afternoon was the Mercedes dealership. We test-drove two models: E350 and C300 4MATIC (all-wheel drive). The former was the most expensive car we tried out, and although it had the smoothest ride of the four, I didn’t like it that much. It made me feel like I was 30 years older than I am. The C300 was very smooth as well, but an all-around unimpressive car. The interior was cheap and ugly, as if Mercedes was trying to cut costs but made it a little too obvious.

The Mercedes salesman bugged me a little bit as well. He asked what other cars we were considering, and when I listed them off, he was quick to tell me that there was “no comparison between the E350 and the others”. Yeah, no kidding. I can see that it’s much bigger and more expensive than the others, thank you very much. I don’t know about other people, but when I look at cars, I tend to start with the appearance and go from there. I like the way the E350 looks, so I wanted to drive one. The C300 is more in our price range, but I don’t like they way they look as much. One thing about both cars that I found annoying was that all the controls seemed out of place. It was as if the Mercedes engineers decided that they had to be different than everyone else, so they located controls on the opposite side of where they would normally be located, or put them in a place where you’d never expect to find them: windshield wiper controls on the left, seat controls on the door, etc. Irritating.

Our final rankings:

1. BMW 335xi – great handling, super fun to drive. The only downsides with this car are the size (it’s a bit smaller than the others) and the price.
2. Infiniti G35x – good power, lots of techie features, comfortable, fairly reasonable price. I’d be very happy owning this car.
3. Mercedes E350 – smooth and roomy, but not much else to offer. Surprisingly weak engine considering the $58,000 price tag.
4. Mercedes C300 – smooth, and nothing else to offer. Cheap interior, no power.

Becca really wants me to get the BMW, which I think is funny. I often become obsessed with buying things after I test them out and/or research them a lot, and although I’ve done both in this case, I feel no sense of urgency. I really like my current car, and while Becca’s car is OK too, it’s not my favorite. We’d get rid of her car and she’d take my current car if we did this. No matter who got the new car, we’d both have an upgrade, which would be nice.

I think I need to drive a few more cars, despite the fact that this would mean having to subject myself to more car salesmen. There are Audi and Lexus models that are comparable to what we drove yesterday, and dealerships nearby. The Audi dealership also sells Porsches, and I could get a used one for the price of a new Infiniti or BMW. Becca hates that idea, but I'd seriously consider it if we didn't have nine months of winter here every year. I really like the Cayman model, and they do have a couple of used ones with low miles for very reasonable prices.

The way I feel right now, I can't see us acting any time soon. It's fun to try different things, though.