I wasn't planning to buy a car this year, however the planets and stars aligned and I found myself in a position to be car shopping... wouldn't you know that it's during the hottest [CENSORED] week of the year.
Long story longer, I had a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am that I bought new, I'd only put 75K miles on it after 10+ years. However, lately more and more was going wrong, starting to fatigue, not to mention the technology gap in the intervening 10 years.
Late last week I had to take the car in when the PassLock system (theft deterrent) started preventing me from starting the car due to a failing ignition lock cylinder. While the car was in the shop, they started having problems with the replacement cylinder, so they put me in a rental for the night at their cost.
Enter the Chevy Sonic.
It was a diminuitive hatchback, and having been blissfully unaware in car models/technology over the last decade, my first reaction upon seeing it was "Oh joy. This is going to be fun... NOT!"
Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying driving the little bugger. I was even more surprised when I got home and started researching the price and feature set.
So... I figured the time was right to start exploring the possibility of a new vehicle. Even though 75K miles was (comparatively) low in the Grand Am, I figured that would play to my advantage as a trade-in, so I might as well trade it while it still had a decent amount of residual value. The car had some cosmetic issues too that I really didn't want to spend fixing, or dealing with a private sale.
So I spent several days researching various options in the sub-$20K range, test drove a number of vehicles including the Toyota Prius C (abysmal transmission and power, good grief!), Ford Fiesta, and Scion xB (deceptively large amount of interior space in that vehicle... better than the Sonic).
The local Chevrolet dealer only had Sonic sedans and another dealer about 35 minutes away only had hatchbacks, so I made a few back and forth trips comparing different trim levels and prices. I had initially thought I wanted the hatchback, but ultimately I just felt more comfortable in the sedan. Maybe it's subconscious, but the interior in the sedan felt roomier than the hatchback.
One car that, on a whim I tried out, that was considerably better than what I was expecting given its price point and footprint, was the Chevy Spark. For a little 1.2L, it had a nice amount of pep. Logistically, that would have actually been a better choice for me, except for (1) the ride was a bit noisier and bumpier than the sonic, (2) the feature set is a bit stripped down, (3) while the 1.2L might be "peppy" it can't hold a candle to the 1.4 Turbo in the Sonic, and (4) the 2014 Spark didn't have as many incentives as the 2013 Sonic, so the net cost savings with the Spark at the end really wasn't much compared to the difference in sticker price.
So after some back-and-forth, a surprisingly low-pressure sales experience (they made a proposal, I said "let me think about it and do some research overnight", I came back the next morning armed with spreadsheets, printouts from Consumer Reports, Edmunds, KBB, NADA, etc.), they got to within $150 of my demanded out-the-door price, down several K from their initial proposal.
1.9% financing, so the monthly payment is pretty damned cheap, and my insurance rate doesn't increase with the new vehicle. Win.
The dealer includes a "Q-Certified" (Huh?) extension of the power train warranty from 5/100 to 10/100 on all the vehicles. Not sure if it's legit, a marketing ploy, or if I'll ever even need it...
So I'm now the proud papa of a bouncing baby 2013 Sonic LT Sedan 1.4 Turbo Auto in Victory Red. I tripled its existing odometer reading just in the course of my test driving... from 20 to 60 miles.
Good to be aboard.
Long story longer, I had a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am that I bought new, I'd only put 75K miles on it after 10+ years. However, lately more and more was going wrong, starting to fatigue, not to mention the technology gap in the intervening 10 years.
Late last week I had to take the car in when the PassLock system (theft deterrent) started preventing me from starting the car due to a failing ignition lock cylinder. While the car was in the shop, they started having problems with the replacement cylinder, so they put me in a rental for the night at their cost.
Enter the Chevy Sonic.
It was a diminuitive hatchback, and having been blissfully unaware in car models/technology over the last decade, my first reaction upon seeing it was "Oh joy. This is going to be fun... NOT!"
Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying driving the little bugger. I was even more surprised when I got home and started researching the price and feature set.
So... I figured the time was right to start exploring the possibility of a new vehicle. Even though 75K miles was (comparatively) low in the Grand Am, I figured that would play to my advantage as a trade-in, so I might as well trade it while it still had a decent amount of residual value. The car had some cosmetic issues too that I really didn't want to spend fixing, or dealing with a private sale.
So I spent several days researching various options in the sub-$20K range, test drove a number of vehicles including the Toyota Prius C (abysmal transmission and power, good grief!), Ford Fiesta, and Scion xB (deceptively large amount of interior space in that vehicle... better than the Sonic).
The local Chevrolet dealer only had Sonic sedans and another dealer about 35 minutes away only had hatchbacks, so I made a few back and forth trips comparing different trim levels and prices. I had initially thought I wanted the hatchback, but ultimately I just felt more comfortable in the sedan. Maybe it's subconscious, but the interior in the sedan felt roomier than the hatchback.
One car that, on a whim I tried out, that was considerably better than what I was expecting given its price point and footprint, was the Chevy Spark. For a little 1.2L, it had a nice amount of pep. Logistically, that would have actually been a better choice for me, except for (1) the ride was a bit noisier and bumpier than the sonic, (2) the feature set is a bit stripped down, (3) while the 1.2L might be "peppy" it can't hold a candle to the 1.4 Turbo in the Sonic, and (4) the 2014 Spark didn't have as many incentives as the 2013 Sonic, so the net cost savings with the Spark at the end really wasn't much compared to the difference in sticker price.
So after some back-and-forth, a surprisingly low-pressure sales experience (they made a proposal, I said "let me think about it and do some research overnight", I came back the next morning armed with spreadsheets, printouts from Consumer Reports, Edmunds, KBB, NADA, etc.), they got to within $150 of my demanded out-the-door price, down several K from their initial proposal.
1.9% financing, so the monthly payment is pretty damned cheap, and my insurance rate doesn't increase with the new vehicle. Win.
The dealer includes a "Q-Certified" (Huh?) extension of the power train warranty from 5/100 to 10/100 on all the vehicles. Not sure if it's legit, a marketing ploy, or if I'll ever even need it...
So I'm now the proud papa of a bouncing baby 2013 Sonic LT Sedan 1.4 Turbo Auto in Victory Red. I tripled its existing odometer reading just in the course of my test driving... from 20 to 60 miles.
Good to be aboard.
