So I needed a new car (part two... the dream, the search and the purchase)

When I started to write up my car shopping experience earlier this week, I intended to give a brief history of my cars just so you'd know where I was coming from.  I wanted to let you know that while I've owned several nicer cars, I've never owned a car that was less than 4 years old.  That I've never had a car with a warranty.  And most of all, that while I've had my share of clunkers, that I've loved most of my cars and truly wanted to love my next car.

Yeah... that didn't work out really well at all.  I couldn't help but write quite a bit about each car as just remembering each of them brought up so many interesting memories.

But as my original intent was to write up what I went through to buy a different car, I still wanted to share that process with you.  It's an oddball mixture of heart, brain, soul, desire, mathematics, and changing desires.  So here's my story:

After graduating in December of 2011 I started imagining what I would do with the new found money.  Don't get me wrong, I was still far more excited at the thought of being a nurse and progressing my skills to be a GOOD nurse, but hey I was going to be paid the most I've ever been paid.

One of the biggest cuts of my paycheck has always been my car.  Whether it was paying off my car, paying for repairs to the car, paying the insurance, or even just simply putting gas into the old girl, I was financially always thinking of my car.  The last time I bought a car (Lita, my 1999 Chevy Lumina LTZ) my primary goal was reliability.  And for the most part that forethought and planning paid off.  Sure, I detailed the issues that Lita now has, but I've put over 50,000 miles on her in seven years.  In all that time the engine never broke down.  The transmission always slid from gear to gear without issue.  And except for the alternator failing (just a few months after buying her), and an odd computer problem that caused the car to stall after being driven more than 20 miles (frustratingly this happened while I was working 45 miles from home so she stalled every day until repaired), no problem ever pushed her off the road.  AC failure, leaky tires, rust, dents, thermostat... these were all minor problems in the grand scheme of things as they never stopped me from getting to point B.

So the first thing I thought of was getting that same level of reliability.  But where I had to select out an engine and system with proven reliability when searching for Lita, this time I had something else on my side.  Warranty.  My first thoughts were of buying a new car and I knew I could rely on the manufacturer to repair any ills with my car.

So while watching television in January of 2012 I saw a commercial for a car that I had never seen before.  Something odd from Hyundai called a Velociraptor or something similar.  At first it didn't even hold my interest, but then I caught something from the audio that made me stop and think:

"Did they just say it had three doors?"

So I grabbed my tablet, did some internet searching and found out that yes indeedy, the Hyundai Veloster does in fact have three doors.  One on the drivers side and two on the passenger side.

I was... intrigued.   I spent the next two hours reading up on this odd little Korean hatchback and I think I can say without hesitation that I fell in love.

At this point, I was just looking at a car.  I wasn't making any financial plans, or thinking of this as MY car... I was just looking at a car that had many many things that I would enjoy.  I looked at it the same way that I would look at the BMW Z4 or the Porsche Cayman.   Not to say that the Veloster is anywhere near these other cars in options, price or prestige, but they interested me without considering what it would mean to actually own it.

The three doors may have gotten my attention, but other things stood out more.  Like the standard seven inch touch screen.  The fact that it was supposed to get 40 miles per gallon.  It's dual clutch automated manual transmission as opposed to a standard automatic transmission.  It's proximity key.  And lastly... its price.  At Hyundai's web site I could price out a Veloster with every option and still couldn't get the price to top $25,000.

I'd say it took me about a week to get around to not only appreciating this car, but to actually considering it as my next purchase. So I started up a spreadsheet to compare features.  The first feature I had to consider was price.  I mean let's face facts... I was going to be making more money than I was used to but I still couldn't afford a huge car payment.  I figured I could afford (without doing other budgetary configurations) around $25,000.  With the 3.9% interest that I figured I could squeeze out of my Credit Union, and a five year term that would end up as roughly a $500 a month payment.  Considering that I easily afforded the $300 payment for Lita all those years ago when I was making far less money, I didn't think that was a stretch.  So no Beamer, prancing horse (Italian or American), or Caddy... but the Veloster was still in the running.

Next up came leg room.  I mentioned that I'm on the taller side of normal at six foot 2.  A lot of my height comes from my legs, and my legs tend to cramp up fairly easily.  I had found out earlier that a bigger car doesn't necessarily mean more leg room.  Lita gives me 42.4 inches of leg room with the car seat all the way back and that is just shy of perfect.  My mom's Chevy Astro van is a far bigger vehicle, but doesn't give nearly the same leg stretching room.

And what pray tell does the Veloster offer in that catergory?  A nice leg stretching roomy 43.9 inches.

I also wanted to consider two features that would seem to be at odds.  Fuel efficiency and power.  Lita was just a few ponies shy of 200 horse power when brand new and offered me plenty of grunt when cruising down city streets as well as the highway.  She wouldn't blow the doors of anything but I could pass a slowpoke and beat almost any yellow light without feeling like the car was going to blow up.  I didn't want to give up that ability.  But at the same time Lita was rated for about 28 miles per gallon on the highway and I never got her to give me more than about 22 mpg out of a full tank of gas.  With all the hybrid options now available as well as the smaller gasoline engined cars rated at 35 mpg or more, I figured that was a good benchmark to shoot for.

The Veloster was rated (at the time) for 29 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway.  That easily could meet that criteria.  But it accomplished this by only having 138 horsepower.  I don't think it would matter that a Veloster is almost 1000 pounds lighter than a Lumina, that is still not much horsepower.  All the reviews I'd read said that the Veloster was great to drive.  It could carve up corners like a sports car and did so with almost no body roll.  But they all added the disclaimer that it felt like it needed another couple dozen horsepower.  So for the time being I put a pin in that.  I knew that I couldn't decide if it was enough power until I got behind the wheel and took a trot down the road in one (hopefully without a salesperson next to me screaming about my aggressive driving).

Only two other things made it to my list.  Toys and exclusivity.  The toys were all the techy gadgets that I knew would make me smile.  A navigation system.  A proximity key (the kind that you put into your pocket and unlocks the door and starts the engine without touching the vehicle), bluetooth connectivity, iPod connectivity, and a touchscreen.   Exclusivity is a little harder to define.  I want my car to stand out without being looked at as a joke.  Where I live the big three american automakers dominate the road, so having any car from a foreign manufacturer would be a step in the right direction.  Hatchbacks are fairly rare and I do honestly love the look and utility that they offer.  Unusual colors are a plus, so long as they are still factory applied... I have no desire to take a 'regular' car and make it stand out with an unusual paint job.  And within a particular car's trim options, the higher the better.  For example, Chevy offers most of it's cars in LS, LT, LTZ, and SS trim.  As SS is generally about horsepower while throwing out economy, I would prefer an LTZ model over an LT or LS trim.

Again, in these areas the Veloster reigned supreme.  It was offered in three trims... basic, Style, and Tech.  The style package added bigger unique wheels, a panoramic sunroof, some interior trim options, exterior chrome accents and a few other things.  The Tech added the proximity key, navigation, backup camera, and even 'better' wheels.  The fact that it was a brand new model at the time made it all the more rare to spot on the open roads.  And in these parts, being a Hyundai hatchback made it likely that I'd never see one on the road... at least not for a few years.

So for several months I focused on the Veloster as it seemed to have just about everything I was looking for.
Now as you all know I was still pretty far away from having a job at that point.  I just didn't know that at the time.  As the jobless months wore on I spent more and more time dreaming about cars.  One feature of the Veloster that was working against me was it's exclusivity.  It was pretty rare to find one for sale, and often when I would locate one it would be sold and off the lot in a matter of weeks if not days.  As I hadn't yet driven one yet, I decided to go ahead and open up my search some.

Some cars that I added to the list:  Hyundai Sonata, Honda Accord and Civic, Nissan Altima and Juke, Mazda 2 and 3, Chevy Sonic and Cruze, and the Ford Fiesta and Focus.   None of them exactly fit as nicely as the Veloster, but they all came close and were far more readily available.

One weekend in September of 2012 a friend of mine took me 'car shopping'.  Neither of us had the delusion that I would be finding an actual car to drive.  Even if I got an interview the next week, it would still be weeks to get hired in.  Then further weeks to build up enough money and start budgeting out all of my bills to see what my actual car payment could be.  But it was fun to head down to the nearest town and start sitting in cars.

First up of course was the Veloster.  The only Veloster in town (and this town had two Hyundai dealers!) was a base model manual version.  I haven't driven a manual transmission since the Black Shadow of Death and certainly didn't want to show my rust on a newer car.  But taking a seat in the car was glorious.  The legroom promised by the online information was delivered in full.  I couldn't even have the seat all the way back and still expect to utilize the floor pedals.  Seeing the car's interior in person wasn't a let down either.  It's a design that would really stand out.  The exterior also lived up to all the internal hype I'd given it.  It wasn't only new, it was a really unique and 'fast' looking design.

We then went over to the Honda dealership. The Civic (as well as the CR-Z sport hybrid) were easily eliminated as I felt like I had to fold myself in two just to get in.  Driving any amount of time in these fuel sippers would be impossible.  The Accord was surprisingly not that much better.  It was really like sitting down in Lita... there's enough room but absolutely no more.  Internally the Accord was a hard sell... it was just about out of my self imposed arbitrary price range, and it was common as all get out.  I can't recall the last time I drove anywhere and DIDN'T see an Accord.  If I could get into a lease, I should be able to afford it, and if I could get the coupe in red or black, then it might stand out enough for me.

We then trotted down to the Nissan dealership and the Juke was similarly thrown out.  I was certainly unique enough, but it just had no extra leg room whatsoever.  The sentra was.... well even in it's sportiest clothes it was bland.  It actually looked less sporty than an Accord... and I don't thin the Accord looks sporty.  The Hyundai Sonata was nice and if there was no Veloster then it might have stayed in consideration.  But for more money I was getting a bigger more common car that didn't have the same gas mileage nor the same unique look.

We didn't even bother with the Mazda dealership as I had taken the 2 and 3 off the list for lack of appeal.  Instead of heading to a Chevy or Ford dealership we instead checked out a Toyota lot.  My friend has two cars... an Accord and a Prius, so he was constantly trying to sell me on getting the most fuel efficient vehicle on the road.  I have to admit that 50+ mpg did keep me interested.   But I remember driving his prius once and feeling just a little cramped.  This was on a 5 minute drive and I doubted the car would hold up to regular hour or longer trips.  I would have skipped the lot entirely, but he was driving so we spent the rest of the daylight looking at the various Priuses, Corollas (ick), and Yarises (eek that's a tiny car!).

Coming back home I was only more sold on the Veloster and stayed that way until I got my next interview... in March of this year.   I shared before how I felt really confident that I'd get that job.  Looking at the pay range that they were willing to offer, I just assumed that I would get the lowest pay being a new nurse.  Based on that scale I started to figure out what I would have to spend each week and also what bills I would have to pay.

It's the bills that took me by surprise.  My student loans alone would be over $600 a month.  Adding in everything else made it a very tight fit to afford $500 a month for a car payment.  So I started looking at other less expensive options.  First up was losing the dream of buying a brand new car.  That just wasn't going to be in the cards.  Even if I COULD find a new car for the price I wanted, I knew damned well that I could find a year old model for significantly less.

Looking specifically at payments, I figured I would be happy with between a $350 and $400 a month payment.   The sweet spot seemed to be around a five year loan for $20,000.  That all but eliminated the Veloster.  Brand new, it was just to expensive and finding one used with the gadgets I wanted was neigh impossible.  So I turned my lonely eyes back to American metal.  I took a long hard look at a car that I'd written off a while back... the Ford Focus.  It was newly redesigned as of the 2012 model, but I had no hope that it wold ever look unique on the road.  I loved the back end but really didn't care for the front end.  It did, however, have almost all the 'toys' I wanted when suited up in the Titanium trim.  Touch screen, proximity key (Intelligent Access in Fordese), leather, backup sensors, bluetooth and iPod connectivity.  Navigation was separate as was the backup camera.  It also was available in a really stand out color... Yellow Blaze.  It was even rated for a surprising 38mpg.  I say surprising because not only does it outweigh a Veloster, it also has over 160hp.

The Fiesta was another option to consider.  It could have all the options as the Focus except for the touch screen.  That was only going to be introduced in the 2014 model.  It only got 130hp, but didn't get any better gas milage than the Focus.  It's best selling point was the price... at $20,000 I could get a top of the line Fiesta that was just barely one year old and had under 5000 miles on it.

Looking at Chevy I narrowed it quickly down to the Sonic and Cruze.  There is the Spark, but that car is just hideous looking.  The Sonic wasn't much better... it's as though they couldn't make up their mind if it should be smooth and aerodynamic or blocky and aggressive.  To make matters worse, I looked at the interior.

I'm not going to pretend that I was looking at the most 'adult' cars.  Most models I was considering could be considered childish.  But dammit does the dash have to look like it was laid out by Hot Wheels?  Thankfully I could eliminate the Spark as it just didn't even have the legroom of a Prius.

That left the Cruze to represent Chevy.  The Malibu was simply too expensive and didn't offer the gas mileage I was looking for (even though I was still tempted as it was the natural successor to my Lumina).  The Cruze is kind of aggressive looking and it does get 38mpg.  But I found out that it was the fourth best selling car in the US for two years running.  The Focus didn't even make the top 10 for those same years.  And the color options... well black is kind of an interesting color.  Just not when compared to a Vitamin C Veloster or Yellow Blaze Focus.

The one great feature of the Cruze... price.  I could find LTZ models (which had all the toys save for navigation) easily under $20,000.  The Focus was available for a similar price in Titanium, but it was rare to find them at that price.  It was far more common to find them at $21,000 or $22,000... and that was edging into Veloster range again.

I did look at other cars, but didn't have much hope.  Volkswagon has the GTI and I love that hot hatch, but it goes for 40% more than a Focus.  Subaru is kick ass, but the gas mileage and price combination is hard to swallow.  Volvo is kinda cool, but way to expensive.   So at the end of June I had it narrowed down to a Veloster with the Tech package (if I could find one at the right price), a Focus Titanium (I'd bend on the color, but not on the trim level), and a Cruze LTZ.

A week later this went from an entirely intellectual exercise to one bordering on immediate reality.  I got the job.  Being that the job was so far away and it was the hottest week on record, I knew that I had to do something.  What was surprising was that the rational side of my mind won out.  I decided that upon getting my second full check, I would put about $1000 into Lita.  I was hoping that for that price I could get both the AC working (did I mention it was HOT!!!), as well as get the suspension, tire, and brakes fixed.  I didn't want to spend any more than that as Lita only bluebooks out at $700 WITH those things fixed.  Fixing her up would give me several months to make sure I could afford a car (maybe even afford more of a car if I could save up a couple grand to put down), and also let me keep Lita around instead of trading her away for a couple hundred dollars.

On Friday July 26th I came home expecting my brother to help me take Lita into a repair shop.  When I got home though, not only was my brother still at work, he had my Mom's van.  My Mom had to get to the Credit Union as she was finishing up the paperwork for home credit line (the central air died in the house a few weeks before and it is in bad need for a new roof).  So I sucked up my plans and drove her over there myself.  I had no intention of waiting in the 85 degree heat without AC, so I escorted her in and sat in with her an the loan officer.

At the end of the meeting I figured I'd take just a little longer and ask what they would require for me to get a car loan.  She took a look at my account and upon seeing that it has been open for over 35 years (yes, my parents got me a credit union account when I was 4 years old!) and that I had not only a credit car thorugh them (never missing a payment) but had also financed my last car through them (also without missing a payment) said that she could go ahead and get me pre-approved.

It only took about 10 minutes but I walked out with a letter stating that the Credit Union had me pre approved to buy a car up to $20,000 at 2.65% interest.

Needless to say, putting any money into Lita at this point seemed silly.  Instead I spent most of the weekend looking for cars.  Not in the abstract.... I was looking for a car to buy.  I was incredibly excited... not as excited as when I got the job but it was pretty close.

Sadly there were no Velosters to be had.  Oh there were a few base models but they were over priced and almost 100 miles away.  There were several Chevy Cruzes nearby that I could get, but they were all silver.  Did I mention that I wanted something to stand out?  I can't count how many times I've seen a silver Chevy Cruze.  In fact I recall seeing three of them at the same time parked just a few spaces apart at the local grocery story.

I looked a little harder and found two cars that became the focus (no pun intended) of my search.  A local used car lot had a 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and was asking $20,500 for it.  It might be a stretch, but I figured I might be able to get him down to $20,000 out the door.  Being a hybrid was certainly something that had my interest.  The Sonata would be bigger than Lita but still get just a hair over 40mpg.  It didn't have a touch screen and was in a rather unappealing black, but it did have the proximity key.

The other car I found was something I had actually been looking at on and off for over a month.  About 30 miles away there was a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium in Yellow Blaze.  It didn't have the navigation or the back up camera, but it did have the touch screen, the proximity key, leather seats, and a host of other toys.  I had been using it as something to compare against but never gave it serious thought as they were asking $23,000 for it.  That is until I looked it up that weekend.... they had dropped the price down to $19,500.

I'm not the best negotiator... but I was pretty damned sure that I could get them to accept $20,000 out the door.  So that Tuesday I had my brother drive me over to the dealership to take a look.  I took him for a couple reasons... first and foremost it was still pretty hot out and I didn't want to drive Lita there and back while sweating the entire way.  I also figured showing up in his $45,000 decked out Traverse would show that I wasn't kidding about money.  Lastly I didn't want to even be tempted to trade in Lita.

When we drove up to the lot we actually saw the bright yellow focus... with two people looking at her.  We parked right behind it just as they walked away and I heard the guy actually say "Well, lemme go look at a new one before I take it for a test drive."

I quickly found the guy that I had spoken to on the phone and got the keys to take it out for my own test drive.

I have to say that it's really hard to test drive a newer car.  It without a doubt drove better than my current car, but that isn't a surprise at all.  It had just under 17,000 miles on the odo while my car has just under 150,000 miles.  It smelled of leather and car cleaner while my car smells of the coffee stain on the passenger cloth seat.  It glides over rough roads, but my car has suspension problems.  So I ended up driving it around for about 30 minutes just to get used to it.  I didn't play with the toys as I really wanted to ensure that I could drive this car comfortably.

It did have the leg room, but was just a little narrow around the pedals.  I couldn't comfortably set my feet all that far apart.  It had some 'get up and go', but not as much as Lita.  Overall I couldn't find a single problem that I couldn't live with.  Oddly enough the final selling point was the Ford Sync system.  That's the voice activated system that can do everything form set the temperature on the automatic climate control system, to changing the radio station, to changing to the iPod and selecting a playlist, to using the phone to make calls by simply pulling a lever and saying "Call Mom at Home".

That's something that the Chevy's dont' have.  That's some thing that the Hyundais don't have.  That something that my beloved Veloster doesn't have.  And that's something that I could see using over and over and over again.

By the time I got back to the lot, I was sold.  The only stepping block was dickering them down on the price.  When the salesman and I sat down he of course went into all the features of the car and then asked if I wanted to talk about financing or had the money up front.  I smiled knowing that there was no way they could beat my financing.  I'd have been surprised if they offered me 4% let alone 2.65%.  Instead of dragging it out I pulled out my pre approved sheet, tapped my forefinger on the $20,000 line and said firmly that this was my one and only offer.  If he would let me drive off the lot paying that and ONLY that including tax, title, and all fees, then we had a deal.  If he couldn't, then I'd leave and go find another car.

He chuckled and did the backward math to see what that would put the price at (which was far more tedious than it sound as they had just moved to a new building and had no computers set up), and came up with $18,581.  He seemed satisfied and said he just had to get approval from his manager.  When he walked away I knew damn well that this wasn't the end of the negotiations.  I pictured the manager starting off by saying that they just couldn't go down that far.  When I wouldn't budge he'd give me some soft of 'special' discount but would still want more.  When I still wouldn't budge he would offer financing to get my payment where I wanted it.  When I would show him that they couldn't beat my financing he'd offer one more 'deal'... let's call it a manager special... and that would be his final offer.

I couldn't have guessed it better.  He went into a long soliloquy about how they couldn't really move on their prices (even though they had already moved by several thousand dollars) and how they were a small dealership that already offered the best prices.  He offered $19,300.  I didn't budge saying that the $20,000 out the door was all I had to work with.

He then asked where I had seen the car and when I mentioned Auto trader he said he could throw in the $150 'internet' special taking the price down to $19.150.  I sat silently looking from him to the price, to the car outside, and back to him for about five minutes.  I shook my head, frowned, pulled my loan offer off the table and said that I was sorry to have wasted their time, but I just couldn't afford that.

He quickly moved into the financing and asked to see what my credit union was offering.  Smiling on the inside I handed the sheet over and watched as his smile melted away when he saw the rate I was getting.  Admitting that he didn't have to check to see if they could beat that he threw in his final offer... he'd split the difference with me.  He took another $300 (which is actually a little more than half the difference) and came down to $18,850.

I have to say at this point I was still fairly sure that I could have gotten my price if I had been willing to walk.  But unlike what I had pictured, there was the distinct possibility of someone else wanting that car right then and right there.  And as if it was set up in advance (and I'm not all that sure that it WASN'T set up in advance), another salesman walked by and congratulated me on the car saying that I had just beat his customer to it.  So I was left with the distinct impression that if I used walking out on the deal another time, that they might just let me.  Maybe the other guy was already sold on another car and maybe they'd call me up later to see if I was still interested.... but damnit I wanted this car.

So I pulled out my wallet and used my 'emergency' plan.  Counting out $200 in fresh new twenties I laid it on the table and said that it was my final offer.  $22,000 out the door which would make the price roughly $18,781.

I swear my dad probably rolled over in his grave.  He was the king of negotiation.  He probably hated the fact that I started at $20,000 in the first place and most certainly would have disproved of me pulling out extra money in the 'first' meeting.

But you know what?  I got the car.

My 2012 Yellow Blaze Ford Focus Titanium Hatchback has just about every option I could want and several that I was surprised to find installed.  She has a 2.0L Ecotec engine that pushes 160 horsepower and 146 pound feet of torque.  She actually can get better than 40mpg on the highway, although I'm averaging about 36mpg for each tank of gas.  I have the six speed dual clutch automated manual transmission to thank for that!  She has the black leather interior with the color variable interior lighting, she has the eight inch touch screen with MyFord Touch along with the Ford Sync system.  She has a direct hook up for my iPod and actually responds correctly when I call it an iPod (surprising as the Sync system is designed and programmed by Microsoft).  She has the automatic headlights and the rain sensing windshield wipers.  She has backup sensors as well as forward sensors (the back up sensors sound out of the rear speakers while the forward speakers sound out of the front speakers).  She has the Intelligent Access system which lets me put the key in my pocket and unlock the doors by simply touching the handle and start the car by pressing the start button.  She had dual zone automatic climate control along with an air filter.  She has Sirius satellite rado and HD terrestrial radio.  She has heated seats and heated outer mirrors.  And in her sexy Yellow Blaze paint job there will be no mistaking her for another Ford Focus in the parking lot.

So without further adu, let me introduce to you... Fiona:

And yes... that's Lita in the background as well as my brother's Dodge truck.