For the most part, I just kept this up as a game inside my head. I'd watch car comercials and breath a sigh of wistfullness, wishing that I was in the market. But what I learned in September was still true... I owed to much on Fiona. And I couldn't expect to replace her with a car that I loved nearly as much. At least not without trading some of my core needs away. Sure, getting a classic '69 Camaro SS would be awesome. But reliability and gas milage make that just impossible. Getting a Cadillac CTS-V would be amazing, but gas mileage and cost make that a pipe dream. So the dream stayed just that... a dream.
A fantasy.
Until Wednesday February 4th that is.
I called in sick that day. It was an honest illness. Nothing really serious, just a head cold. But between the sinus headaches it was giving me (limiting my concentration), and the fact that I was more than likely contagious, I figured not going into work was the best option for everybody.
I ended up sitting in front of the television playing on my phone. I probably would have been better served on the computer, but it just wasn't comfortable. I did my normal web viewing on my glorious 6 inch Nexus 6 and quickly ran out of 'normal' things to view. As I was more or less in viewing range of other people I decided not to peruse any TG blogs and instead went to my go to activity; car dreaming/shopping.
I honestly have no idea how I got to Ford's site. I normally go to sites like Car and Driver, or simply Auto Trader to look at cars. Maybe I just wanted to see if the new 2015 Focus was out... the one that would finally make my car look 'old'. Old is of course subjective... Fiona wouldn't look like she was decades past her prime or anything... but at no point could anybody realistically mistake her for 'brand new'. The 'new' Focus is only a mild change, but it IS a change.
Anywho... I was at Ford's site and looked at the Ford Fusion. I do like the design of the Fusion. It's grill looks like a baby Aston Martin. No, nobody is going to get these two cars confused with each other, but it does have that same basic style. The only problem about dreaming for a Fusion is that it's a mid size family sedan. It's almost 1000 pounds heavier than Fiona and powered by a similar engine. It's mileage is nothing to sneeze at (25/37), but that's not not as good as Fiona's 27/38. To get that mileage Ford put a 1.5L four cylinder engine into the Fusion meaning that would be one tired car to drive.
And then my lonely eyes wandered over to the Ford Fusion... hybrid. I know what you are thinking... the only really good hybrid is the Toyota Prius. With it's current 51/48 mpg, it's a damned efficient vehicle, but I just don't fit into a Prius. I've tired... several times. All other hybrids seem to be major compromises.... either they are fuel efficient as all get out and have no style or verve or funtodrivedness, or they get just a small amount of mpgs over their gas counter parts. I remember seeing the 2009 Chevy Malibu hybrid that only got 26/34 mpg. Sad... just sad.
So I didn't hold out hope for the Fusion hybrid. When I looked up it's MPG I got several news stories instead of a simple listing of what it gets. It seems when Ford put out the new generation Fusion hybrid, they claimed it would get 47mpg in the city. And on the highway. 47/47. Then the shit hit the fan when the EPA stepped in and said that those were inflated numbers. The new numbers are 44/41.
44 miles per gallon in the city? On a roomy mid-sized family sedan? A car that wasn't designed as a hybrid from the ground up!? OMFG!!
My mind and fantasy went into over drive. The current generation of Ford Fusion hybrids came in as a 2013 model year. I could get a used one with reasonable miles for about the same price as the Chevy Cruze LTZs I was looking at in September. Going up to a $450 a month car payment didn't make sense for a side move into a new Cruze or a newer Focus... but a Fusion was a distinct step up and not a side move.
Why is it a step up? Well... it's more mature. I have that dual nature that makes both being mature and being youthful advantages. A bright yellow Ford Focus certainly is youthful. But the 'fun' of that is wearing thin. I still smile when I see Fiona, but I've heard just about every joke about me (a big older guy) driving a bright yellow Ford Focus (a child's car). So mature IS a step up. Plus, as much as Ford does a good job of putting all the toys into it's smaller cars, there is still a heirarchy of vehicles in every company. The Fiesta isn't as 'good' as the Focus. The Focus isn't 'as good' as the Fusion. The Fusion isn't 'as good' as the Taurus. Outside of specialty cars (The C-Max, and the Mustang) that generally holds true. The Fusion is offered with more options than a Focus.
So it's more mature and it's a step up. It's also just purely bigger. I DO fit into Fiona, but I could always use more room. Leg room is actually fine, but hip room? Shoulder room? I'm not exactly squeezed in those area, but there is room for improvement (pun intended).
Maturity, Stepping Up, and Size.
Of course, there are drawbacks too. It's more mature (remember my dual nature.. maturity is a blessing and a curse). I would lose that 'youthful' vigor of driving a bright yellow Focus. The Fusion doesn't even come in any really cool colors. Mileage should be a drawback, but the hybrid takes care of that. The only other major draw back is... price. A Focus more or less tops out around $29,000. A Fusion can go up over $35,000, and that's before moving into the hybrid.
So the maturity/youthfulness is kind of a wash, especially since I do like the style of the Fusion. The mileage would actually be an improvement. That leaves price.
It started looking for used hybrids and seeing what I'd lose out on (options and or miles already on the car) to keep the price down, when I realized something. Something that wasn't true in September.
I make more money. I got a significant raise in November of last year and am making quite a bit extra cash per paycheck. It I funneled that into what I already pay on Fiona I could.... carry the one... two paychecks per month... save a bit on gas... pay a bit more in insurance....
HOLY FUCKING SHIT I CAN AFFORD A BRAND NEW CAR
I've written about my cars. Fiona is as close to 'brand new' that I've ever been and she was over a year old when I got her (technically she was just over 2 years old). The intellectual side of me scoffs at the idea of buying brand new. I know damned well that you lose a large percentage of value from a new car once it's driven off the lot. You can find even a six month old car with very low miles at a significant savings. But the soul side of me so wants to buy a brand new car. Even if it's only once... even if it's just to scratch 'Buy A Brand New Car' off my bucket list.
So I started building, and pricing, and looking, and deciding what I needed to have and what I wanted to have and what I didn't really care if I had or not.
First thing... I didn't want to lose a thing moving from Fiona to a new car. That immediatly put me into the Titanium range as that's the only package from Ford that includes the enhanced stereo. I listen to a lot of music so that stereo was very important. Going to Titanium on a Fusion more or less made sure I wouldn't lose anything from Fiona. Push button start, big stereo, MyFord Touch, dual auto climate control, capless fuel filler, 17inch wheels... the only feature missing was the rain sensing wipers. In the Fusion that was included in the Driver Assist Package... and that also gave me Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), Lane Departure Warning, and Auto High Beams.
The only other things I added to my 'need' list was the heated and cooled seats. Heated seats are wonderful in the winter and the Titanium package already included that but I wanted to have that same flair on those hot summer days. I also 'needed' to have the heated steering wheel. Looking at a car in Febuary made that an easy decision as I've spent many a night driving home from work with my hands freezing.
Before I move on to wants there is one major feature that's included automatically that's worth mentioning. Remote Start. Oh baby, ever since we got Mom a remote starter for her car, I've wnated one of those. Being a factor installed one (it's included on almost all Fusions) means it wouldn't transmit quite as far, but it also means that it will decide how best to get the car ready. If it's cold outside it will turn on the seat warmers, the defroster, the rear defroster, and crank the heat up. If it's hot, it will turn on the seat coolers and crank up the AC. When it's in between, it will simply go with what you had the HVAC set at before. The Fusion in the Titanium grade also includes the rear view camera.
Other options that were wants include Adaptive Cruise Control (it will slow down if traffic slows down without you having to touch the brake, then speed back up when traffic clears!), and the Navigation system. Yes, the telematic navigation does just fine and that's why the Nav system was a want and not a need.
There were two other features that were available but that I didn't really care about; Active Park Assist (where the car parallel parks itself), and a power moonroof. I don't parallel park. I haven't even tried or needed to try since 2000. So why would I pay $1000 more for that abillity. I also don't really care about moonroofs. Yes, they add value and are generally worth the investment, but I don't use them. So long as it's a moon roof with a slide cover I could live with it but wouldn't make any effort to seek it out.
Before I got into very particular options like prefered exterior and interior colors, I wanted to make sure that a Ford Fusion was right. I hadn't considered mid sized hybrids before and wanted to ensure that there wasn't a better option out there.
I won't go into all the details as to why these car's weren't as good as a Ford Fusion Hybrid Titanium, but I did look closely at:
- Honda Accord Hybrid
- Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
- Kia Optima Hybrid
- Toyota Camry Hybrid
- VW Jetta Hybrid
- Chevy Volt
Each one could easily make the case for being someones new car... just not me. So I was firmly focused on the Fusion.
Now, one thing that attracted me to Fiona and kept me more than enamoured with her for 18 months was her glorious Yellow Blaze paint job. It's not just that I liked the yellow (and I do LOVE the yellow), it's just as much the fact that it stands out. It's unique. I finally saw a Yellow Blaze Titanium Ford Focus in my hometown. I saw it twice. Beyond that car, I could always count on finding Fiona whenever I had to look for her.
The Fusion only had one kind of unique color... Bronze Fire. On Ford's website it looked like a very dark maroon, but when I used Google image search, it came across as almost a brown. It actually looked pretty good, but I knew I'd be as picky as I was about Fiona's color.... if it's the wrong shade of 'brownish', then it would be awful. If it was the right color, I'd brag about it for years.
For the interior color I was a bit more mixed. There is a 'Terracotta' leather option that is really nice. It's a dark brown instead of the beige or black that you normally get in car interiors. But it seemed to be a rare interior and was only available with certain exterior colors (including Bronze Fire).
So started looking up particular cars. There was one car that matched off everything on my list, and didn't have any options that I didn't want. But that car was in Illinois. Beyond that car, it was a trade off somewhere... a color I didn't like, an interior that I didn't want, an option that I didn't want included or missing an option that I wanted or needed to have.
After hours of searching, I finally realized I needed to write off the terracotta leather. I couldn't find one with that interior within 500 miles of my home. Buying new I COULD have ordered it, but I didn't want to pay an additional $400 for a color that I have never laid eyes on. The Bronze Fire was also problimatic... I didn't want to focus to tightly on that without putting my eyes on it.
So on Thursday I grabbed my brother B and drove to a lot 40 miles away. I picked that lot because they had several Fusions in Bronze Fire. Sadly none were ones that I wanted to get as it was either Titanium OR Hybrid... not both. But I could at least lay eyes on that color and test drive a Hybrid. And assuming that the test drive went OK, there were several Hybrid Titaniums on the lot in other colors.
So we got there and I saw the Bronze Fire. I can see what they were going for. I guess the best thing I can say about it is this; it's a very interesting brown color. It' has hues of Red and Maroon in it. I can see how some people owuld love it, but I'm not one of them. I quickly found one of the other cars I had picked out. A Ruby Red Hybrid Titanium that included the Driver Assist Package, Heated/Cooled Seats and Heated Steering Wheel. It did NOT have the Adaptive Cruise Control, and DID include the Navigation and Moonroof. All in all, it was fairly priced. A bit more than I wanted to pay but that's just because it had those extra perks.
Pictures don't do the Ruby Red justice. It's a more 'candy' or 'pearl' like color scheme than it appears in photos. It also reflects the light beautifully and seems to be more than merely 'red'. I did look it up later and no, it's not a tri coat like Fiona's Yellow Blaze, but it sure does act like it!
I took it for a test drive and it was what I expected from a Hybrid. Acceleration was a bit hesitant but it did have get up and go if you knew how to coax it out of her. The transition between the electric and gas motors was smooth and unnoticeable. I fit into the seat comfortably on the first try and had enough leg room to actually move the seat forward a bit. My brother B in the passenger seat was far enough away from me that we were both comfortable and even had plenty of room between us and the doors. Something that isn't true inside of Fiona.
Coming back to the dealership I decided that I wanted this car. I hadn't found any car that had the options I wanted and only the options I wanted. This one was only missing the adaptive cruise and had the nav and moonroof, but otherwise was perfect.
So I sat down and talked money to the salesman. I knew they were currently offering 0% interest for 60 months, which is the sweet spot for payments. 72 months were obviously lower, but wouldn't pay the car off fast enough, while 48 months was just to damned high. And at 0% there was no way I would even bother with going to the credit union. Even if they offered it, I woulnd't want the credit union to spend 'my' money on a 0% return loan.
Now honestly, I had no intent of buying the car that night. I've negotiated on enough cars to know that I could get roughly want I wanted but I was coming to the table iwthout any chips in my favor. I didn't have a pre approved loan like I did with Fiona. It wasn't near the end of the month, and they have plenty of Fusions on the lot (i.e. they can stand to have one more for awhile longer). They had no incentive to sell this car to me on that day, and I had no insentive to pay top dollar for the car. Hell, if they didn't get me even close to a price I liked I could move on to my home dealer and just have them order me the car exactly as I want (or find one in their extended dealer network and deliver it to me!).
So I let the salesman do his thing to see where we were going to start. Instead of dealing with the final price of the car, I was only interested in talking about the final monthly payment. That way he could tell me that he was giving me only $6000 for Fiona and I wouldn't care so long as I had the right payment. My goal was to trade Fiona in, give them $2000 in cash, and end up with a payment under $675 a month. The loan would have to include gap coverage as well as diability insurance. I thought about adding life insurance as well but honestly once I found out that my current life insurance policy from work was twice my annual salary (if I die this year it will be $125,000 paid to my brother), I don't care about the life insurance. I DO need to have the diability insurance... if I get injured badly enough that I can't work I don't want to have to worry about a car payment that I can no longer afford.
So his first shot across the bow was full on sticker price, no money down, and a pittance for Fiona and got me to $720 a month. We went a couple rounds back and forth... I added the factory rims to Fiona to up her trade in value (she currently had her snow rims on), and offered $1000 down. He gave me a 'first time car buyer discount', and gave me a touch more on Fiona and we got it down to $696 a month.
I sat back at that moment. I had to because I realized this was real. This was happening. All it would take is me giving up the extra $1000 and him moving a bit down on the price (or giving me a bit more on Fiona... either or) and we would have the deal that I wanted. This wouldn't take weeks of going back and forth.... this wouldn't take waiting until the end of the month and hoping that they were short on their quota... I could drive this red beauty home. That night.
Now I know I have a pretty bad poker face. I didn't want to get excited. He hadn't honestly moved all that much and I wanted to see if I could get more... but that wouldn't happen if he saw me day dreaming about owning this car. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I leaned forward and said that while it was within my price range (it was... and I mentally slapped myself silly for saying so!), that it was a "think about it" payment and not a "buy it now" payment. I'd have to think about it over night.
He didn't even make me wait a beat. He leaned in too and said in a quiet voice "OK... what price is a "buy it now" payment. At what monthly payment would you drive away in this car?"
Again, I was taken aback. I, so far as I know, have no leverage at this point. I'm just some dude that drove in on a Thursday afternoon and took a test drive. In my mind, he should be happy to let me walk out the door. Hell, I even stupidly admited that I could afford his last offer. If I really wanted the car I could come back and just pay what he's already offered. And yet here he is willing to continue and negotiate. So I let my chips out.... I told him that if he could come back with a $660 monthly payment that I'd sign on the dotted line. I didn't start at $675 as I knew damned well that he wouldn't come back with my offer, even if it was only by adding $10 a month. I also didn't offer the extra grand figuring that if he came back with $680, I could come back with the cash and walk out satisfied with the deal.
He walked into another offer and I knew I was on the right track when B leaned over and asked what my real final price was. When I told him $675 including two grand from me he gave me an under the table fist bump.
The salesman walked in and offered...
$667 a month.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Without even having to offer up the extra grand I got the price I wanted. $8 a month UNDER the payment I wanted!
I answered by reaching across the table and shaking his hand. A good deal should always end with a handshake. I probably could have gotten him down further. He only had to visit his manager once, and I've never seen a good car negotiation go with less than three trips to the manager. But if they met my goal, and they were happy... why continue to dicker and deal? At that point we're talking about a few bucks a month.
I had to return back home to pick up the wheels, the extra set of keys, and the title. I hadn't brought any of that because I honestly didn't figure on even starting a real negotiation, let alone finishing a deal. Paperwork was signed, keys were exchanged, and I drove away in my brand new car.
God that sounds good.... my; Brand. New. Car.
I've been driving her for a few days now, but I want to give it some more time before I tell you more about it and the extra features. I can say at least this much... if the car's computer is correct, I got 41 miles per gallon on my trip to and from work the other day (I only got 34 last night, but the roads were icy). 41! I NEVER got that high with Fiona. I got 40 once or twice, but NEVER 41! And I'm not even trying to get good mileage out of her. I'm just driving her like I normally would and getting to know her.
I did get to know her enough to have her tell me her name. Ginger. I see it as both a reminder of her beautiful red color, but also as a representation of Ginger from Gilligan's Island. Not the comedic actress or character, but what she represented. That beautiful ageless class and beauty of those 40s and 50s movie starlets. Think of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's and you'll get what I mean.
Because Ginger IS classy. She's beautiful and wonderful, and I LOVE her.
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