I've been wanting a new car for some time now, I've had all of my vehicles paid off and my pickup truck is getting a bit long in the tooth. There are several cars I have been considering, and I wanted something sporty. I've been looking online at sport coupes such as the Hyundai Genisis Coupe, Mazda RX8, Suburu BRZ/Scion FRS, Audi TT, or even the Dodge Challenger; I've also been looking at "hot hatches" like the Volkswagen Golf R, GTI, Mini Cooper, or the Hyundai Veloster Turbo. One car I've been keeping an eye on is the Dodge Charger.
This weekend, while Melissa and I were getting ready for dinner and a movie at the Mall, we decided to stroll over to the Dodge and Hyundai dealer to see if they had any Challenger, Charger, Genesis or Velosters. They had a whole row of Challengers and a few Chargers. All of the chargers were SE base model or ones that had a few options in the SXT, all with the Penestar V6 motor and 8-speed automatic. They had one SRT8 Challenger and two R/T Challengers so we took one of the R/T's for a spin, I liked it and Melissa loved it; I wasn't quite sold, mostly because it's a really big car with only two door.
Next we went to the Hyundai dealer and I sat in the Veloster. This is a tiny hatchback three door, it litterially has two doors on the passenger side and one on the drivers side. We took the turbo model for a spin. This is a peppy little car which I could see myself driving, but didn't get the I have to have it vibe.
We heard the Volkswagen dealer had re-opened in Tracy, so we headed over there and right out front is a four door Golf R with Navigation. This is the top of the line Golf R and the MSRP is up there with the most expensive of this list. I took this for a test drive, and it's similar feel to all the other VWs I've had, except that it corners on rails rather than 3 wheels.
None of these vehicles made me say, "oh my gawd, I have to have it". So we ended up going to dinner then to our movie. On Sunday, we're sitting on the front porch talking about the movie, the cars, etc. She was sold on the Challenger, but I was thinking we still need four door or a coupe that was smaller, but was thinking about the Chrysler 300 thinking maybe we could go back and test drive that. Melissa mentioned something about going to another dealer or ordering one with the features we wanted, which reminded me that I drove 40+ miles to get my pickup because I found a dealer that had one late in the year with all most everything I wanted. This gave me the idea to check the next closest dealer's inventory online.
The Dublin Dodge dealer had two 2012 Chargers on the lot according to their website. So I suggested we drive over the hill and take a look, the Dublin Hyundai website also had two Genesis Coupes listed in their inventory as well, so it would be a trip to see just one car.
I decided to go the Hyundai dealer first, I mean this is the car that Fiona drives in Burn Notice, but it turns out that these vehicles have been allocated and are in transit, and not actually on the lot; so we head over to the Dodge dealer. As we step onto the lot, we are approached by a sales guy, we try and brush him off, but since we were here to see a specific car, I went ahead and told him we were interested in one of the 2012 V8 Chargers, he responded with "The Super Bee?" and I thought Melissa was going to have a kitten, no, we're interested in the other one.
We go find the other one and sit in it. And this is where the "Oh my gawd, I have to have it" starts. I ask if we could take if for a test drive and "Oh my gawd, I have to have it", so...
Now I have it
