We ventured into said dealership late in the afternoon, said we were only looking, seriously looking, but not probably going to buy anything today. Said we wanted something in blue, something automatic, preferably under a certain price. Now, we went shopping in late summer so it was hot, and our salesguy was having just a tad bit of trouble finding us a blue (or silver), automatic, Civic, with air in the below $15K range. Apparently that's quite a bit to ask so we hopped in some green funky thing and drove to a second lot (we're quite warm by now and already tired of wandering). So now we're at some other lot, not in our car, following this guy around looking for a blue, or silver (or white maybe?) automatic, Civic, with air somewhere in the ballpark of $15k.

The cars were parked so close together you could barely walk between them, let alone get one out. They were not arranged by color or even by model. Well, by now it's getting dark and so he points out this Titanium (goldish??), automatic, Civic with air that's kinda sorta below $16K. Says, "How about we test drive this one, do you mind titanium?" Now I guess we heard "Sure we're tired of wandering around this place, let's just drive the thing and see if you even care." when he was saying "I want to sell you something you don't want." Well, anyway we do the test drive and get back to the office and start talking to him, find out there's a Civic with the new CVT (continually variable transmission) that we're interested in. He says he doesn't know if he has one, we ask if we can maybe see the Insight since it has the same transmission. He says no. Okay he says "Oh, that's quite a bit more than you want to spend." but he meant, no.

Anyway, now he's calling around seeing if he can find us a Civic with CVT at all. In any color. There's apparently not one in this part of the state. 10th Largest city in the US and there's not a Civic with CVT. Well, okay, so we figure we're free shake the hand, take the flyer and leave. Uhm...no, he's still trying to sell us the titanium bugger. We point out kindly that it's not particularly blue is it. He mumbles something, leaves, and brings over his manager. We explain to HIM that 1. We WERE just looking thank you. 2. This is NOT the _CAR_ we want. 3. This isn't even the COLOR we want in this model AN-Y-WAY thank you for $16K I'm getting a freakin' blue car!

*breathe*

Let's just say we were half giggling and half about ready to just walk away.

Anyway, we FINALLY got to shake the hands, take the pamphlet, say see you again sometime THANK YOU very much.

Contrast with the Toyota experience. We went in, said we were just looking today but we were eventually interested in one of their hybrids, the Estima when it came out or the Prius.

We got to drive a blue Prius around for a while. A BLUE Prius.

We got the pamphlet, shook the hands, grabbed the card, got a "I'll call you when we know more about the Estima." Well, thank you sir, we'll be seeing you again.

And we will. 'Cuz I got to drive a blue Prius. Parked by model and color neatly and efficiently, we waited in the A/C while they got the keys, and no hassles, no hard sales. So when the Previa dies, we're getting another Toyota to replace it. Or a blue Prius.

And Titanium is a silvery metal. Freaks.

Link of the Week:
Tony Mason Mp3s I recommend "This is the Song You Skip" and "You All Suck" followed by "CNN Junkie"