I am NOT getting a honda
Jan. 9th, 2008 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forgotten_ariaFirst, I want to say that all this car consideration is making me LOVE my current car even more. Maybe I should be looking for a used version of mine with an automatic.
Second, this story is from the last dealership I visited. The first two were prompt, friendly, and helpful, not pushy. I had to ask for cards, and they let me look and ask and they answered.
So here's why I'm not buying a Honda, or at least not from Cambridge Honda. I walk in. I have two questions, the first is answerd promptly, the second is "what is the highway range of the fit?" Ok, a little non-standard. the Door greater sends me off to a salesman, that's fine. So the sales man gives me the mpg. nono, not that, how far it goes on one tank of gas. "but it had very good gas milage" "yes, but I've been told it will only go ~350 miles on a tank." (which is about 100 miles less than any other car on my list.) "well let me get a brochoure" "here's the mpg" I point to the tank size, "yes, but here it says 10.8 gallon tank, times 33 mpg highway. Yup the number is right. thank you." "well what other cars are you considering?" I think ok, sure, why not, "the mazda 3, the prius, I don't know, my list keeps getting short and shorter" "well the fit has better gas milage..." "look, I drive to pittsburgh, it's a 10 hour drive." "you're not going to be near a gas station?" "Well right now I can do it in one stop, I don't want to stop more than that. it's a long drive as is and if I'm in a traffic jam I could run out of gas" "if I could sell you a bigger tank, would you buy a fit?" "yes!" "I can't." There is a lot more arguing about how there are gas stations everywhere, a request for my name (which I give) and a phone number or email address which I don't (this actually happened a bit earlier, but I'm not quite sure of the sequence of things. "Well, since I'm here, why don't I sit in one." "you wait here, I'll go get a key."
He comes back with ANOTHER sales man, and this is where it gets interesting. We go around again on the "it has better gas milage than the mazda 3, what other cars are you considering, is it really that bad to stop more often, are long trips the ONLY thing you'll be doing." Then this guy tries to tell me that I should carry a 2 gallon plastic tank of gas in my trunk when I go to Pittsburgh that, "you're letting such a small thing prevent you from buying a great car." I start to sputter a bit, "you're honestly trying to tell me this is a solution. It's dangerous..." "We're in danger every day..." "and it smells and is inconvenient. I was going to sit in one, but I'm just leaving now" and I walked out.
EDIT: Oh I forgot the "but have you driven it yet" part of the first discussion, like some how me driving it would change my mind about how far it goes.
Second, this story is from the last dealership I visited. The first two were prompt, friendly, and helpful, not pushy. I had to ask for cards, and they let me look and ask and they answered.
So here's why I'm not buying a Honda, or at least not from Cambridge Honda. I walk in. I have two questions, the first is answerd promptly, the second is "what is the highway range of the fit?" Ok, a little non-standard. the Door greater sends me off to a salesman, that's fine. So the sales man gives me the mpg. nono, not that, how far it goes on one tank of gas. "but it had very good gas milage" "yes, but I've been told it will only go ~350 miles on a tank." (which is about 100 miles less than any other car on my list.) "well let me get a brochoure" "here's the mpg" I point to the tank size, "yes, but here it says 10.8 gallon tank, times 33 mpg highway. Yup the number is right. thank you." "well what other cars are you considering?" I think ok, sure, why not, "the mazda 3, the prius, I don't know, my list keeps getting short and shorter" "well the fit has better gas milage..." "look, I drive to pittsburgh, it's a 10 hour drive." "you're not going to be near a gas station?" "Well right now I can do it in one stop, I don't want to stop more than that. it's a long drive as is and if I'm in a traffic jam I could run out of gas" "if I could sell you a bigger tank, would you buy a fit?" "yes!" "I can't." There is a lot more arguing about how there are gas stations everywhere, a request for my name (which I give) and a phone number or email address which I don't (this actually happened a bit earlier, but I'm not quite sure of the sequence of things. "Well, since I'm here, why don't I sit in one." "you wait here, I'll go get a key."
He comes back with ANOTHER sales man, and this is where it gets interesting. We go around again on the "it has better gas milage than the mazda 3, what other cars are you considering, is it really that bad to stop more often, are long trips the ONLY thing you'll be doing." Then this guy tries to tell me that I should carry a 2 gallon plastic tank of gas in my trunk when I go to Pittsburgh that, "you're letting such a small thing prevent you from buying a great car." I start to sputter a bit, "you're honestly trying to tell me this is a solution. It's dangerous..." "We're in danger every day..." "and it smells and is inconvenient. I was going to sit in one, but I'm just leaving now" and I walked out.
EDIT: Oh I forgot the "but have you driven it yet" part of the first discussion, like some how me driving it would change my mind about how far it goes.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 10:43 pm (UTC)You are welcome to remove an entire car line from consideration because of one dealership; that's your right. I wouldn't do it, personally. Given what you have said, take the Fit out of consideration simply because it doesn't have the driving range you want. Driving range is not a fixable problem - they can't increase the gas milage, nor can they increase the tank.
And if some other Honda looks likely, well, go to a different dealer.
DW and I ran numbers on Hondas (Civic and Accord) and resale value. For some cars the value graph bends a few years in, indicating that's where you should by it used. Civics and Accords, if I recall correctly, didn't actually have a substantial bend: buying them new was about as good, over the lifetime of the car, as buying them used.
Basically, those models hold their value well.
When you get down to choosing among a few specific cars, come ask how we created that value spreadsheet. You might discover that the best value is a two or three year old car, used, from a reputable dealer who gives it a new warranty.
Also, take the MPG with a really big grain of salt. Those numbers are skewed high because of the specific way MPG is tested (Consumer Reports did an article on it) by things like changing exactly where the car changes gears. Your car with a 450 mile range may actually have a 350 range or worse, depending on how you drive.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 10:51 pm (UTC)I've been trying to use the government mpg site, which has some users that also report "actual" mpg. I realize they're not perfect, but they do kind of give a target indication of where things are.
I think the range issue is why the 350 is so worrisome, actually. I could actually do Pittburgh in two legs of 300 each, but there's so little window for miscalculations, traffic jams, etc. I don't know if I could find a site with real data.