Bah! Car troubles!!

Leaving the train station to drive home the other night, my little Barina had lost all engine grunt, was bunny hopping in 2nd gear and I dont think 3rd gear was working at all.

Took it down this morning to an automatic transmission repair place, but after a test drive they said it wasn't the gear box but an engine issue - and a pretty major one at that!

Given I was at Penrith at this stage (the drive down was a joy!) there was no way I would be able to get back up the Mountain, and the mechanic recommended I take it straight to the Holden dealer and their service team.

Turning up at a major dealership without an appointment was also a joy... they said they'd try to look at it today and it may be ready by Wednesday...

I am smiling today through gritted teeth and something tells me whatever is wrong won't be cheap!!

New Car

Thought I'd post a pic of our new car... also trying to get farking Picasa to work with the new Blogger again... grr.

Bought A Car

One expensive item down, one to go…

Bought a Camry Ateva today… well agreed to the deal and just need to sign the paperwork, but she’s a done deal.  Took a bloody long time and I got pretty shitty with the Auto Search guy in the end, but its done.

Should have delivery by Friday.

Cars & Computers - Pre Xmas Hassles

Its getting close to the end of the year… I must admit Lime Kettles will probably take a bit of a hiatus when my leave commences (Dec 22 – Jan 15) as at the moment, I am without a home PC and once this week ends, I will have NO internet access until its replaced.  But I have made moves – a shop at Springwood can do me a nice customised tower plus will attempt to repair / restore the data on the old disk at a reasonable price.  Only issue is that they’re at Springwood and only open business hours… Looking at my calendar, I might hang back tomorrow morning and get there at 9am and try to do the deal then and there and head into work.  I will call them today.

Still no bloody movement on the car front – TODAY is the deadline for both Toyota and Mazda to come back with a price… I am not sure what the hold up is, but Mazda wanted a look at my Ford trade in today.  This has been going on for weeks and I thought it would be dead simple, but this “car broker” deal with Quality Auto Search has dragged on.  They’re still telling me though I will be in a new car by Friday though, but I find that hard to believe.

So in short, the week before Xmas is the worst time to try and get major home things done.  Everyone is going to parties and the like and focus on work is not there at all… reminds me of me!

Post From the Desk

At work today after dropping the Mazda 6 test drive back to the dealership.  The decision is close… in a nutshell, Niki prefers the Mazda 6 and I prefer the Camry.  Both very good cars, but also very different cars.

The Mazda is sportier. It has a low profile and has a lot more responsiveness off the lights.  Both cars have the same engines (4cyl 2.3L) but the gear ratios mean that the Mazda “zoom zooms” whereas the Camry is more of a cruiser.

The Camry is larger and clearly has an advantage in passenger room and driver comfort.  The seats are also softer and the car drives a lot more smoothly – you tend to feel every bump in the Mazda.

I personally prefer the interior of the Camry as well.  Has a bit more of a luxury car feel to it whereas the Mazda is a bit more harder and the dash and consoles are in red LED.  At night it is very bright and to me, off putting.

The end result is that I am going to get the Auto Search people to crunch the numbers and get the very best price for each and throw in what they can to do the deal…

Also, just for the record this weekend is my birthday :-)  Please send all the lavish gifts you can! Hehe

 

Test Drive 2

Am taking a second test drive from tonight with a Mazda 6 being dropped around to my office.  I must say, I continue to be impressed with the ability of the Auto Search people to do all the leg work for me and I had a Mazda dealership ring me up and offer me a drive overnight… I do have a dilemma in that I have a pre-Xmas drinks on with work and I will have to curtail my intake so as to drive home but also to get home so that Niki and the girls can have a go as well.  I think I will get everyone up early for a drive in the morning and be a bit late to work tomorrow.

I don’t have high hopes though for the Mazda as they are definitely smaller than the Camry and they definitely have less boot space… but you never know.

Monday Drive - The Camry Altise

Had this weekend the Camry Altise for a test drive which concluded this morning with me driving it to Hurstville and back to the dealership.

We have been debating two cars – the Camry and the Mazda 6 and the Camry was the first one I have actually driven. What I was expecting was a little car with minimal room and base features but I was really surprised when this car that was fractionally smaller than a Ford Falcon that had a very sleek look and a very functional and modern looking interior.

Driving, a 4cyl 2.3L engine was fine and had a very light steering. The driving seat was very comfortable with the door armrest and the console perfect for putting your elbows on… very important! I hate cars that you feel squeezed in or uncomfortable.

The only downside is that the rear window is very small and the rear passenger windows are also very small and high. Kate being a tall 7yr old has the window sill at about the level of the top of her head and Brookie without a booster seat cant see out the side at all. For the driver, the viewing is improved by good side mirrors that have a concave (or is it convex?) shape which means you can see, but you need those mirrors.

Also with a high rear, we’ll really consider taking the parking sensors as an optional extra.

All in all though, we were very impressed and when we parked it at the shops next to a Mazda 6, it was clearly the bigger and more roomier car and I think at around the same price…

Good car… but dollars talk, so we’ll wait and see...

Car Update

Am writing this on the train home this evening as opposed to in as I am driving in in the morning… The guys from Quality Auto Search are coming out to inspect our Ford with a view to trade in value.  Need to get $8,600 for it and a used car of this make and model sells for around $10-11K… give or take.  It’s a bit beat up and tired looking, but runs well (the brakes are probably close to the end of their life though) and the rego is good for another 10mths.

So I will drive in tomorrow, they’re coming to the office in the mid-morning and I will drive back home in the evening.  On Friday, I will train it in, but I have a Camry Ateva for loan for the weekend!  So I will drive it around on the weekend, return it on Monday and hopefully have a Mazda 6 to try as well.  Mazda are also starting a sale this weekend for the base model plus a few features for $28,600 drive away… considering the recommended retail price is around $33K, that’s a good deal and I made the guy aware of that today… he’ll be coming back with a Mazda test drive details later this week and also is going to start sharpening the pencil on price.

This is all good, but I am a bit worried about the trade in… I guess I cant see why anyone would buy a 2001 Ford with 99,000 km’s on the clock…I presume someone will, but I am always the pessimist when it comes to cars.

I must admit, this is the easiest way to buy / sell a car and so far, its all good.

Buying a Car

Decided to take the late train today as I had a pretty free morning (gets me in right at 9am) and was cutting it fine to make the station and got held up at the only set of traffic lights behind my place and the station.  By the time I got through, the train was at the platform and I was no chance.  So now I am on the “Very Late” train and wont get into the office until 9:30… oh well, its not like I haven’t been working like a biatch lately anyways.

On other news, we’re buying a new car.  We’re trading in our 2001 Ford Futura Wagon and looking at a medium sized car whilst the kids are young enough to not require huge amounts of leg room.  I lease my cars so I will only keep this one for 3-4 years and by that stage Kate will be 10-11 yrs old and would be getting bigger to require going back to a Ford or Holden.

But in the interim we’re in the medium size car market.  But rather than beat the streets and legging it between car yards, I rang up “Quality Auto Search” (they have a website – google it) and I have been very impressed with their service.  Rang them up on Friday, spoke to the guy there about what we’re looking for, he agreed with my views on the kids, fuel economy etc etc and after giving him a price range, he undertook a desktop search.

He rings me yesterday and tells me he’s recommending the Camry Ateva or the Mazda 6.  Both retail for the same price and there are only marginal differences between the two and are good quality cars.  The next step is he’s ringing me today to arrange me to have an overnight test drive of each and he’ll bring me the car to my work and then we’ll also set a day in which I will drive the Ford into the office and he’ll come out and inspect it and so that he can get me a good trade in deal.

So by the end of this week, I’ll probably have had driven both cars, had my car valued for trade in and we’ll decide on which one we’d like and all of this without leaving my desk!

But where’s the catch?  When I spoke to Rod from Quality Auto Search I said “sounds great mate, but how much is all this” he said “For you, nothing.  We get our commission from the dealers” and he also assured me he could negotiate around 10% off the retail price and get some add-ins thrown in.

So… the proof is in the pudding and I will be getting prices today but so far, I have been very impressed with the service and he’s been prompt in calling me back when he said he would.

Also, if anyone has any experience with the Camry Ateva or the Mazda 6, let me know!

Listening:  Penny Century by The Clouds (an oldie but a goodie)