A Composition For One Or Two Instruments

Typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.

The Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour headed west to Augusta tonight and for the second time in three days I have left a car dealership with an agreement on a deal for a car. And again all that needs doing to make it happen is the detailing of the vehicle and the final financial paperwork.

29 HOURS AGO: At 2:30 on Monday afternoon I call the Honda dealership to make sure everything is on track. I’m told salesman Brad is at lunch, so I leave a message to be called back. At 3:30, having heard nothing, I call back. This time I’m told Brad isn’t in, he had called in sick. I tell the clueless receptionist that I am supposed to pick up my new car at 4:30. “Who do I need to talk to?”, I ask. She transfers me to someone named John (really) an he tells me he will have some one call me right back and takes my work number.

Twenty minutes later, literally 5 minutes before I get off work, I get a call from Brian (this name I’ll remember) and I tell him I’m twenty minutes away. He says, “Come on down, I’ll get paperwork started, so it should be almost done by the time you get here.” When we arrive, Brian is waiting in the showroom near the door, but he has not done anything on my paperwork. Our experience goes downhill from there, culminating in Donna and I driving off with the John Candy character chasing us down shouting my name.

Maybe later in the weekend I’ll have time to post about the rest of our fun with the Keystone Kar Salesmen of Honda Cars of Aiken.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1001

Do We Have An Accord?

In our last installment we left our heroes with a difficult choice, but as anyone who has successfully navigated the tricky waters of matrimony knows, the key is compromise. Brian compromised by not going for the sports car and Donna compromised by not going for the small car.

At 5PM on Saturday afternoon I called Brad, the Honda salesman, and asked what we needed to do to get the ball rolling on buying an Accord Coupe. I told him that it turns out we didn’t really want a blue one after all, “We’d take one in red. Did they have an LX-S in that color?” He thought they did, but he needed to check. I said I’d call him back in a few minutes. When he answered my call he said yes they did. I told him I’d be there in 15 minutes to fill out a credit check application. Our compromising was fine, but what really drove the choice was we could get the car now, because Honda was offering a .9% deal on 60 month loans.

I got to the dealership and Brad and I took a San Marino Red Coupe for a short test drive. When we got back we sat in a little open cube and talked money. I had done my online research by pricing the car on Honda’s web site. Then I headed to Edmond’s and got the invoice figure and what they call a fair market value price, which for this car was about a grand less than invoice (which itself is $2,000 less than list.) I offered several hundred under the list, telling them I had X dollars for a down payment and would finance the remainder at their .9% resulting in a monthly payment of X dollars. That offer also had to include in it the $300 (capped) SC sales tax and any document fees associating with titling and registering the car. I felt this was fair because I knew that they would still be getting more than the invoice price of the car, which is not what they really pay for the car, plus they get to keep any manufacturers hold back money. Brad takes my offer and disappears to the other side of the sales floor to show the figures to the Sales Manager Sam (I didn’t catch his name, but he looks a little like Sam Elliot with white hair and no mustache.) Brad comes back about 5 minutes later (there’s that wait time again) with the famous 4 square box.

One of the squares says $27,000. This is what their sticker on the window reads for the price of the car. They have added wheel locks, mud flaps, a Trunk Condom (a big rubber mat with sides that will catch a whole gallon of spilled milk) and my favorite, the $2500 First Class Finish Package. In the upper right is the figure that really catches my eye, $448 for 60 months. I stand up and offer Brad my hand and say if that’s the best you can do, I’ll be going. He says, “Wait, I’ll see what I can do.”

Now the dancing commences in earnest. He is gone less than a minute, Sam would like to know where I got my figures. I outline for Brad what I did above for you and off he goes again. Brad returns in a skinny minute and says, “They’re working on a better deal.” While we wait Brad fires up a browser and goes to the Honda web site and builds my Accord and sees where I got the list price from.

We are joined by player number three, could be the finance manager or the assistant sales manager. Not only didn’t I pay attention to his title, but I don’t catch the name either. I am too distracted by the fact that he could pass for the John Candy character in the movie Splash and wondering if it would be impolite to wipe my palm on my pants to dry off the sweat he left behind during the handshake. John Candy has a computer printout that shows the list price (just what I said it was) and then their cost that they have in the car with the options and all. John points to a hand sketch of a scale marked in little increments going from 2% to 9% and tells me that dealers need to make somewhere in that profit range to stay in business. He asks if I felt they weren’t entitled to make a little money, so could I please add $5 more to my monthly payment. I look at him like he is speaking Swahili and mention that he can go ahead and take off the wheel locks, mud flaps and remove the trunk tray as I don’t want them. But to show them I was a sport I offered him the $300 up front. John tells me that it would cost money to remove the mud flaps and wheel locks but they would remove the trunk tray. Neither of us mention the $2500 First Class Finish because I think they know I know that this is nothing more than an updated version of the 70’s and 80’s Rust Proofing Pure Dealer Profit Scam. To quote Captain Jack Sparrow to Will Turner, I say to John Candy, “Do we have an accord?” (a nice play on words, if I don’t say so myself.)

I tell Brad my wife is going to have dinner on the table in a few minutes, I better get home and I’ll be back on Monday after work to finalize the paperwork. They don’t want me to leave (maybe figuring I regret that $300 and not come back) so Sam Elliot is back and says let’s finish up the offer sheet and run your credit before you go, it’ll only take 10 minutes. I tell Sam that I’ll do that, but I’ll be coming in on Monday with $50 less if the dinner gets ruined and I have to take my wife out to eat. They don’t have a real figure to work with because I’ve got them rushing, so I am asked to sign something that says I will purchase this car if the following conditions can be met, my new X dollars down and my X dollar a month payment for 60 months. Everybody seems happy and I leave telling Brad I would see him at about 4:30 on Monday to pick up the car.

This is getting kind of long winded, so come back tomorrow night for the tale of today’s stop on the Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1000

120,000 Hondas!

Yesterday the Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour came east both physically and figuratively. But first a couple of house cleaning issues.

1) Yesterday I mentioned the Red Sox were 2 and 10 after their win, but they were actually 3 and 10. After today’s 8 to 1 win over Toronto they still have the worst record in baseball at 4 – 10, but jumped to second to last in run differential.

2) Somewhere near Riverwatch Parkway and I-20 on the way home from Augusta yesterday the Emperor eased past the 120,000 mile mark. That is an average of 1.85 miles for every hour we’ve owned it.

Our last car test drive event was over in Augusta and consisted of all Korean cars, yesterday we stayed closer to home and shopped Japanese at Honda Cars of Aiken. And while there actually were only 106 new Hondas on the lot, it seemed like there were 120,000 to choose from. As we walked through the showroom door we were instantly greeted by someone and we said we were there to test drive a couple cars. He said he was a manager of some sort and he would get us a salesman. True to his word, within seconds, Brad arrived and asked what were we interested in. We wanted to drive a Civic Coupe and an Accord Coupe. Brad asked what color and we told him it didn’t matter as long as it was a base LX model, but when we buy one it’ll be blue. He came back in less than five minutes with a dealer plate and a key (we like this experience better already.)

First up was a Civic in Royal Blue Pearl. This is the smaller car and the equivalent to Hyundai’s Elantra and while not nearly as swoopy in styling it is still a nice looking car. We are both instantly 100% more comfortable in it than the Elantra. Right legroom for me as the driver is acceptable, but the left leg is stopped short by the dead pedal (which should be easliy remedied by just taking it out.) There is a large digital speedometer above and forward (almost a HUD) of the large tach and other gauges, interesting and slightly quirky. We start our drive and I take a turn off US1 towards Graniteville and at the stop sign I ask what is considered a reasonable test drive. Brad replies from the back, “Whatever you want.” I briefly consider a left turn up Chalk Bed Rd, but Donna says we need to cross some railroad tracks (a convertible’s nemesis), so I take a right and drive through “downtown” Graniteville. This is a great test because along with those railroad tracks there is one section of road that probably started life as concrete sections, like those found on some interstates, so we got to drive over all those seams, cluh-thunk, cluh-thunk, clu-thunk. Each transition is felt and heard in the car, not as rough as a Miata, but definitely inexpensive, small car-like. Overall we both like the car, it is small, but really the right size for us. Donna is almost sold, but I have a couple of reservations. Including the very lame, “They are too common.” On any given day, there are probably 150 cars in our company parking lot and 3 or 4 recent vintage Civic Coupes and at least twice as many as that of Civic Sedans.

Next up we drive an Alabaster Silver Metallic Accord Coupe. For a car that appears to dwarf the Civic, the interior room in the front of the Accord feels exactly the same size as the Civic (and the numbers bear it out.) The dash is more my old school liking in that there are a two large circular analog gauges (tach & speedo) surrounded by a temp and fuel gauge with an odometer in the middle bottom. The extra 600 pounds of this car make drive through bumpy Graniteville much smoother and quieter, more what I was looking for in a new car. That extra 600 pounds of the Accord over the Civic is almost exactly offset by the 50 extra horsepower it has, so the seat of the pants acceleration feel is about the same. Neither is probably much quicker than the Miata in a straight line, but there is not the same sense of speed as in the open topped car (which is both good and bad.) When we get back to the dealer I pull it along side the previously driven Civic. Donna jumps in the driver’s seat of each car for crucial short driver test. Amazingly she feels she has a better sense of the knowing where the front of the larger Accord is compared to the Civic. We look inside at each trunk and just like in the interior, there doesn’t appear to be any more room in the Accord’s than the Civic and the Civic’s is shaped better. We both like this car too, me more than Donna.

We thank Brad profusely and take home a Civic and an Accord brochure along with two of his business cards, one for me to call if we decide on the Accord and one for Donna to call if we opt for the Civic.

It is a tough call between the two. We both like the looks of the Civic better and the Civic’s blue is nicer shade too. The Civic is the right size car and really all we need. As a plus it is $5k less in price, but to me it rides much choppier and noisier, sort of like it is $5k less. Now, comparing the Accord Coupe to the Genesis Coupe, is where the whole thing falls apart. The Hyundai is about the same size car, but doesn’t look as bloated. The Genesis is a rear wheel drive with 210 HP and because it is turbo charged, a much flatter torque curve with the peak appearing at half the RPM of the Accord. The Genesis Coupe is a sports car and the Accord Coupe is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 998

Pretty Much How Things Are Going

Even with today’s win the Red Sox still have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 2-10. They also have the dubious distinction of having the worst run differential in the Majors (meaning both the American & National Leagues) at minus thirty. That means they have been outscored in those 12 games by 80 to 50. Those 80 runs allowed are also the highest in the bigs, which means our pitchers probably have the highest team ERA. Indicative of the FRS’s season so far, today I received my Red Sox Nation packet and it was inside a small plastic bag with the following label:

WE CARE
Dear Postal Customer:
We sincerely regret the damage to your mall during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition.

Although every effort is made to prevent damage to the mall. occasionally this will occur because of the great volume handled and the rapid processing methods which must be employed to assure the most expeditious distribution possible.

We hope you understand. We assure you that we are constantly striving to improve our processing methods in order that even a rare occurrence may be eliminated.

Please accept our apologies.
Sincerely.
Your Postmaster

At least the Membership card survived intact…

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 998

Veggie Pie

The MMC evening dinner meeting is on again, after a several month hiatus. Tonight we dined at the Polka Dot Pig Gastropub in Augusta. Nineteen members showed up, which is almost the entire Club, at least the active part anyway. The food was good, but not great. It could have been great, but it just missed in small ways, like there was too much flour left on the bottom of the crust on my veggie pizza. Someone else’s pasta was kind of watery, like it wasn’t drained entirely. Another’s burger was rarer than the requested medium. In an order of fish ‘n’ chips, the fish was a bit soggy on the bottom. Maybe that many folks at one table overwhelmed the cook staff.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 996

Well, I Feel Better Now

The FRS can’t lose tonight, they got rained out. They can’t lose tomorrow night either because of a regularly scheduled day off.

But what really has turned around my dour attitude was that the Warlock has spoken: “It’s a long season and there’s a ton of talent there and a really bitchin’ hitters park they play in. Relax.” Thanks Charlie, I really feel better now.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 994

Why Bother?

It is halfway through game #11 and the FRS are losing 3-0, fast on their way to being 2 and 9 to start the season.

At first I thought it was kind of comical that the team that many predicted to be the best in the majors stumbled out of the starting blocks, but now it is not so much funny as it is depressing. Their fantastic pitching staff has appeared more like little leaguers and their fearsome batting lineup has only about two of them batting more than their weight.

I know, I know Mark, I should have faith and believe that it is till possible to finish the season at 154-8, but right now it is kind of hard to believe that they won’t finish dead last in their division. Right now the only bright spot is that they lead the MFY 2 to 1 in the season series.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 993