I hope you enjoyed THAT car-buying experience!!!

Hello again, blogfans!

Like a lot of Americans these days, I've been experiencing the "pinch" at the pump. About a year and a half ago (when gas was $1.50 a gallon less than it is now), I bought a new F-150. I'm not one of those "status" buyers who buys a vehicle because it's "hot" or "in" or popular; I buy a vehicle strictly for the utility, which is why I bought the full-sized Ford. I have a 23' boat that I have to pull and a 16' flatbed trailer that I pull from time to time, both of which require a full-sized truck. I bought the Ford because Fords have always been good for me. Including the one I bought last year, I've had 6 full-sized Ford trucks since I started driving and I've never had anything but a great experience with them; they pull like there's no tomorrow, they're easy to drive and maintain, they're relatively efficient, and they maintain their value fairly well. All that said, the F-150 isn't getting the sort of mileage I need driving back and forth to work, so I needed to park it when I'm not using it to pull and buy something more efficient for the trip back and forth to work.

I decided that I'd test drive a Ford Focus (33 mpg), a Toyota Corolla (35 mpg), and a Honda Civic (36 mpg) and Fit (33 mpg) [all mpgs listed are for the automatic transmission model - MDB doesn't want to have to shift when she drives it]

The Focus tested well; it was roomy and had plenty of power. The ride was comfortable and the trunk was absolutely cavernous! Not only that, Ford is offering $1500 cash back, which put the drive-out price at about $16,000 after everything is said and done.

The Corolla was a little cramped and, even with the additional gas mileage it offered, it would never "catch up" with a sticker that runs over $18,000.

The Fit was very nice if a little troubling. The salesman kept saying that the car weighs less than a Civic, which made me go "hmmmmmm....." It has a smaller engine (1500 cc) than a Civic, which, coupled with a lighter weight, ought to equal higher gas mileage than a Civic, but the Fit gets 3 mpg LESS.......Hmmmmmmmmm......

Anyway, the Fit had a sticker of ~17,000 (keep that figure in mind)....

The Civic was what you'd expect. It was very comfortable, comes with legendary Honda reliability, and gets 36 mpg doing it. It carries a sticker of ~19,000 (keep that figure in mind)....

Since I'd already eliminated the Corolla for reasons already stated, it came down to the Focus and the Civic (the Fit and Focus were a wash; both got 33 mpg and the Focus was cheaper, so the Fit was out). I'd have driven off of the Honda lot with a Civic, except for the fact that Honda has seen fit to ADD $1500 TO THE MSRP AND REFUSE TO DEAL WHATSOEVER!!!! That means that the $19,000 Civic was going to run $20,500 and there wasn't going to be any discussion about it at all!

Right there at the salesman's desk, I ran the numbers for him:

The focus gets 33 mpg, which means for a typical 15,000 mile year, I'm going to use about 455 gallons of gasoline. The Civic, at 36 mpg, is going to use about 417 gallons; that's a difference of 38 gallons. At $4.00 per gallon, that means the Focus is going to cost $152.00 more per year to operate than the Civic. Since the Civic cost $4500 more than the Focus, that means that it will take the Civic nearly 30 years to "catch up" with the Focus.

I don't think I'm going to have either one of them for 30 years!!!!

Anyway, I presented the figures to the salesman and he hemmed and hawed (as you'd expect) and then brought his manager over so I could present my figures again! "Would you be interested in a pre-owned Civic?" they wanted to know....

Uhhh....I don't think so!

Let's see, Honda; would you be the guys who're charging $10 for a bag of ice after a hurricane? Are you the guys who respond to an opportunity to provide an actual service to the American public by sticking it to us like this?

I went and bought the Ford! I'm taking delivery on the 14th (they didn't have any in stock, but they've got one that has the stuff on it I wanted in transit and THEY didn't mind dealing with me!!! They added $500 to the invoice cost, gave me the $1500 rebate AND an additional $500 cash back that I was eligible for for some reason that I'm not sure of)!

Anyway, since I walked out of the Honda dealer, my phone has rung twice; once it was some "customer satisfaction survey" who wanted to know why I didn't buy at the Honda place and the other time was a call from the General Manager of the dealership. He also wanted to know why I didn't buy a Honda. Here's how that conversation went:

Honda guy - "Mr. Armstrong?"
Me - "Yes?"
HG - "You visited our dealership today and you did not purchase a vehicle. Could I ask why you did not do business with us?"
Me - "Sure - The price of the Civic was too high versus the price of similar vehicles from other manufacturers and the dealership would not deal with us on the price."
HG - "Well, we like to feel that the value of the Civic is worth the price."
Me - "It's a wonderful car and I'd really like to own one, but it would take the Civic 30 years to catch up with Focus and Ford doesn't seem to mind dealing with me, thanks."
HG - "Well, sir, if we could get you to come back in maybe we can work something out."
Me - "Uh....I don't think so; I'm at the Ford dealership taking delivery on a Focus right now, thanks!"

Thanks, Ford! I knew I'd been faithful to you all these years for a reason! Even when there's "gouging money" to be made, you're still dealing!

I hope Honda suffers a tremendous set-back in the market and is FORCED to deal with people! I understand "supply and demand" better than most, but I really have a hard time with the prospect of sticking it to people who're suffering with these gas prices and simply cannot afford NOT to deal with these greedy Japanese model dealerships. Thanks, Ford, for being there for me, once again!!!