While shopping for the new car, I wanted something with good fuel economy, but didn’t want to sacrafice on cargo space.  As I told every salesman that I visited, “My three dogs go everywhere with me.” I didn’t really need the 4WD, even though it had come in handy a few times. I also didn’t need the gas guzzling that came along with the 4WDs.

I did a lot of research on the internet and looked at the following cars:

• Jetta Wagon TDI – 40+ MPG!
• Mazda 3 Hatchback
• Subaru  Impreza
• Scion XD
• Nisan Versa
• Ford Focus

I had pretty much settled on the Jetta Wagon TDI, the Mazda, and the Fit. The Ford just seemed boring, the Subaru not big enough, and the Versa too new. Admittedly, there were others in the class and a few others to boot (like the Mini Cooper) but you can drive yourself crazy (like my brother-in-law who spent months deciding on which car to buy) if you start with too big of a selection.

Personally, I didn’t want to use CARS (Cash for Clunkers) as my Jeep would make a great 4WD for someone living up where the salt the roads as it was in good shape and with some transmission work will provide several years of service. However, I did want to use the leverage that CARS allowed me during the negotiations.

I was dead set on a manual transmission as I just don’t feel like driving a golf cart around. I did drive the Jetta TDI, but there were no more 2009 TDI manual shift cars anywhere, and very few of the wagons at all. I also drove the Mazda and the Honda.

The Mazda was a fun little car with more horsepower, and very nicely appointed, but:

• the seats didn’t lay flat
• less cargo room
• more expensive
• so-so gas mileage
• visibility (Granted, it was much better than most Pontiac rental cars I’ve driven. I’m short and I felt I couldn’t see the front right quarter and after driving a SUV for years I felt unsafe.)

The Honda dealer wasn’t accepting CARS (Clunkers), but I was able to show them what the Mazda dealer had put in writing to help negotiate the price of my trade up to the same I would have received with the Clunkers deal. I also liked:

• the lower price (2/3s the price of the Mazda)
• the better gas mileage (combined 29 vs 25 on the Mazda)
• more cargo space (significantly so)
• the seats that lie flat (and the magic seat deal)
• the front seats recline all the way
• higher crash rating (in fact, even significantly higher than my Jeep)
• visibility (there are no discernible blind spots and the small windows in front of the external mirrors are great)
• the USB attachment for the stereo (they both had AUX input, but with the Fit the iPod can be controlled via the stereo and you can use the steering wheel controls)
• Honda resale
• Honda brand loyality (my (other-)brother-in-law loves his and they do have the highest satisfaction surveys and highest percentage of return buyers.)

I was a bit conflicted about the sportiness of the Mazda 3 vs. the Fit, but I had to remember that I was in this for the efficiency. We’ve (at least I have) become more humble since 2000 when I bought my gas guzzler.  I sort of like the fact that I spent less than half on this car as I spent on my last new car (and in that same vein, the Fit was 2/3 the price of the Mazda 3).

I’ve had it for a few days and have put a few hundred miles on it to date. I’m very happy with it.  So far, the meter says I’m getting 42 MPG as I am driving pretty conservatively. I’ll post a comment below when I start filling it up and calculating actual mileage.

Let me start (again) with some background. People like to shop on the Internet. Many times, they are just looking for information to see what the current prices are, compare items, look at rebates or deals, do product research, etc. One particular reason they don’t visit a brick-and-mortar store is because they don’t want to deal with sales people and in some cases might not be ready to purchase something.

I’ll also say that I do not like car sales people. I think they are pushy, rude, and try too hard to push what’s on the lot rather than listen to what a customer wants (don’t get me started about the time we asked for a standard transmission on a truck which was to be used for pulling). I know that’s what a sales person’s job is, but I am the customer and I know what’s right and if you don’t like it, I will shop elsewhere.

Back to the point. I was checking out VW dealers as I am toying with the idea of buying a VW Jetta TDI. I looked on Edmunds, read reviews, and browsed for a few hours just checking what was available. I hopped over to my local VW dealer’s website and they had a convenient link to check the value of my trade-in. They also had “an Internet price” that you entered in what you were looking for and they would mail you a price. After I entered in several items on their page, I had to provide my contact info to get the “Internet price.” There was a check-box on the page to indicate how I wanted to be contacted and the selections were either phone or e-mail (and you couldn’t leave it blank). I checked e-mail so I could get the value of my car and figured that I’d just ignore/delete/spam the additional messages. Maybe it’s my fault for putting my phone number in the website….

Within 5 minutes or so, I had received the “Internet price” from Henry Meador. Not even 10 minutes after that, my home phone rang (even though I didn’t indicate I wanted to be contacted by phone). When I didn’t answer the phone, I got another e-mail message asking me to set up an appointment. That afternoon, yet another call to my home phone. The next day another phone call and when I didn’t answer, another e-mail.  All in all, my home phone was called over a dozen times and I received as many e-mails. When I finally happened to answer the phone on a Saturday morning, I informed Mr. Meador that I did not want to be contacted at home any more.  I received this follow up e-mail that afternoon:

You contacted us about internet pricing. This will be my final email to you to get an answer to what time you would like to schedule an appt to come by? I did email you 4 times, you havent responded to those or my first voice mail. We’re very busy and I apologize that we don’t have time to study everyones contact preference.

Regards,

Henry Meador
Leith VW
Internet Sales
919-465-3360

Maybe I shouldn’t read too much into the “tone” of an e-mail, but this one to me seems a bit snooty. If you don’t have time to study my contact preferences you don’t deserve to get my business (maybe you are just too busy bothering people in their homes).

I’m still on the fence about the new car, but I do know that I won’t be purchasing it from Leith VW in Raleigh!

My advice to brick-and-mortar sales folks trying to drum up sales over the internet, don’t be pushy and if you have an indication on your Web site for potential customers to indicate their contact preferences, respect those preferences.

This morning, I was driving from Raleigh, NC up to Blacksburg, VA where I’ll be spending the week for work.  I got off I-81 to fill up my car and when I was getting back on, I had a small altercation with a semi-truck driver. It was a typical entrance ramp on the right and as I was coming down the ramp a big rig, who was accelerating, got up close to the van in front of him in the right lane, making it impossible for me to merge. I am a pretty safe driver, so I slowed down almost to a stop and eventually was able to get in the right lane, but I was already in the gravel.

I was a bit torqued, as I thought it was a very rude and not to mention very dangerous to be driving a loaded semi truck in what I believe was a very unsafe manner. I did not get road rage and chase him down, but eventually I was in the left lane passing the same truck while climbing a hill. When I pulled up next to the cab, the window rolled down and a hand came out and shot me the bird with some animated gestures to go along with it.

The truck in question was a flat bed with no noticeable logos or “how am i driving” notifications on the back. However, it had the name of the company and the city and state on the side so I snapped a picture. It was easy enough to google “Granite Hardwood, Granite Falls, NC” and give them a call. The receptionist seemed a bit leery at first when I asked for a transportation manager, but she eventually passed me onto a manager who was very apologetic and concerned.  He asked me several locations, and said he could identify the driver based upon the description of the truck as well as the general vicinity (I-81 N in Virginia near Chilhowie).  He assured me that steps would be taken. He even said that he had problems with this driver before (then why is he still driving around representing your company?).

However, I still felt that this blog post was justified. Not only was I endangered by an aggressive driver, but the driver couldn’t let being the aggressive driver and running me off the road be enough and needed to make an obscene gesture.

If you own a company or make hiring decisions, make sure that you hire the type of people you want representing your company if they will be wearing your logos or diving your branded vehicles.