After work, I went car-shopping again. This time, I went to check out the Mazda3, after Godwin and Spaceinthewho both recommended it - and boy, I was floored. This car was pretty much what I was looking for! This thing felt much better than the Civic, plus the price range was pretty close to what I wanted! (~$16K instead of the ridiculous $19K Honda wants). I asked for the Mazda3 i Sports (the very base) with A/C + ALB/SRS, which Kelley Blue Book lists around $15.5K invoice. I started the negotiations at $15.5K, and they came back with $16.5. I said $16K, then they said $16.5K. The negotiations stalled out there, so I left.

Today was probably the first time I ran into such harsh resistance from salespeople - I've generally been pretty passive about pricing so far (I didn't even bother negotiating for the Civic after how crappy it drove, and it's hard to negotiate over e-mail/phone), so this was the first effort I really took at standing my ground.

What really irked me was the way I was bum-rushed as I tried to leave the first time. The manager came over and blocked the door and shook my hand, all while dragging me back to the table. When he saw I wasn't really budging from $16K out the door, he started giving me these dirty looks. I honestly started feeling guilty that I wasn't accepting his "profit-less $16.5K offer".

Anyways, I checked on CarsDirect.com and saw that the estimated price was $15,889 (or something like that), so I'll get a few more quotes from the other Mazda dealerships in this area (NeerajS said that the Mazda dealership I went to quotes a bit high [his parents bought a Mazda recently]).

I'll be heading out to San Diego this weekend (Friday - Tuesday) for apartment hunting and a meeting with some of the MT crew - it'll be good to see them again. I haven't seen those guys since OSCON ...

Man, I didn't know moving was so much work. Between trying to set my budget when I move to San Diego, consolidating my servers to cut back on costs (the new EV1Servers is ready to go - I spent some time hardening the server, and I moved the Listfoo/Swarmf databases to it), looking up auto insurance quotes (esurance, All State, and Geico each quoted me $125/month, CHRIST!), dealing with moving companies, looking for apartments, trying to buy a car, and then dealing with work stuff... things have been getting incredibly busy.

Oddly enough, I'm not feeling anything towards the whole SD thing. I'm not excited, I'm not scared, I'm not stressed (although my recent dreams might indicate otherwise) ... I just don't think the reality of it's sunk in yet. I'm sure once I start slowing down a bit, I'll realize that I'm no longer in CH ... and maybe I'll start feeling sad (or something like that) ... but right now I don't feel any different.

Phew, ok. I gotta wrap up some MT-work stuff (today was generally unproductive cause I kept getting calls and I had a LOT of errands to run) and get a few hours of shut-eye before another day begins tomorrow...

Posted by roy on December 5, 2006 at 01:15 AM in Ramblings | 17 Comments

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Comment posted on December 6th, 2006 at 08:08 PM
16K and 19K for a car like Mazda and Honda?!!!! it's 60K to 80K in Singapore. Even though it's in Sing dollars, after conversion, it's still US$38K to US$50K. My car is US$38K. I think cars in Singapore is the most expensive in the world. Gawd!

teresa (guest)

Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 04:32 PM
dont worry roy. i used to miss sweet tea and now all i will drink are fobby drinks from fobby places (tapX...etc) anyways i know how you feel. i had to get everything in literally one week (like my car and apt). but you MUST go on hwy 1, its SO pretty--you'll get lots of good shots and u can drive up it straight and come to SF!! :D
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 10:09 AM
Stick to your guns. Those car salesmen are relentless.
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 08:31 AM
ooh MAZDA................. zoom zoom zoom... i've also heard great things about this car as well!!!
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 07:50 AM
i absolutely hated car shopping. those salespeople, in general, are leeches. but i guess that's how the game is played.

for me, reliability is much more important than how the car handles. from what little i know about mazdas, they aren't really known to be reliable. but then again, i got a hyundai. at least that came with a 10 year/100k warranty.

good luck with your move!
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 01:09 PM
that's my main concern about them too - my friend had a rx-7 and that thing broke down on him weekly. the only way i've been able to justify this purchase is by saying: "if i still need to be driving a mazda3 in 5 years, i think i'll probably be pretty bummed about life, and a car will be the last thing on my mind" ;D
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 05:17 PM
That's why I gave you the emoticon of death. There's a reason why Asian parents drive Camry's and their kids drive Civics. That's why Toyota is #1 and Honda is a close #2. You don't want to drive around in a Mazda telling people, "I'M NUMBER FOUR!" Look at it this way. You're going to California. Nobody there is going to give you the proper respect if you're driving something that no one wants to jack. Getting your car stolen in SoCal is a good thing. Get one that everyone wants to steal and rice up. Nobody rices a Mazda 3. Here's a tip: Used Lexus IS = girlfriend in three weeks! :P :-D
Comment posted on December 6th, 2006 at 12:40 PM
Or if you're seen driving a Lexus IS300, they might think you ARE a girl ;-)

Mazda rules! Zoom zoom!
Comment posted on December 6th, 2006 at 05:58 PM
Hey, it's Roy we're talking about. Mazda sucks. They're #4.
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 06:16 AM
Funny, we'll both be in Cali kinda at the same time! (: I'll be in San Fran Sun-Wed.
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 01:08 PM
too bad cali is humungoid, or we coulda met up for some good food!

BrianR (guest)

Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 06:05 AM
I moved out west a few years ago. It was rough on me. I eventually moved back east. My one big regret is not staying at least TWO YEARS. IMHO it takes at least that long to get settled, meet lots of cool people, make business contacts, etc. In short go experience the whole thing. Travel up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. See SanFran and LA. Hang out on the beaches during Thanksgiving and Christmas when its usually cold here. Dig the palm trees and tropical plants. In short have fun. Don't worry we'll mail you BBQ!
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 01:07 PM
Thanks =) I'm a bit more concerned about how I'm going to get my sweet tea fix over there ... I may need weekly deliveries of Bojangles tea ;D
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 02:24 AM
I hate to tell you this, but there's only one way to make this point to you. This is one of those occasions where I have to break out my special emoticon to keep you from making a grave mistake.

Mazda? <a href="http://images.tabulas.com/338/s/68.gif" rel="nofollow">http://images.tabulas.com/338/s/68.gif</a>
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 01:07 PM
haha. the power of that emoticon shall not stop me from <em>zoom zoom zoom</em>-ing!

hey, at least i'm moving to california and not canada!!!
Comment posted on December 6th, 2006 at 05:58 PM
You know those things are made in Canada.
Comment posted on December 5th, 2006 at 02:25 AM
dammit! It doesn't work.