I got an e-mail last week from the salesman at Subaru that I was dealing with a month ago when I was looking at the Subaru Impreza 2.5i. For the month of July they are having a $4000 cash rebate on all 2008 Subaru Impreza models. The monthly payment would have been a little more than the Civic but the car is all wheel drive. Still, I have no regrets with the Civic. I can get it service locally and I know the service is great.
We picked it up last Friday. It was pretty cool to buy our first car. The official mileage after the pre-delivery and inspection was 11km. Now it’s at about 150km. It rides nice, way better than my older 96 Civic. The best part is the MP3 CD player. I doubt I will ever need a satellite radio again. Jenn has been making MP3 CD’s like crazy. The fact that you can fit about 200 songs on one CD is pretty cool too. I won’t need a dozen CD’s anymore.
Last week we were also supposed to buy a 2000 Nissan Xterra. On Friday I went to the bank to get a bank draft for the price of the Xterra and the safety certification. I was told by the dealer that all it needed for the safety certification was a few lights and the safety would only cost $205 plus taxes. It sounds too good to be true since I remembered the brakes pulsing during the test drive. The person in the service department assured me that the brakes were fine to pass the safety and that the pulsing was probably due to fact that the vehicle was sitting on the lot.
On my way to the dealer on Friday I was called back into the office to help someone with an e-mail server problem and I didn’t make it to the dealership before closing. I was alright with it because I was told the safety certification still needed to be completed before the vehicle could be licensed. I also was second guessing myself and wanted to take the weekend to think about it.
On the weekend Jenn and I went back to see the Xterra and decided that we would get it. The price was right, it didn’t need much to safety and we were in the need of a more reliable vehicle. The weekend went by and this morning I went to the dealer and dropped off the bank draft. The vehicle was supposed to get its safety certification and I was to be called once it was complete.
This afternoon I got a call from the head of the service department and was told that the person that had done the safety check last week didn’t have time to complete it because he spent too much time lubing the gear for the 4wd because it wouldn’t go in 4-low. That’s when I was informed that the front brakes, rotors, wheel bearings, pinion seals, and a few more critical things needed to be done for the vehicle to be safetied. It went from $205 to an extra $500 for the safety certification. The dealer did give me a good price on the work that needed to be done but I just couldn’t spend an extra $500.
I was already cutting it close since I was using the money that I needed for my basement repairs and this would have made things way too tight. I was hoping to get most of that money back by selling my 2 older vehicles but I haven’t gotten any offers on them yet. I just couldn’t risk being stuck with 4 cars. Disappointed, I picked up my refund at the dealer this afternoon. I wish I would of known this earlier on because I really did want the Xterra. It got my hopes up.
I am doing my basement wall in 2 weeks. I hope I sell one of my vehicles by then. Now I am not sure what one to get rid of. I have wheel bearings coming in for the older Civic. Once the wheel bearings are installed the car will be good to go. The S10 is in rought cosmetic shape but it runs like a dream. Doesn’t burn an ouce of oil. It has never given me any problems. I will clean up the rust and give it a coat of tremclad rust paint. I guess I will just have to wait and see which vehicle sells first. The one that’s left will be the one I end up keeping.
Over the last few years we’ve been seeing more car companies bringing back their famous sports cars. For instance the new Mustang from Ford and the new Camaro from Chevy (which releases in 2008). Another car company that recently announced a come back was Nissan with their GT-R.
The Nissan GT-R will be coming to the U.S. in May/June of next year. This aggressive import will be pumping out 480 hp through it’s 3.8L V6 twin turbo engine. Nissan has promised a price tag under $80,000 when it releases in 2008. I hope Nissan has plans to release the GT-R in Canada since I doubt exports from the U.S. to Canada will be allowed due to different regulations. The GT-R goes on sale in December in Japan. Nissan has reported that it has received orders for three months worth of production and plans to sell 1000 cars a month.
Other impressive features include:
• ATTESA ET-S All-Wheel Drive (AWD) with independent rear-mounted transaxle integrating transmission, differential and AWD transfer case.
• Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC-R) with three driver-selectable settings: Normal (for daily driving, controls brakes and engine output), R-Mode (for ultimate performance, utilizes AWD torque distribution for additional vehicle stability) and Off (driver does not want the help of the system).
• Hill Start Assist prevents rollback when starting on an incline.
• 6-speed Dual Clutch Transmission with three driver-selectable modes: Normal (for maximum smoothness and efficiency), Snow (for gentler starting and shifting on slippery surfaces), and R mode (for maximum performance with fastest shifts).
• Fully automatic shifting or full sequential manual control via gearshift or steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
• Dual clutch design changes gears in less than 0.5 second (0.2 second in R mode).
• Downshift Rev Matching (DRM).
• Predictive pre-shift control (in R mode) based on throttle position, vehicle speed, braking and other information.
• Brembo® 4-wheel disc brakes with 4-wheel Antilock Braking System (ABS).
• Aluminum hood, trunk and door skins. Die-cast aluminum door structures.
• Carbon-reinforced front crossmember/radiator support.
With the Canadian dollar being so strong now many people are crossing the border to buy cars. It’s estimated that over 150,000 cars will be imported to Canada from the U.S. this year alone. To make sure you’re not getting screwed though you should do all your homework. For instance if you buy a Honda in the states the warranty is not valid in Canada but if you buy a Ford you’re good to go. The other thing that was mentioned was cars sold in Canada are often different than those sold in the states. Often the Canadian cars have bigger windshield washer fluid tanks and bigger batteries because of the different environmental conditions. You may also have to make modifications to the vehicle in order to pass the Canadian certifications. In example, you don’t need driving lights in the U.S. but you do in Canada.
If you are planning on making such purchase you should visit the Registrar of Imported Vehicles to get all the right info and print up their checklist to avoid any surprises.
Recent Comments