Tarkblog

So we had to say goodbye to the GTO recently due to the fact that some not so nice people took it. But they went to jail, and apparently got bitten by the police dogs, so there was some vindication there. Yellow was totaled, however.

Car shopping. It is one of the worst experiences ever. By the time you get home at 5pm, you only get about 1.5 hours to go out and shop for cars since everyone closes at 7. Furthermore, all car salesmen are terrible. Any good car salesman will not be a salesman for long - they will get promoted into a position of higher authority at a dealership. No, car salesmen, in general, are just not knowledgeable.

We met a lot of salesmen over the past week or so. All of them wanted nothing more than to make a commission. They were nice, sure. Only one of them really knew anything about the cars they sold. The rest just kind of half-assed their way through explaining things. I don’t really need a car salesman anyway, since I’m completely capable of using the internet. I just need someone that can round up the keys so I can test drive the car.

I won’t bore you with the details from all of the salesmen, but we test drove probably 8-10 cars and hit about 5 dealerships. We ended up leaving Columbus and going to Greenwood to the Nissan dealer. And we left with a Maxima.

See this link for generic pics. I won’t take any, since you can just see them online.

Let me just say: this car is seriously tricked out. It’s a car driver’s car.

It’s got a heated steering wheel, in case you have cold hands.

Both heated seats.

The driver’s side seat, steering wheel, and both mirrors go to the position you set them to when you get in.

When you get out, the seat moves back and the wheel moves up so it’s easier for you to exit the car.

When you use your turn signal, and extra outside headlight turns on on that side of the car to help you see better on the corner.

Xenon headlamps - those annoying looking blueish lights you see some cars driving with. Let me tell you, they illuminate the road much better than halogens.

Nissan’s new CVT - that’s continuously variable transmission. There’s no “shifting”, per se. The transmission is one smooth fluid continuous beast. It has “gears” in the sense that it runs at certain RPM points, but there are no physical “gears” in the transmission.

Rear view mirrors have fold-in motors, in case you are in a tight spot and want to make sure someone doesn’t hit them.

Fold down backseats, 60/40.

Bluetooth cell phone control, so you don’t have to touch your cell phone to answer or make calls.

And the best feature: All of the new 2007 Nissans come with a keyless entry and drive system. You have a key fob with the normal lock, unlock, etc. But you keep it in your pocket the whole time. Walk up to the door, and just touch a button on the door handle to unlock it. if you have the fob in your pocket, it recognizes who you are and unlocks. No key needed to start the car; just turn the switch where the key normally goes, and it recognizes the fob.

Luckily, there is a traditional key built into the fob you can pull out and use in case the fob battery ever dies.

We didn’t get the navigation system or upgraded speaker system, but neither of those really mattered to me. It didn’t have satellite radio, which most cars seem to have nowadays. But, I had a portable XM in my previous car anyway. However, I still went ahead and cancelled XM today. I can now listen to my ipod in the car via the auxillary input port on the stereo, and that is much more appealing to me than any local or XM radio right now.

All in all I’m very happy with the car. I’d say it’s on par with the lower end BMW or Infinitis in terms of features and comfort. It doesn’t have a lot of wood ingrains or brushed metals like they would; in fact, the interior looks downright like some cheap plastic. But, it works for me and the drive is comfortable, powerful, and fun.

This is first non-Pontiac I’ve ever bought. Maybe the times are a changin’.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.