I finally bought a Mazdaspeed 3 this past Saturday after much research and about three weekends of visits to dealerships, test driving and whatnot.
I originally wanted a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX, but the only ones I could find were either STIs (out of my price range) or loaded with features or the wrong color, and they were all marked up way above MSRP. The 2008 WRX is stylistically different from the previous generations, enough so to make me shy away from it in the end, after much deliberation. I really wanted that AWD. I feel like I gave up the AWD for alot more with the MS3, though.
Oh by the way my old car is a '96 GMC Jimmy with an automatic transmission that I've been driving since 16. I had a couple friends teach me to drive a stick before I went out shopping. It was quite an experience test driving some of these cars, haha. I'm still learning even now with the MS3...
I'll give my rundown of the runners-up in my test driving experience and my impressions:
1. 2007/2008 WRX - My first choice. Like I said the '07s were very tough to find. The '08 was a close runner-up to the MS3, for me. Its suspension was less tight than the MS3, the interior was much more boring than the MS3, and the toned-down style from the '07 was a little sad. I kept saying to myself "well if I get a black one with the sport grille and a red paint job inside the hood scoop..." but I was just fooling myself. At least the rear seats fold down in the '08 though. It was also 2k more and with fewer amenities than the MS3. Oh well... Maybe if I had enough money for an STI things would be different...
2. 2007 Civic SI - Pretty sleek an zippy. I liked the outside look of it. It had this sweet digital odometer way up on the dash. I wish I had the odometer of the SI in my MS3! Nothing like a HUGE tach in the middle of the console. Perhaps I didn't go with it due to less power or because it would look too silly with a roof rack. The price was nice though.
3. 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged - Actually pretty impressive. It had some nice power and the interior was red/black trim; the door panels had cushy leather. Again, maybe too much of a sedan for me. The shifter was pretty "thunky" though. Am I fully in gear? I'm not sure...
4. Scion Tc - *Yawn* They didn't have a manual to test drive so I took out an automatic. It's a Toyota. Whoopee. The only unique thing was this glass roof, which I didn't care for.
In the end I went with the MS3, obviously. I test drove it twice just to be sure. (I also test drove the '08 WRX twice, and the '07 once.) The asking price at the dealer (I actually went to two; I'll spare details) was $29,645. Of course I did my homework, so I laughed when I heard the salesman come at me with that. I finally bought the car for 24,200. So that's about 400-500 below MSRP. Not bad for my first time buying a car, I think. The salesman said it's rare to get one below MSRP right now (October 2007), but it's hard to trust anything they say really. Oh, this is the 2008 GT model by the way. I got the Grand Touring without navigation. (I'll buy my own portable GPS map thingy if I want to, later, for 1/5 the price.) It's "true red" colored. I almost went for black, but with red you get red with black highlights whereas the black is black with black highlights, haha.
I'm glad the stress of shopping is over and I can enjoy the car now, although I'm significantly poorer now. One more thing I'm going to do is get some "clearbra" on the front hood, and maybe behind the wheels or whatever. I'm still a newbie with the whole manual transmission thing, although today I made it to work and back without stalling! I hate that feeling that comes when stalling at a left-turn light and getting honked at. It's all about being slow with that left foot off the clutch, apparently...
Maybe in a year I'll think about doing some mods, but for now I'm going to go ahead and NOT SPEND MORE MONEY! Sheesh. I'll try to post some pics here if I can...
I originally wanted a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX, but the only ones I could find were either STIs (out of my price range) or loaded with features or the wrong color, and they were all marked up way above MSRP. The 2008 WRX is stylistically different from the previous generations, enough so to make me shy away from it in the end, after much deliberation. I really wanted that AWD. I feel like I gave up the AWD for alot more with the MS3, though.
Oh by the way my old car is a '96 GMC Jimmy with an automatic transmission that I've been driving since 16. I had a couple friends teach me to drive a stick before I went out shopping. It was quite an experience test driving some of these cars, haha. I'm still learning even now with the MS3...
I'll give my rundown of the runners-up in my test driving experience and my impressions:
1. 2007/2008 WRX - My first choice. Like I said the '07s were very tough to find. The '08 was a close runner-up to the MS3, for me. Its suspension was less tight than the MS3, the interior was much more boring than the MS3, and the toned-down style from the '07 was a little sad. I kept saying to myself "well if I get a black one with the sport grille and a red paint job inside the hood scoop..." but I was just fooling myself. At least the rear seats fold down in the '08 though. It was also 2k more and with fewer amenities than the MS3. Oh well... Maybe if I had enough money for an STI things would be different...
2. 2007 Civic SI - Pretty sleek an zippy. I liked the outside look of it. It had this sweet digital odometer way up on the dash. I wish I had the odometer of the SI in my MS3! Nothing like a HUGE tach in the middle of the console. Perhaps I didn't go with it due to less power or because it would look too silly with a roof rack. The price was nice though.
3. 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged - Actually pretty impressive. It had some nice power and the interior was red/black trim; the door panels had cushy leather. Again, maybe too much of a sedan for me. The shifter was pretty "thunky" though. Am I fully in gear? I'm not sure...
4. Scion Tc - *Yawn* They didn't have a manual to test drive so I took out an automatic. It's a Toyota. Whoopee. The only unique thing was this glass roof, which I didn't care for.
In the end I went with the MS3, obviously. I test drove it twice just to be sure. (I also test drove the '08 WRX twice, and the '07 once.) The asking price at the dealer (I actually went to two; I'll spare details) was $29,645. Of course I did my homework, so I laughed when I heard the salesman come at me with that. I finally bought the car for 24,200. So that's about 400-500 below MSRP. Not bad for my first time buying a car, I think. The salesman said it's rare to get one below MSRP right now (October 2007), but it's hard to trust anything they say really. Oh, this is the 2008 GT model by the way. I got the Grand Touring without navigation. (I'll buy my own portable GPS map thingy if I want to, later, for 1/5 the price.) It's "true red" colored. I almost went for black, but with red you get red with black highlights whereas the black is black with black highlights, haha.
I'm glad the stress of shopping is over and I can enjoy the car now, although I'm significantly poorer now. One more thing I'm going to do is get some "clearbra" on the front hood, and maybe behind the wheels or whatever. I'm still a newbie with the whole manual transmission thing, although today I made it to work and back without stalling! I hate that feeling that comes when stalling at a left-turn light and getting honked at. It's all about being slow with that left foot off the clutch, apparently...
Maybe in a year I'll think about doing some mods, but for now I'm going to go ahead and NOT SPEND MORE MONEY! Sheesh. I'll try to post some pics here if I can...
