I just thought I would update everyone ...
My local dealer wouldn't give me over auction price for my trade (a 2001 Saab 9-5 Wagon) so we drove it to Chicago area and pimped it there. We haggled with the dealer who originally told me that he would get me a great trade-in because of his location and then totally low-balled us. We walked out, leaving our business card behind. He called the next day with an offer that was $2300 higher and we drove back out to seal the deal. By 2 PM we were driving our 2006 5-spd manual Mazda6 Touring in Whitewater Pearl into Chicago for the Cubs game. We had to parallel park it 5 blocks from Wrigley Field within the first hour of ownership ... boy we were glad it isn't a huge minivan! In fact, it is the same length as our 9-5 so parking was quite easy.
We have 800 miles on the car in 6 days and our first tank of gas clocked in at 27 MPG. The second tank had a lot of stop and go driving on it, so we only got 25 MPG. So far everything is great! We found the dimmer for the display when the lights are on and we loaded up the CD changer with an audio book. The radio is quite sensitive and I can get WGN and the Cubs clearly 150 miles away even in the daytime. I was very happy to see that the radio also had a button to find the strongest signals in the area. This is something our Saab had and I was going to miss it on long trips in unfamiliar territory. The car shifts easily with only 2 fingers and the clutch is smooth. The cockpit was comfortable from the start. It's as if everything is exactly where it should be and easy to find.
Negatives so far have been covered here before. The lack of the passenger seat arm rest makes my husband try to put his arm on the driver's side arm rest. Not a good idea with a manual transmission in traffic! My daughter also complained that the a/c didn't make it back to her in the 95-degree heat of the hottest days of the year. She was in the 2nd row and not even in the 3rd row. We cranked the a/c as much as we could and told her the car would be cool soon and it was. Just not fast enough for a hot 6 year-old. I was also disappointed that the 2nd row could not fold forward with the central storage area between the seats.
Other than that ... everything is good. We're waiting for a cover for the back wagon area and the step cover for the back bumper.
My local dealer wouldn't give me over auction price for my trade (a 2001 Saab 9-5 Wagon) so we drove it to Chicago area and pimped it there. We haggled with the dealer who originally told me that he would get me a great trade-in because of his location and then totally low-balled us. We walked out, leaving our business card behind. He called the next day with an offer that was $2300 higher and we drove back out to seal the deal. By 2 PM we were driving our 2006 5-spd manual Mazda6 Touring in Whitewater Pearl into Chicago for the Cubs game. We had to parallel park it 5 blocks from Wrigley Field within the first hour of ownership ... boy we were glad it isn't a huge minivan! In fact, it is the same length as our 9-5 so parking was quite easy.
We have 800 miles on the car in 6 days and our first tank of gas clocked in at 27 MPG. The second tank had a lot of stop and go driving on it, so we only got 25 MPG. So far everything is great! We found the dimmer for the display when the lights are on and we loaded up the CD changer with an audio book. The radio is quite sensitive and I can get WGN and the Cubs clearly 150 miles away even in the daytime. I was very happy to see that the radio also had a button to find the strongest signals in the area. This is something our Saab had and I was going to miss it on long trips in unfamiliar territory. The car shifts easily with only 2 fingers and the clutch is smooth. The cockpit was comfortable from the start. It's as if everything is exactly where it should be and easy to find.
Negatives so far have been covered here before. The lack of the passenger seat arm rest makes my husband try to put his arm on the driver's side arm rest. Not a good idea with a manual transmission in traffic! My daughter also complained that the a/c didn't make it back to her in the 95-degree heat of the hottest days of the year. She was in the 2nd row and not even in the 3rd row. We cranked the a/c as much as we could and told her the car would be cool soon and it was. Just not fast enough for a hot 6 year-old. I was also disappointed that the 2nd row could not fold forward with the central storage area between the seats.
Other than that ... everything is good. We're waiting for a cover for the back wagon area and the step cover for the back bumper.
