Lloyd E Parsons
In article <bbb63471-89c0-42e8-86b1-5b81fd73d55d@googlegroups.com>, -hh <recscuba_google@huntzinger.com>wrote:

David Fritzinger
Lloyd wrote:

-hh
hh said:

Lloyd E Parsons
Perhaps he's simply afraid that anything less than a fat-friendly industrial dump truck might cause him to get stuck in a bucket seat, particularly since he's probably already finding the Audi to be a tad narrower in comparison to the Toyota.

-hh
Went looking at cars today. Drove the Buick Encore, very nice and well equipped for around $20K with some dickering. Looked at the Buick Verano and really liked it but didn't drive it yet. They had a smaller Cadillac on the showroom floor that really looked aggressive. All jet black including the wheels with a very dark tint where allowed. More than I want to spend and I sure don't want a black car, but it sure looked sweet.

David Fritzinger
There's a good number of vehicles that look nicer in the showroom than in real life. I went to the Philly Auto Show last week and noticed that the "matte finish" was gone. BMW had been really promoting this at the past two years of shows. Talked briefly with a Maserati Rep about it specifically ... he said that there was one at the show - a Hyundai(!) and that that customer demographic isn't likely to know that you can't take that finish thru a standard car wash without ruining it, etc.

-hh
Also took a look at our brand spanking new VW dealership that opened just about a week ago. I'm going back and driving the Passat and Jettas including a TDI model.

David Fritzinger
A couple of coworkers have VW and have mostly had good experiences. The only bad one was a lousy service rep who blamed the customer for his car's underbody plastic panel coming loose on the NJ turnpike very shortly after his service dept had removed it to do an oil change - it was quite obviously just not properly reattached after the service. One coworker has the Jetta TDI Sportwagon (might have a new name this year?) which he likes a lot...it was on my own short list of VW models to research further.

-hh
The one option I didn't see on VWs unless you want to spend way more than I think they're worth is automatic climate control. I really like that.

David Fritzinger
I hadn't noticed that, but I'd not be all too terribly surprised - it isn't uncommon to be forced into a larger package for a particular option of interest...

-hh

Lloyd E Parsons
Besides, German automobile manufacturers are notorious for pricing the car relatively stripped, with options on the expensive side. It is very easy to take a BMW 3 series which lists at about $43K wind up costing over $50K by the time you add the options you want. Porsche is the most notorious for this, from everything I've read.