I know it's trite, but I do believe that sometimes if you don't have something nice to say, you can keep it to yourself. Or at least off of the Internet. Sure I had read the reviews online, and I had done my best to set reasonable expectations for myself given the many disparaging comments and stories I read about the dealership. When all was said and done I was perfectly prepared to let sleeping dogs lie. It was the old proverbial adage of not saying (or writing) anything unless you had something nice to say (or write). And I didn't, and as far as I was concerned that wasn't an issue as I was fully prepared not to say (or write) a thing.
Having gone through the purchase process and nearly rage-quit and driven the hundreds of miles back home, you can understand my shock when they emphatically requested me to write a review. Not one person, but two different people asked me to do so. I have given the expression of "You won't like what I have to say." But that mattered them not, and they made the request anyway.
If you read other reviews and then you noticed that they won't budge on the price. That is quite accurate. Here are some observations I made about the vehicle, some are modest others are more annoying, but when they won't adjust the price it fuels the rage:
1. There was a service overdue since September (it was now January of the following year). I asked about this before I arrived, and while I was there and I was told that all the services had been completed, with no further explanation.
2. The driver's side seat belt was flipped the wrong way on the strap.
3. The plastic panel on the back of the driver's seat had about a 2" gap on both sides sticking out from the seat.
4. The center caps were missing from both of the passenger side wheels (they did install these before I left, but they don't match what's on the driver's side.)
Later on, in addition to the plethora of issues I encountered, I did learn that the cosmetic damage on the CarFax report was due to the fact that the vehicle had been rear-ended. This shoved the exhaust all the way forward, and left the front exhaust mount broken. I'm not sure if it is related but the parking break cable clip was also broken, which caused a very unpleasant rattle from under the car.
The issue with the exhaust was one I discovered when preforming the service which had been skipped. I'm not sure how much it would cost to have that done, but I did it for around 100 dollars. The broken clip issue was likely to be more around 1200 dollars.
The entire "negotiation" process involved the finance manager saying condescending things to me like "You've never purchased a car before?" and "When you buy a car there are all these hidden fees." I took the price from their website and added 10% to cover taxes. Then they found about 2200 dollars worth of "hidden fees". My favorite was when he said "You forgot to add DMV fees." And I asked "How much are they?" I believe they came out to around 600 dollars, and I informed him that was not 2 thousand dollars.
Even though this infuriated me and I probably literally saw RED, I decided to buy the car. There were only 2 available that color, and by the time I purchased this one, there were none left to buy.
After completing the purchase they remarked that I had come a long way (a distance of about 390 miles), they liked it when people who drove a long distance left a review. Again, I was stunned into silence.
I did like that morning when I called the dealer after leaving the bank with a cashier's check and the young lady that answered the phone told me that the car was still there and that it was waiting for me. That was a nice touch.
All-in-all it was a terrible experience. However, a young guy heard the wastegate from the turbo and we did a drag race during the test drive, which was cool. read more