Car Dealers - Revisited

After last week’s car viewing debacle I decided to take a day to tour the local car dealerships and assess the state of the new (or at least not too old) car market. I also took Nina along for moral support and also as a second opinion. I maybe perfectly capable of determining my bhp from KW and mpg from l/100km (not to mention CO2 g/km) but it is often the small details I miss – would the dog be able to jump in an out of the hatch, how well do the seats adjust and so on. My requirements are actually pretty simple: a 5 door hatch with enough space for 3 children in the back and dogs in the boot. On top of that I would like something pretty reliable and fairly efficient. I would also like remote central locking, a nice CD player, some sort of air-conditioning, electric windows at least at the front and preferably not diesel (the official fuel of Hades). I think that’s the base-line. Thinking of our other car, I do miss electric mirrors and I really like the cruise control function but that tends only to be available on the more expensive variants.

Rather than repeat my misery from Edinburgh I though the best bet was to head for the Springkerse Estate in Stirling which is one of those big industrial-retail parks where all the major car dealers tend to cluster around. This gave us the chance to look around lots of different cars in a short time. We gave the first couple of dealers a miss. Nissan don’t make anything I like in the size of car we are looking for. The Note is OK but is, essentially, an MPV version of the Micra which is not quite what I was looking for and most of the rest of the range strikes me as completely pointless. The other was Renault who I would have dismissed for dismal reliability but this is seemingly much improved. However, the design of the Megane doesn’t really lend itself to comfortable canine transport and I’d like to wait a couple of years before giving their new found reliability the thumbs up.

The first dealer we stopped at was Honda – the same dealer where I bought a Jazz from in 2004. In fact, the Jazz was on my shortlist as something that may work for me as I had the original model and used it more or less as a family car – which works with 2 kids but not 3. The new model is bigger and better and it passed many of my tests with flying colours: the boot is huge and has a relatively low lip for dog access and the rear seat space is generous with me being able to easily sit behind the driver’s seat when it is adjusted for me driving. The only problem was that I really struggled to get in and out and, even with the steering wheel and drivers seat fully adjusted, I kept catching the wheel on my knees. So that made it a non-starter and the other models in the range are either not suitable, too expensive or both. It’s a pity as the young salesman was both polite and helpful.

I gave the Peugeot dealer a wide berth (on the advise of our local independent mechanic) and Mitsubishi don’t do anything that fits the bill. However, we did look in Kia and I was quite impressed with the Cee’d (having previously only seen it being abused by stars with The Stig). I wasn’t so impressed with the salesman who wouldn’t give us space and seemed desperate to flog me anything he had in stock even though I’d explained exactly what I wanted and explained in great depth that the type of driving I do will probably kill a ****ING DIESEL CAR. I could tell that Nina was a bit uncomfortable with him so we moved on. I also noticed that it was the last day of the month so he may well have had a sales quota to fill. I don’t think he had sold a single thing all month.

We moved on from there to a VW dealer. I was a little weary of this after the surly treatment I received in Edinburgh but the reception I received in Stirling could not have been more different. The salesman let us browse the cars in the showroom in peace but was on hand to answer any questions. The Golf VII is really out of my price bracket at the moment but it is a fantastically well designed car – even down to little details in the boot lip and rear seat access. I also looked at the Polo which, to my eyes, looks nearly identical but the one main difference was glaring. I adjusted the drivers seat to see if I could sit behind it. I don’t think anyone could sit behind me – not even my 5 year old daughter. I asked about the used cars outside and the salesman came back with a variety of keys so that we could look inside. We were particularly taken with the Golf VI and Golf Plus but the latter is probably out of the question as most are diesel. However, the experience was pleasant and we have one more for the shortlist.

I gave the Audi dealership a bye, as they are essentially just overpriced VWs, and gave BMW and Mercedes a miss as I dislike rear wheel drive (although the Mercedes B-class looks decent if a little pricey). I had a quick look around Citroen but, whilst I like their MPVs, their current batch of standard hatches don’t really stand out for me. I was going to pop into the Hyundai dealer but I’ve had an i30 on hire and, whilst the car is quite decent, there were too many little niggles with it to tempt me further. That brought us round to the Ford dealership. I quite like Fords and I am usually quite happy to get a Focus or Fiesta as a hire car but both models are not particularly dog friendly with their sloping hatch doors. The B-Max and C-Max are both good cars in their own right but not quite what I was looking for.

That brought us around to the last main block of dealerships. I gave the Mazda a miss after my dreadful ownership experience with them and wasn’t much enamoured with the Volvo models which just strike me as being overpriced Fords (but not as good). That brought us around to the Toyota dealer. I had checked out the Auris Hybrid model at my usual Toyota place in Falkirk (actually the longest established Toyota dealer in the UK.) I had somewhat gone off this as most of the models appeared to come with daft 17” wheels rather than the standard 15” one. I say daft as they would add around £800 to the cost once I purchased Winter tyres and they also appeared to be the wrong circumference for the car. However, I am quite taken with the latest Auris model which I think is the best looking of all the models I have seen. It does pretty much everything I want but the only off-putting  thing is the dashboard which is a perpendicular slab of shiny plastic which looks as if it comes from a 1970s Mercedes. It’s not of substandard quality – it just appears to be out of kilter with the sleek exterior. The other Toyota model which really surprised me was the Yaris. It’s considerably bigger than the original model that I currently own and, on closer inspection, is almost the same size internally as the Auris.

I had definitely narrowed my shortlist down but the Toyota salesman (part of a well known Scottish chain) offered me a pre-reg Auris model that they had in stock. It was £2,500 less than the list price (taking into account the paint finish) which is a fantastic discount for a model that has only been out for a few months and significantly less than a similarly equipped Yaris. I was tempted but I was also determined to keep to my plans and it became clear that he was prepared to offer me practically nothing in terms of a trade-in. He seemed bothered when I suggested that I could just pay cash and sell the Yaris privately so I ended up making my excuses and leaving. In fact I was put out by his general attitude which was rather bullying towards me and downright sexist towards Nina – she was there for valued automotive opinion and not just to decide which pretty colour she liked (although given my lousy colour vision that is a valid input).

I called in briefly at SEAT and Skoda garages which were more off the beaten track but I think I’ve got my shortlist sorted and I am very much favouring the Golf or Auris (and possibly the Yaris if I can find a decent discount). The next step for me is to get my Yaris MOTed – either to maximise it’s trade I value or to make it easier to sell privately. I’d also like to have another test drive in the Golf as I’m not entirely sure which engine I had in the hire car. After that, it’s a case of keeping an eye on Autotrader and seeing when something suitable comes up.