HA! Fooled you! You thought I was going to get a Murano or a Z, or maybe, at a stretch, one of the other cars I listed like a BMW or something. Well I didn't. I am now the proud owner of a Volkswagen Passat Turbo.
Funny Story; I was actually going to the local Toyota dealership to look at some completely different cars like the Highlander. Anyway, I was looking around, not too impressed with anything I saw and I was about to leave when I saw a white Passat parked near the entrance to the dealership. I walked up to it and had a look and I was impressed (I've always liked the Passat) but then I saw the price...and at that moment I didn't know wether I should call Deanne or lick the handle to the car.
Turns out they had JUST received the car a few hours before I had come on in the lot and it wasn't even in their inventory yet. So I gave it a once over on the inside, decided that I loved this car and called Deanne and told her of my discovery. I would have bought it there and then but the dealership wanted their service guys to go over it to make sure everything was ship shape.
So the next morning we got the call that the car was ready and I dragged Deanne out of the house and back down to the dealership. We then began the long and arduous process of getting the paperwork done. Halfway through the "negotiations" we realized that I had forgotten some necessary documents so I jumped in the car and ran home. Now I should note here that when I left, I was not impressed with the rate they were offering, and I thought I might have to unleash the fist of fury. So I went home, got the paperwork and during the time I was gone, Deanne had knocked the price, interest rate and payments down by a significant amount. It was impressive to witness :) From now on, she does all the family negotiating.
But after what seemed like an eternity, we signed the final piece of paper acknowledging that the car was in fact a car and in the eyes of a law was construed a car under mandate 133.ba/41 section d. "What is a car?"
So we finally got to drive the car home three hours later...and I love it :)
It has a tiptronic transmission which means while I'm driving along in standard automatic, I can nudge the shifter over and then I'm in manual mode and I change gear by tapping the shifter up or down. You can't over or under-rev and it always puts you in the right gear when you shift over. It's alot of fun.
Although I have to admit I did feel rather odd buying a German car on independence day.