Travis and Michelle Fitzgerald's blog

When a car needs to visit the repair shop 3 times in the span of 2 months, it’s probably wise to look at replacing it. Well, that is the case with Michelle’s Sunfire. We worry about the reliability and there are some days that it just won’t start in the morning. So, today, we went looking at cars. Being the picky people that we are when it comes to our gadgets, we visited 5 different car dealers this afternoon, and now have a good idea of what we want.

We want a 4-door full size sedan, and we want all kinds of fun gadgets. Navigation system, mp3 player input, and keyless vehicle operation are all preferred. Here’s a quick run down of the dealerships we visited and my impressions of them and their cars.

Honda
Nice, non-pushy salesman, was willing to let us test drive an Accord with a Navigation system. The Navigation system didn’t make much sense to us (and if a couple engineers couldn’t figure it out…). It had nifty voice commanding capability, but that’s not high on our “must have” list. Styling was acceptable, but not great. It would have made the list if we hadn’t found a couple of better options.

Ford
We walked in, and they couldn’t find anybody to help us, didn’t have a full-size sedan in the showroom for us to crawl around, and we were left to find something on the lot by ourselves. Couple that with the most disorganized lot I have ever seen, and it did not bode well. Once we finally found a Taurus to look at, we were unimpressed with the styling, and found them downright ugly. So we left without test driving anything or picking up any brochures.

Pontiac
I was really excited to test drive the Pontiac G8 GT, with the 315 hp V8. But, for comparison’s sake, we test drove the V6 first. The V6 was nice, had decent pickup, and the V8 handled well and had oodles of power. The interior was severely disappointing, though. There was no navigation system available, the radio controls didn’t make any sense to us, and the seats were uncomfortable. The salesman was old-school, and seemed uncomfortable with Michelle doing anything with the car. He also seemed to address me instead of Michelle…which those of you that know Michelle realize is a mistake if you’re trying to get her to buy something (it will be her car, after all). We both agreed that Pontiac was out. The Trans Am will not be having another sister as a stablemate.

Nissan
We had visited this Nissan dealer before, and so we asked for the same salesman that we talked to last time. He didn’t remember us, but he pretended that he did. He quickly got us set up for a test drive of a loaded V6 Maxima and a loaded 4-cylinder Altima. The Maxima was a sweet ride. Nice navigation system, huge trunk, handled fairly well, with good acceleration. The Altima was nice, too. It seemed to be about the same size as the Maxima, but doesn’t have a navigation system as an option, and the controls looked pretty boring. The acceleration was surprisingly good with the 4-cylinder, which surprised both of us, although it had to get into pretty high RPMs to get the job done. These cars are on the final list.

Toyota
Honestly, last time we visited this dealer, we couldn’t get any help, and I wasn’t impressed with the styling of the Camry. But we went back anyway, mostly to try out the Camry hybrid, and the satisfy my Toyota family loyalty. I was pleasantly surprised by both the salesman we talked to, and by both vehicles that we drove: the Camry hybrid and the V6 Camry XLE. Both had navigation systems (with a godawful teal colored trim around them), and the navigation system was intuitive and well integrated into the car. On the hybrid you could see the instantaneous MPG, as well as a history of the MPG for the last ~30 minutes. And this was the only car that had the radio data system, which is the feature that tells you the song title and artist of the songs being played on the radio (we love this feature of Michelle’s Sunfire). These two vehicles also made the final list.

The next step is to look a little bit more into pricing and our financing options. We haven’t committed to anything yet, but we’re hoping in the next couple of weeks to get things rolling.

-Travis

p.s. We also looked at where the cars were built, and that really surprised us. The Pontiac was built in Australia, the Nissans were built in Canton, Michigan, and the Toyotas in Kentucky (I think). Here’s a brain twister: which one is truly the American-made car?

No, the title does not refer to a scam. I joined the U of M Alumni Association (Go Blue!) as a lifetime member. In appreciation, they sent me a fleece jacket. Funny how “True Navy” looks a lot like black.

Today, a momentous event happened while Michelle and I were driving down the feeder of I-45.

The Fitzgerald Suburban rolled over its odometer for the second time. Yes, that’s right. The Sub has 200,000 miles on it.

The original engine still runs well, although it blows small puffs of smoke when accelerating from a stop. The body needs some work, and will hopefully get it soon (more on that later, I hope). The interior is old and needs work also, but the spirit of the Sub keeps going!

I remember when the Sub rolled over the first time. We were in Colorado on one of our usual summer road trips (many years ago). I think my Mom has a picture of the event somewhere.

Congrats, old girl!

Grandma said to update the blog…so I did!

Last night, it snowed. A lot (for Houston).

Today, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft flew the space shuttle Endeavor, freshly back from space on the STS-126/ULF2 mission, over Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center. First time in at least a decade Houston has seen the shuttle.

What’s next??