You could see it in the sales staff eyes - how can we offload this
monster before the new model arrives ?
Hopeless fuel consumption, rough ride, only 2 airbags, the stupid thing
even has a solid axle, in the front of
all places !
At every feature or lack there-of they would try to keep a forced smile
and I would try to suppress an inner smile.
A genuine sales smile then appeared->
"This is the latest series 7 and has Bluetooth capability and aircon to the rear "
- my inner smile faded, I hadn't considered this, "Would bluetooth interfere with my radios, could I cut out the rear aircon and reseal its pipes"
Such is the world we live in as I signed up to what I was told was the last polar white Nissan Patrol 4800 that there may ever be, they are extinct now with just a few odd coloured ones left in Australia.
I spent a lot of time re-searching for my ideal car but in the end it was
probably always coming down to a choice between Landcrusier 200 diesel and petrol Patrol 4800.
We all have different ideals, and motivations and in this note I won't
try and say that a Cruiser or Patrol is really better rather I'll spend a few lines
analysing the "choice of car process" from someone who spends much of the
time in making logically based engineering decisions.
First thing is to know your real specification, price included.
I would give high marks to a drivers car, capable of 1500km of touring in relative comfort, tackle the hardest tracks when you get there and be able to cruise home quietly and easily at 130km.
It would need a low life cycle cost, and be sleepable inside.
It needed to be proven with maximum reliability and to have a high chance
of being fixed with common
tools in the bush.
A pretty tall order actually, but work thru it and narrow down your choices
to 2 or 3 and concentrate on them !
Last time, 9 years ago I choose a manual Patrol 4800 and 1/4 million k's later it had clearly set a high bench mark which my new short list couldn't quite match.
Second - a car is not just what you buy but rather what it can reasonably be
within your budget considering the available aftermarket stuff.
One of my finalists - would need a sub-
tank fitted just to get out of the city
and the other couldn't drive over a curb unless in had its underslung spare
put on a carrier - both items were a $1000+ accessory.
Choose your time of purchase - both of my finalists were on genuine specials !
Third - When your ready to commit, make sure you are really ready and decide
your re-action to each possible outcome of the negotiation.
Its easy to get butterflies when you about to commit to tens of thousands of dollars and I find writing down your potential reactions to sales pitches and having that in front of you helps.
Even in this latest case - I got the ring ring , hello Robin - good news
my manager oked all your requests and we still got down to $xx865.
I just need to take a credit card deposit over phone, whats your details.
REWIND - Thats $865 more , go away , and also I will only put down a deposit
sitting in front of you after reading the contract !
The Cars - I gave full marks to the fact that Landcruiser had more range and a 1/3rd lower fuel use, the Crusier was also faster and quieter - but the Patrol is
well up there and could meet my specs. Strength, low weight, size, stability, fixability, and low tech for the bush were all on the Patrols side.
But I couldn't buy a Cruiser without KDSS - and a Patrol needs lockers to match it.
Overall - to me the vehicles added up to about equal overall performance.
Hence for me a price premium of $20,000 was worth paying for the KDSS T/D Cruiser as you would recover much of this on re-sale.
A quick internet based full price search put the Crusier at $89000 (petrol @ $74000) whereas the Patrol began at $59000 - a massive $30,000 difference.
After much negotiation - across many outlets - the Cruiser came down a bit but as you moved below $85000 resistance got harder - eventually in an effort to get rid of them no doubt, the Nissan moved to a genuinely $34,000 lower price, geez even the interest on that each year would pay for the
extra $1600 the fuel would cost each year.
It really was a no brainer for my requirements.
So here we are in 2010, nine years later, sticking to a "fit for intended use process" has lead me to acquire much the same car as then but at a dollar cost of $5000 less than then, and massively less in real terms.
What a crazy world !