Monday, October 08, 2007

Something New To Crave.....

Building my ride on the Honda site, I finally created the 2008 Honda CRV EX 4WD close to my dream car, the BMW M3 series. The Honda may not resemble my dream car but for practical reasons, this car has it all. Car specifications that caught my eye:

  • Low gas mileage (City/Highway: 20mpg/26mpg)
  • 4WD especially for the winter
  • All disc plate brakes
  • Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with Traction Control
  • Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle
  • 5 speed automatic with O/D
  • Steering wheel-mounted audio controls
  • 17” Alloy wheels
  • Chrome window trim
  • Moonroof
  • 6 disc CD changer

Front mud guards were added as accessories to this car as it did not come with them. I was so tempted to pimp up my car with a set of spoke chrome-look alloy wheels but decided against it later to minimize attention to my soon-to-be new car.

After building the car on the site, I submitted my request for quotes from the various Honda dealers in my area. Amazingly the dealers came back with quotes within 2 hours, thus the start of my visits to dealerships with the best offer attempting to further haggle for a better price.

Talking to the dealers was not as challenging as I thought it would be as most dealers gave me their final price. Those that did not offer their best only had me walking out of the dealership. All is not lost as there was one dealer that had me returning and offering them what I thought was a fair price to both of us that they finally accepted. My deposit was put down and with the VIN number in hand I started shopping around for car insurance over the internet. Purchasing my policy over the internet, all I needed to do was collect my car on Tuesday the following week.

Came Tuesday I collected my baby. The smell of the new car and the smooth ride put a smile on my face the moment I drove it. There it was, my car sitting on the parking lot beckoning me to drive it as I stare at it everyday from my apartment window. It sounds extreme but that car is a damn good ride.

Of course with every new object owned come with new responsibilities. For the past 11 years of my life I have either driven my dad’s car or rentals. In conclusion, I had the luxury of not experiencing the need to take care of them as someone else was taking of that for me. With this new possession, the tables have turned and I finally had to step up to the plate and I wasted no time researching the internet.

Believe me when I said I had plenty to learn and read about taking care of cars since I intend to keep the car for the next ten years. Perhaps I will bore you with what it means to perform under the hood checks in my next write up. Nonetheless, here is me and my new baby.



Did I mention I put a set of wheel locks on the car tires too?