Hoping to go get her and bring her home this weekend!!!

LOSING MY MIND!!! 😀

It's been a while since I've put an update here, but I'm excited this week about the fact that the car I ordered in July is now built and sitting at the port in Emden waiting for a ship to sail it to Halifax.

Just a few more weeks now!!

I feel like a bit of a zombie today.  I'm not sure I slept much at all last night.

After many years of saving everything I can…  and over a year of research learning everything there is to be learned from reading and asking questions on the Internet…  last night I got a call at 9:11 pm (how appropriate!!) from a sales person to close a deal on my dream car!

I first posted about it here back in October of 2011, though at the time it was just a fantasy.

https://notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry111006-152510

Back in May I drove one for the first time and was instantly hooked!

https://notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry140517-180204

A week ago Friday I finally hit the goal I was saving for, thinking I could go out and try to make a deal, but then everything seemed to come to a crashing halt.  I made 3 separate offers to the sales person I was dealing with and he just kept saying no.  Finally, yesterday morning, I hit the absolute limit of how much I was willing to spend, and how many options I was willing to strip off the car to make it all possible, and again he said no.

I never even got a price out of him.

Yesterday I reached out to some other dealerships though, and one got back to me willing, happy even, to work out a deal I could live with.  I can't thank him enough for making this dream come true for my birthday!!

I've loved cars and driving ever since I got my license and now, through the help and encouragement of Michelle, without whom none of this would have been possible, I'm able to cross a massive milestone and strike off a bucket list item that I may never have even dreamed of aspiring to.

Now I'm going to slowly lose my mind as I wait out the months until I take delivery, estimated to be sometime in January.  While I've got no right to be asking God for anything at all, as I'm already blessed more than I deserve…  I will still be praying for a few days of nice weather in the middle of winter so I can go pick her up and drive her home.  🙂

After the fun I had at the Porsche dealership, dealing with Chevy in trying to test drive a Corvette has been the complete opposite.

GM Canada has a form on their website you can fill out to request a test drive. I did that, and then waited a few weeks and got absolutely no response at all.

I did it again, choosing a different dealership, and they actually got back to me.

Unfortunately they said they can't get a car to test drive. They suggested I just buy one and, if I don't like it when it turns up in a few months, I can give it back.

I understand that they're selling like hotcakes and there aren't any just sitting around to be played with. What I don't understand is how GM can't have at least a few available somewhere that they can arrange to send to each dealership for scheduled test drives when needed.

Do people really buy a lot of cars this expensive without ever having a chance to try them out??

I'm not really sure what I can say about it. It was wonderful!

I drove a base model Boxster and a Cayman S. But were just sublime and I'm sure I could write about the tiny little details but there was one thing that stood above all others.

The grip!! My God!! The unbelievable amount of grip!! I went around highway on ramps and off ramps faster than I've ever done before and I don't think I was even close to pushing the limits of the cars.

All that was on winter tires!!

I've been a car enthusiast for a long time now. I'm very happy to know there's plenty out there still to experience and get excited about. What a fun day!!

Some guy just drove by me in a 350Z with the roof down.

I gave him a thumbs up.

He reciprocated.

Top down in January in Toronto. That's a proper Canadian! It brings a smile to my face. 🙂

I've never liked the Boxster. I've always found it looked rather boring and seemed to be a 2nd rate Porsche for people who couldn't afford a 911.

I've just seen spy pics of the new one though, and it looks amazing!

I have hereby decided that if I'm made ridiculously wealthy through a lottery win this weekend, I will certainly buy this car as my daily runabout.

I recently had an issue with my car. The passenger side headlight seems to have let moisture into it. There was a load of condensation on the inside of the housing and the low beam stopped working.

I brought it to Agincourt Mazda, and couldn’t be happier with the service.

They took a look at it and told me they’d replace the housing under warranty, which was great. They said to bring it back in a few days when the new housing came in, and they’d take care of it.

That was all well and good, except when I brought it back and they did the work, they found out that the ballast was also bad, and they didn’t have one in stock. This is where their level of service became exceptional, and why I’d recommend them for anyone for service.

Rather than just have me come back a 3rd time to finish the job, they gave me the option of leaving the car there, taking a loaner, and picking it up in a couple days when it would be done.

Now, if this was a GM dealer, I’d expect this sort of thing as GM will pay for a rental when your car needs warranty service that’s going to take more than a day. Mazda doesn’t do any such thing, however, so giving me a rental was entirely on the dealership’s tab. That was above and beyond, and I appreciated it. On top of that, they went the extra mile and cleaned the interior as well. Just as a little something extra for my troubles.

So that’s that. I highly recommend them.

Now… for the rental. As a loaner, they gave me the new Mazda3, which I haven’t much cared for since it came out. Now I’ve changed my mind.

My history with rental cars usually involves me hating them with a passion by the time I have to give them back. They’re always base models of whatever car they are, and they’re always crap.

This one was different though.

Sure, it was still a base model. I’m sure the only options were A/C and the automatic transmission, but it didn’t drive like garbage. I was surprised by the fact that it actually drove very well! The base engine had plenty of power to move it so I wasn’t planting the pedal on the floor and swearing at it. The handling didn’t feel like a boat ready to capsize. All in all, it just wasn’t crap.

As I said, I didn’t much care for the new Mazda3 when it came out. I’m not a fan of the new front-end styling. If you’re in the market for a compact car though, I strongly suggest you ignore the looks of it and take one out for a test drive. You just may like it enough to buy it!

General Motors is currently running an ad campaign that annoys me every time I see it.

Their commercial starts out with big text.

"It's our time to talk."

It then blasts a whole series of text at you about whatever their current promotion is.

At no point do they ever actually do any talking. None. It's all just text.

Not only is it annoying, but they've completely discarded what is probably a vast market of illiterate drivers. Smart move!

Apparently Ikea is going to start setting aside parking spaces reserved for hybrid or fuel efficient cars. How they determine who qualifies is yet to be disclosed. Perhaps the same idiot who determined which cars or "trucks" qualified for the government rebates will make a list for them.

It pisses me off when people misuse handicap parking spaces, and I'm more than happy to give up spots reserved for knocked up chicks, but I'll be damned if I think I should park farther way so tree huggers can be closer to the doors!!!

Will they be able to give out tickets? Will they have cars towed? Or will tree huggers just key your car if you're parked in one of these spaces?

This is something I just can't respect or get behind.

If they want to be environmentally conscious, they should reserve spaces for gas guzzlers so they don't have to drive up and down the aisles looking for a spot. If the hybrids make a couple extra laps trying to find one, it's of far less impact to the environment.