The adjuster called Thursday and said they wished to total the car and made us an offer which was $2000 above blue book.
After owning a Mazda for 10 years, neither of us were interested in another. Even though they get good marks now, we are both reluctant to go with Kia or Hyundai since we have a tendency to keep cars for a long time and put lots of miles on them. None of the big 3 domestics were even considered... There's nothing made by GM, Ford or Dodge which moves the needle with either of us. I like Volkswagen but my wife doesn't care for them. Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, et al are out of our price range. Nissan also doesn't particularly interest either of us with what they offer at the moment.
This left two choices: Toyota and Honda. My wife has witnessed the longevity of Toyota vehicles with my 2000 Celica which currently has 342,000 miles on it. My parents were so impressed with it that they traded in their 3 year old Nissan Rogue for a Camry and sing its praises every time we get into a car discussion. My wife owned an Accord and a Prelude before we were married and really liked them both. So we went for test drives.
At the Toyota dealership, she test drove a Scion FR-S and a Toyota RAV4. She didn't like the body style of the new Camry and Corolla so no test drive required. She liked the 200 hp rear wheel drive FR-S and thought it was mad fun to drive but decided it was completely impractical for everyday life but the RAV4 with its 176 bhp really made her tail wag. 4-door and roomy, good headroom, plenty of legroom in the back for toting passengers and you don't feel like you're sitting on the blacktop while driving.
We then went to the Honda dealer the next block over and tested a 4 cylinder Accord coupe and a near 300 hp V6 Accord coupe. The 4 cylinder drove well and had lots of creature comforts. The steering was really responsive and the small engine had plenty of pickup and pep for daily driving. The V6 Accord, on the other hand, felt very "floaty" while driving. It reminded me of driving a Mercury Grand Marquis or a Nissan Maxima. There was a lot of body roll and you never really feel like you have full control of the car when you put your foot into the gas, like it's going to lurch right off the road. It's a very disconnected feel.
We went home that night discussing pros and cons of all four vehicles. After sleeping on it, she narrowed it down to either the RAV4 or the 4 cylinder Accord. She couldn't really decide and fretted over it all day Friday and finally asked me which she should get. My reply was simple: Which one did she really get excited about when she test drove them? The answer was the RAV4. So we went after I got off work Friday afternoon and she picked out a 2015 FWD XLE version in Barcelona Red with sunroof and two-tone leather interior. After all was said and done with rebates and such, the total price was about $25k, which was $4,000 under the 4 cylinder Accord. I'll put some pics up soon.
After owning a Mazda for 10 years, neither of us were interested in another. Even though they get good marks now, we are both reluctant to go with Kia or Hyundai since we have a tendency to keep cars for a long time and put lots of miles on them. None of the big 3 domestics were even considered... There's nothing made by GM, Ford or Dodge which moves the needle with either of us. I like Volkswagen but my wife doesn't care for them. Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, et al are out of our price range. Nissan also doesn't particularly interest either of us with what they offer at the moment.
This left two choices: Toyota and Honda. My wife has witnessed the longevity of Toyota vehicles with my 2000 Celica which currently has 342,000 miles on it. My parents were so impressed with it that they traded in their 3 year old Nissan Rogue for a Camry and sing its praises every time we get into a car discussion. My wife owned an Accord and a Prelude before we were married and really liked them both. So we went for test drives.
At the Toyota dealership, she test drove a Scion FR-S and a Toyota RAV4. She didn't like the body style of the new Camry and Corolla so no test drive required. She liked the 200 hp rear wheel drive FR-S and thought it was mad fun to drive but decided it was completely impractical for everyday life but the RAV4 with its 176 bhp really made her tail wag. 4-door and roomy, good headroom, plenty of legroom in the back for toting passengers and you don't feel like you're sitting on the blacktop while driving.
We then went to the Honda dealer the next block over and tested a 4 cylinder Accord coupe and a near 300 hp V6 Accord coupe. The 4 cylinder drove well and had lots of creature comforts. The steering was really responsive and the small engine had plenty of pickup and pep for daily driving. The V6 Accord, on the other hand, felt very "floaty" while driving. It reminded me of driving a Mercury Grand Marquis or a Nissan Maxima. There was a lot of body roll and you never really feel like you have full control of the car when you put your foot into the gas, like it's going to lurch right off the road. It's a very disconnected feel.
We went home that night discussing pros and cons of all four vehicles. After sleeping on it, she narrowed it down to either the RAV4 or the 4 cylinder Accord. She couldn't really decide and fretted over it all day Friday and finally asked me which she should get. My reply was simple: Which one did she really get excited about when she test drove them? The answer was the RAV4. So we went after I got off work Friday afternoon and she picked out a 2015 FWD XLE version in Barcelona Red with sunroof and two-tone leather interior. After all was said and done with rebates and such, the total price was about $25k, which was $4,000 under the 4 cylinder Accord. I'll put some pics up soon.
