So it has been a while since I’ve posted. Anywho. Lately I’ve been contemplating getting rid of my 2008 Nissan Rogue SL awd. Known to my g/f as the ‘hippo.’ It is an adequate nickname for it, so it is charcoal/gray like a hippo….kinda roundish….and if you squint just right and the stars are aligned perfectly, it just might look like a hippo.
The payment on it is ridiculous so I set out on a quest to find myself a potential replacement vehicle, should I be able to get rid of this wallet busting bill of a vehicle.
I do my research like usual. I’m definitely a Nissan guy. I owned a 1995 240sx (loved that car to death, wish I still had my S14), a 2006 Nissan Frontier LE Crew Cab (R.I.P…..the ex totalled it), and now the Hippo. SO I venture over to Nissan’s website and peruse their compact cars, namely the Sentra and the Versa. I definitely like the sentra. I proceed to look at my local dealers for a used 2007 or newer Sentra SE-R SpecV. I wanted the 6-speed and this had it as well as 200hp. =)
I find one in my price range. I then proceed to call my friend to ask him to tag along, he agrees, I go and pick him up and off to Pacific Nissan we go.
We arrive and surprisingly are NOT ambushed by an excessive amount of salesmen the second we set foot on the premises. We walk over to the used/preowned vehicle section. We find the vehicle we came to see and then get approached by the most passive car salesman I’ve ever met.
We introduce ourselves to the man whose name is Alex. My friend and I proceed to circle the car, looking inside through the windows expecting Alex to ask if we want to see the inside or open up the car…5 or so minutes transpire…nothing. So I proceed to ask “Can we look inside?’ Alex then reaches in his pocket with one hand and knocks on the driver window with the other….and magically the car unlocks. I then start to ask questions about the vehicle which Alex cannot answer. If there’s one thing I dislike its a cars salesman who doesn’t know anything about his product or a salesman who talks to you like you don’t know anything about the product. I know cars because I’m a car enthusiast and do research…I expect car salesmen to know their stuff too.
I walk over to the driver seat, my friend stays and proceeds to sit shotgun. When we both sit down we instantly take in a deep breath of air…and smell…smoke. The previous owner was a smoker. Instant turn off. Sure I’d eventually get ‘used’ to it, but why settle for something like that. “Man it smells like smoke” I exclaim. Alex then states how they would steam clean and detail the vehicle…which we all know wouldn’t get rid of the smell because smoke seeps through the cloth and settles there for good. Despite the gross smell of smoke, I decide to ask to test drive the car, especially considering I was already in teh driver seat and it was the only Spec V available at the time. I hand him my drivers license, he makes a copy and he pulls the car out. Now keep in mind I ride a motorcycle…its manual…but that doesn’t mean I drive a manual vehicle…in fact its been roughly 5+ years since I’ve driven a manual vehicle.
I turn to my friend and say “now look, its been ages since I’ve driven stick, so if I stall don’t say a darn thing.” We get in the car, my friend sits in the back and Alex rides shotgun. I repeat what I just said to my friend to Alex and he chuckles and says “me too, so don’t worry.” I turn the key, the engine roars and off we go.
Now it is about lunch time in Pacific Beach, which gets crazy busy. I proceed to remember how to drive stick and manage my way through traffic. First off, when I think of a test drive, I’m expecting to be able to drive on the open road so I can get a feel for the power, the handling and the comfort of the vehicle. Driving through lunch hour traffic is not exactly my ideal test drive. I put this behind me and begin to talk to my friend about all the awesome places to eat in PB as well as pointing them out. We get about 3 miles away from the dealer and I decide “Alright, it’s time to go back.” I immediately turn down a side street.
Heading down the side street proves to be a much funner drive then through stop go traffic. I actually was able to get into 4 out of the 6 gears before having to slow down. We soon reach Garnet and I have to make an unprotected left hand turn and merge onto the busy street. See my opening and bam I’m perfectly merged in gridlock traffic. So as we are sitting there in traffic, I proceed to tell Alex about the ‘hippo’ and how it’d be nice to get rid of. As I finish my sentence, keep in mind we are at a full stop in gridlock behind a white early 2000′s Mustang Gt, we get nailed from behind! I look at the rearview mirror and see the driver behind me with his hands to his head clearly mouthing the F-bomb. All I can do is say “Are you serious?” and let out a laugh. I throw on the hazards and pull over, the driver behind us pulls over as well.
The second he steps out of the car the first things out of his mouth is ‘OMG that was totally my fault! Are you guys ok?’ My friend and I smile and reply ‘Yeah’ while Alex, a little shaken up…slowly nods. My friend then turns to me and says “Well Rich…guess you ain’t getting this one…” Alex proceeds to call his boss to come over and inspect the damage. Meanwhile we are taking pics of the damage and I’m making a phone call to my g/f and so is my friend. We are both laughing uncontrollably about the situation. My g/f agrees that this was a sign that maybe that particular car was not for me. After waiting and talking for 10-15 minutes we discover the guy who hit us has no insurance, is unemployed, its his roommates car and he was on his way to a job interview. While all this transpires, we have the lunch hour traffic staring, smiling, commenting while we wait on the side of the road partially blocking traffic. One person shouts “Is that how you do it in Jersey???” the guy has NJ plates on the truck, another couple asks if everyone is ok or if we need a lift. Eventually a peace officer (aka COP) shows up and asks if we are all okay, checks our licenses and ‘suggests’ to us that if the vehicles are drivable that we take this off the busy street since we are causing a traffic problem.
We take the guys, roommates insurance to ensure the guy followed us and proceeded to drive back to the car dealership, considering it was less than mile away. We arrive, Alex goes to get his boss and we wait with Blaine (that’s his name). He tells us how he hopes its not going to cost much, but after inspecting it myself I inform him that its at least $1k because he damaged the bumper and trunk. His spirits dropped. My friend and I then decide, you know this is not our issue anymore…lets roll. We say bye to blaine and wish him good luck. Just about to the hippo when my conscience kicks in and I decide to tell Alex we are leaving.
Upon entering we meet Alex’s boss and he immediately hands me a ‘witness testimonial’ form to fill out. I say sure and proceed to fill out this form. Upon reading the form, it says draw a diagram, me being the smart-ass that I am as well as in the good mood I was in because of the hilarity of the situation, I proceed to draw a diagram as seen below (excuse my chicken scratch for handwriting), sign the form and leave. The manager makes a remark/joke “I’ll have a Spec V in a few days if you want to see one.” My friend and I laugh, grab some popcorn from the old-school popcorn cart and leave.
All in all, that was my test drive experience. Hope it brought a smile to your face as it did mine.
