A Surprise Addition To The Family

My wonderful wife and I certainly did not plan on this happening…no, she is not pregnant. We are both way past the age for that.

First, somewhat of a detour. Do you remember this car?

 

 

While on a “fact-finding” mission yesterday, look what we found:

 

 

The top photo was taken at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale in January, 2019; the bottom was taken yesterday while we were out test-driving more cars. Yes, it’s the same car, “The Blue Meanie” as I have dubbed it. What a small world!

I bid on the car–a custom 2014 Corvette convertible–at the auction and just missed winning it as my bid of $65,000 ($71,500 all in) was the next-to-last bid. Ultimately, the car was purchased for $77,000 all in. The car is being offered for sale for not much more than that, about $79,000.

At the dealership with “The Blue Meanie” we test-drove a Lexus RC and, holding my nose, a BMW 435i convertible. While it was a beautiful car (in Orange!) and drove well, the back seats in the RC were, indeed, too small to be useful. In fact, after we returned from the test drive, the manager asked us what we were looking for and then told us that the RC was not really suitable for four adults. Also, the asking price on both cars–above $30,000–was more than we wanted to spend.

This dealership was an independent without a large inventory and too many SUVs and 4-door sedans in that inventory. We were treated well, but they were trying to sell us a car.

We stopped for lunch (Jack In The Box drive-thru that we ate in the parking lot, I’m up to 44 tacos) and afterwards I suggested we see if we could find another Cadillac ATS coupe to drive. We were simply gathering more information, or so we thought.

While I drove, my wonderful wife found an ATS coupe not close to where we were or to where we live, but it was listed at what AutoTrader called a “Great Price” so we decided to see it. We arrived at the third largest Toyota dealership in the country in the middle of a big sales event.

Supposedly, this place had about 100 salesmen working yesterday. Anyway…we arrived and then notified the salesman who came out to see us that we wanted to see and to test drive the 2015 Cadillac ATS coupe in their inventory. Here it is:

 

 

We took the car for a test drive and after we returned we asked for some “privacy” (not that we could actually have any in that setting) so we could discuss the situation. My wonderful wife has learned some things from me about negotiating and made what I thought was a fairly aggressive offer for the car. To our surprise, after the obligatory “I have to see my manager” they accepted our offer, almost 10% below the “Great Price.” I guess the offer wasn’t that aggressive, after all. However, I never expected to buy a car with a purchase price beginning with a “1.” That 2015 ATS is now ours although we still haven’t picked it up as we need to arrange a wire for the rest of the purchase price.

I also never expected to buy an ATS with the 3.6 liter/217 cubic-inch V-6 engine (321 HP/275 LB-FT of torque), but that’s what we bought. The color is called Majestic Plum Metallic and although the interior is black, the car’s windows have a decent amount of tinting.

This ATS drove very well, like the other one we drove. It is well-appointed and has usable rear seats and a decent-sized trunk. It has four new tires with a date code indicating they were manufactured in the 38th week of 2020.

I am under no allusion that the dealership didn’t make a healthy profit on the car. That’s their business and as long as we are happy with what we paid, then they are entitled to make a profit. Thanks to Austin for taking care of us and yes, I am aware he wanted to make a sale.

When we woke up yesterday we absolutely had no idea we would end the day with another car in our possession. Wish us luck with our new car.

 

#ASurpriseAdditionToTheFamily

#TheBlueMeanie

#2015CadillacATS

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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No, I haven’t forgotten the 50th anniversary of the Baltimore Colts winning Super Bowl 5. You can read the linked post to read about my experience that day.

 

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