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So, Which Car was it?

As I said earlier this week, I’ve been engaged in the worst of all consumer tasks; buying a car.

The 1999 Dodge Dakota, which has been a problem since the first week I bought it, has finally made it to the point where I no longer considered it reliable enough to keep, so it has to go.

So the question became, what do I replace it with? I don’t commute, so gas mileage is not the biggest of my concerns. I essentially need a weekend toy. My preference? The Land Rover LR3, but since I have kids in the stage of life where braces are a part of our weekly discussion, that was out of the question.

So long story short, the two candidates quickly became:

The New 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser

And

The Very New 2007 Dodge Nitro

Let’s start with the Nitro. Once upon a time, there was the Dodge Durango SUV that was based on the Dakota, and everyone said it was too small and they were right. Then there was the Dodge Durango that is based on the Dodge Ram, and now everyone says its too big, and you know what, they are right too.

So Dodge is trying a new around town SUV platform, known as the Nitro.

I don’t call it the Nitro, I call it the Pinata. The Nitro is basically a simple box that is stuffed to the gills with cheap little goodies. It’s a nice enough car, its got a few basic features that I like, but there was one feature that I loved, and frankly that’s what attracted me to the car in the first place.

Its called the ‘mygig”. The ‘mygig’ is an in-dash mounted device that contains a voice actuated GPS, satellite radio and all the Bluetooth phone stuff as well as a 20gb hard disk for storing all sorts of MP3s. It’s very impressive. I have no doubt that in the next five years all car manufacturers will have something very similar in their options list.

Here’s where it starts to get, oh, let’s use the word “funny”, just to keep me out of court. Despite the fact that it was the ‘mygig’ that lead me to the Nitro in the first place, I could not find any dealers who had one. I don’t mean that they didn’t have one for sale, but they had one to demo, I mean no one in my 200 square mile area said that they had one.

Not a single one.

So, I asked the next question, “When will they be available?” The response? Polite laughter. So here I am, looking at a car with the idea that I want to buy it, yet the key option is really not an option, but I’m given assurances that when they become available, I will get a discount.

Like I said; “Funny”.

This isn’t the first time in this car buying adventure that I’ve run into this particular phenomenon, but it is the second time I’ve run into it with this vendor. Earlier this summer, I was looking at the Jeep Liberty. Why? Because “Dr. Z” the cartoon German advertising campaign of Dodge, said; “Und Zee Dodge Leeberteee has a Diesel engine!” I thought “Wow”. A diesel engine on a small SUV, how cool is that! I’d get about 26 miles to the gallon on an engine with nearly zero maintenance for a good long time.

So I began to go find one to look at and all the while watching advertisements where that very same thing was being advertised, it does tend to give you the impression that such a thing exists. I found a lot of things on various Dodge lots, but I never found a Jeep Liberty Diesel. I found out later that two months before I saw the first advertisement for the Liberty Diesel, Dodge had stopped making them. Funny, no one every bothered to tell me that at the 20 or some lots that I visited this summer. If I had managed to find a Liberty with a diesel engine, it would have been an orphan, the last of its kind.

When I asked at the Car Lots about the “Liberty Diesel”, all I got was polite laughter.

So, Nitro fails not because it has anything spectacularly wrong, it doesn’t, its not a bad little car, but because its really strike three for me with those guys at Dodge.

Strike one – My truck, purchased in 1998, only driven occasionally, has always had an air conditioning system that requires recharging every year, and had gone through, not one but three water pumps. It also suffered from broken nylon bearings in the windows, parts that could not cost 2 cents, but required 600 dollars to replace the entire automatic window mechanism to replace. The service Department said; “ Yeah, it happens a lot. You have to roll your windows down regularly or the bearings develop hairline cracks”.

600 bucks, for two nylon roller bearings. Yesssssss.

So, I wouldn’t be looking for a new car if the old one from this vendor hadn’t done such a poor job in the first place.

Strike 2 is the rather difficult to explain missing car.

Strike 3, the option that doesn’t seem to exist.

Despite all this, I looked seriously at the Nitro. I can be a generous and forgiving person.

And then I looked at the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Having once had a Toyota FJ40 in the early 80’s of which I dearly loved; I was more than intrigued with people told me that Toyota was bringing back something modern in this line.

Then I saw one and it was love at first site. This is a very nice off road SUV, that has enough creature comforts to make it acceptable around town. It is not like most of what passes for SUV’s, which are often just minivans that are made acceptable to men.

No, this is not a “green” car. There is no Hybrid for this and there never will be either. This is a mud eating - go dangerous places in dangerous conditions - SUV that puts both the words Sport and Utility back into the category. There is no backseat Video system in this car. Its idea of luxury option is that you can get both AM and FM on the radio.

Yeah, I'm exaggerating, but not by much. This is not an apartment on wheels.

After I spent some time this week finding the right deal (Thank GOD for the internet!), I managed to get one last night, with everyone of the options I wanted( Heres an example of the sort of options you see on the FJ Cruiser - I got the passenger side armrest. wow...).

But once again I have been cursed by finding the right car, but the wrong color. I have never had both at the same time. I once had 1990 Nissan 300ZX that I dearly loved. I wanted Gunmetal grey with leather, I got white with a red cloth interior. However, I got all the options I wanted and they actually took my Pontaic Fiero for a trade. I loved the 300ZX. 172,000 miles and not one single incident of non-scheduled maintenance or problems. It was a fantastically good car.

The Fiero was the polar opposite of the 300ZX. The Fiero was the absolute worst car I’ve ever owned, and I once owned a ‘63 Chevy Corvair

Obviously I need to explain this. Look, it was the 70’s I was poor, and I still lived at home and was not allowed to own a motorcycle. I did not choose the car, it was chosen for me by my late father. After bringing it home for my 15th birthday, he took it entirely apart every single bolt from every single nut, right down to the frame and engine block. He gave me a three inch thick Chiltons repair manual and said with a hearty laugh “Better Start Reading Kiddo!!” My old mans sense of humor knew no bounds. My mission was to have it running by my 16th birthday. I’m happy to say that I succeeded. And yet, despite my amateurish teenage mechanical skills, that damned rubberband powered thing still worked better than the Fiero did its first day off the lot.

The old man also taught me to drive stick with the "three on the tree" transmission. I told you he was funny.

I love the FJ Cruiser. It’s great, I’ve got a smile a mile wide. You see, today there’s snow in the sierras and I think that right now I’ve got just the right platform to attempt to cross them even in the worst of conditions.

Blogging will be light this weekend.

Posted @ November 11, 2006 02:58 PM

Posted by: themarkman at November 16, 2006 05:37 PM

Posted by: Frank Martin at November 16, 2006 08:49 PM