DeDivahDeals

Fashion and Fun after Fifty

Posts Tagged ‘safety features’

Car Shopping – Kia

Last Sunday, hubby and I went looking at cars (here) to replace our son’s 2002 Hyundai Elantra.  We only looked at used vehicles so today my son and I went to Martin Kia to look at new ones.  He was interested in the Kia Rio so we walked through the lot peering inside, checking the prices and reviewing the safety records.

Kia Rio 5 door

I guess the dealers inside sensed we weren’t looking to make a purchase because no one came out to greet us until we were about to leave.  The internet has really changed the way people purchase their cars so the dealers can give you more time to browse and are in less of a rush to make a sale.

From the exterior the 2013 Rio 5 Door was the perfect size, the interior features were standard and included driver, passenger, front side and side curtain airbags, with 4* NHTSA safety rating.  The estimated gas mileage of 28 city/36 highway wasn’t great but considering my son doesn’t travel far it was acceptable.

March 2013 032

Same features in the Rio 4 Door

Martin Kia

Saturday we will visit a Hyundai dealership to check out the new Elantra, make a comparison and hopefully an opportunity to take test drive.

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Car Shopping Is No Longer A Fun Event!

Once upon a time not so long ago car shopping was a fun and exciting adventure, flipping through magazines, reading the classifieds, looking for the perfect car, with the perfect color for the perfectly affordable price.  That was “BK”, “before kids”, now as a parent of 2 sons we are once again in the market for a car, not for me nor hubby but for #1 son.

We were very fortunate the first time when we found a 2002 Hyundai Elantra at a very affordable price but with very high mileage and now, “Miranda” is on her last legs.  She is not going to make it much longer and it’s not worth putting any more money into having her serviced.  She was dutiful in her position and served us well, she valiantly got the  boys back and forth to High School with weekend jaunts to the mall and grocery store.  Now the time has come to find a replacement and it is not a fun event.  The sticker prices are a hard pill to swallow but we must keep in mind that good safety features and good insurance ratings are our number one priorities.

Hubby and I spend a few hours yesterday looking for vehicles that might fit the bill, first stopping at Carman Auto Group in New Castle.  We didn’t see many but there was a 2012 Ford Fiesta, with mileage that wasn’t too high but was a bit out of our price range.

Ford Fiesta

Carman 1

Our next stop was at Willis Chevrolet in Middletown.  Willis is where I have my Hyundai Sonata serviced and customer satisfaction is their #1 priority so it wasn’t a surprise to find that they had a few vehicles that caught our attention.

A 2011 Ford Fiesta SES, mileage was a bit high for it’s age and a sticker price worth negotiating, the other vehicle was a 2009 Chevy Cobalt Sport, mileage and price more palatable.

Willis 1

Ford Cobalt

Willis 2

Now comes the fun part…the research…checking State Farm Insurance, KBB, Carfax, Cars.com, AAA, Costco and any other website to compare prices, and safety features – this is no longer a fun event and I still have to get a hooptie for son #2 – do you know where I can get a 2fer!

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