Kyle Berg

After using public transportation for so long and being within the city, the thought of having a car seemed like a luxury. While I didn’t like being without the freedom of a car and living at the mercy of train, bus, and subway schedules, I must admit that it sure was nice not to have auto expenses. Spending only ten to twenty dollars a month for transportation is something I could get used to. But that’s not an option here in the U.S. where a car is close to a necessity. I had been thinking about what vehicle I would purchase and had narrowed it down to Nissan and Toyota. My poor experience with my Tahoe as well as some past family experiences with GM vehicles pushed me toward trying Japanese cars.

I drove down to the Twin Cities on Thursday since the selection of foreign vehicles is slim here in Fargo. That evening I looked around a few dealerships, but they were significantly more expensive than what I had been seeing at CarSoup and other online ads. I did see a Toyota Avalon in great shape, but with a not-so-pretty exterior green color. I decided to keep that one in the back of my mind as a backup. On Friday I met with Don, a guy in the southwest metro area who had a Nissan Maxima for sale. I had planned to buy his Maxima because it was at a good price and loaded with extras. I had even gone so far as to list it as the collateral on the loan we worked out. It had 113,000 miles and appeared to be in great shape from everything I had seen in his ad and read in the CarFax report. We took it for a test drive and I just wasn’t comfortable with the vehicle. First, the sport suspension gave a much stiffer ride than I had imagined and wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Second, the “Check Engine” light was on. Don said it had come on 3 days earlier and that it was a minor vacuum issue they would take care of at the dealership. I believed him, but still didn’t like the fact that the light was on at all. Finally, the brakes were in good shape, but I didn’t like how the pedal felt. It seemed too soft to me. I thanked Don for the test drive, but declined to purchase of the vehicle because I didn’t feel right about it. Looking back, the “Check Engine” light was a gift from God because, without that, I may have talked myself into taking the vehicle, even though I wasn’t crazy about it. I left and told Don to call me when it was fixed and maybe we could talk again.

That night I went to a few more dealerships, without much idea of what I was looking for. I test drove a 2000 Maxima, but it was too expensive and had the older 3.0 engine. On the way back to Paul & Leah’s place, I stopped by an Infiniti dealership just out of curiosity. I had been looking at Nissans and had assumed that Infinitis were too expensive. Much to my surprise, there were a few very nice, reasonably priced used cars in the front of their lot. They were still out of my price range, but they did pique my interest enough to keep looking online. I pulled up CarSoup again and was even more surprised when I saw several cars loaded with features and still priced where I could afford them. After some frustration early in the day, this was nice to see.

Today I decided to check out an Infiniti first and then maybe the Toyota Avalon later. The Infiniti I35 was located at Rosedale Chevrolet, a GM dealership of all places. As soon as I saw the car, I knew it was what I had been looking for. While looking  inside it, I said out loud, “This is my car.” Test driving was a mere formality. We sat down to talk about the price and they came down an additional $600 from their Internet price, which was already lower than the window price. Had I been a tougher bargainer, maybe I could have gotten a lower price, but I was satisfied and believed the car to be a good value given its excellent shape and numerous features. I wanted it and they wanted to get rid of it since it had been on the lot for a month. Both parties were happy. (The only complication was the number of papers I had to sign. There must have been 10-15 signatures required for various waivers, bills of sale, etc. It was absurd!)

I brought Paul back so he could drive the other car and then we were off. I was very grateful to God for having provided this car for me. I could not have been happier with my purchase and felt very fortunate to have such a nice car. This car would not have even been available in Argentina without a special order and here I just drove to the dealership and took it home. To have power seats, windows, door locks, sunroof, and heated seats was more than I could believe.  I didn’t feel guilty, because that wouldn’t do any good. But it did feel different. And to top it off, this thing was fun to drive. Wow, could it get up and go and handle those corners!