I'd been thinking about getting a new car for over a year, and 4 hours ago I finally got a green slip on the new set of wheels. It's a 2012 FJ with Urban package
The car (truck?) is amazing and I will be taking some pics tomorrow and write about my shopping experience.
Winter bring it on!
Dan
Edit1: pictures.
Edit2: story:
Ok. So the story. I was almost ready to get a V6 EX Sorento at the end of last year, but no dealers had what I wanted in stock and when I called about a dosen of them to check what they had, half of them plainly lied and when I came by said it was just sold; a stupid, disrespectful way to do business if you ask me. I could put up with them attracting a customer on the quoted price and then trying to upsell, but lying about the stock was unacceptable. So I got a hint that if that is the customer "care" when they need my money then what happens after they get paid...
This year I checked the rest of Kia dealers and no-one even offered a test drive... The final nail was the quoted price, which for 2012 Sorento was a few grand higher than the 2011.
And another thing is based on my experience with the 2009 Sonata I felt that their cars were feature rich but under-engineered mechanically. Few examples. When gas tank was nearly full I heard gas splashing; suspension noise over broken pavement was the worst I experienced in any passenger car and the left (and right) hwy lane pull was not even funny. You let go the wheel for a second and you crash. Interestingly, at city speeds everything was normal.
So I decided it was time to try something different. I first looked at SUVs of my interest on paper in terms of features, capabilities, resale values and then visited a few Toyota dealers. The best experience I found at Steeles/Dufferin Toyota, where they like everyone else locally, did not have any 2012 FJs in stock, but Gideon, a manager, offered a used FJ of a similar trim for a test drive and we took our time to make sure I got a good idea about the truck.
Gideon was honest and pleasant to deal with and never used any sales gimmicks or tricks when discussing the offer. They managed to find the FJ that was originally headed to N. Ontario, managed to convince that dealer to take a similar FJ heading to Quebec and after a couple of days of such negotiations my FJ was finally scheduled to arrive to Vancouver first and then straight here. The entire sales process was nothing like I ever experienced before with any dealer. I asked Gideon to take pictures of the 'Grand Truck Arrival' if he was around, and to my surprise he did, in that freezing rain we had a few days ago. Then he stayed late after his shift, waiting for me to pick up the truck.
So far I'm very happy with the vehicle and would like to recommend this guy and the dealership to anyone in the market.
P.S. I'll write more about the truck later.
