[Crazy Canuck]

As title says,

what car would you guys get ?
I'm looking for a family car (sedan) with the following goodies:

• leather
• dual-climate-zone
• heated seats
• HIDs
• sun-roof
• leather interior
• decent handling/power
• automatic (wife doesn't want manual)

I test drove the Subaru Legacy GT Limited edition and wasn't impressed.
Although the AWD was good, lighting sucked, and the triptronic was bloody slow to shift. I prefer the Volvo S60 AWD a lot more compared to that one.
Anyways, what would you get as a car and why ?
I'm thinking on SAAB 93-Aero (2.8V6Turbo: 250hp/258tq, 3175lbs) vs SAAB 9-5(2.8I4Turbo: 260hp/258tq, 3670lbs)... pretty much same price, power.
The 9-3Aero is lighter (~500lbs) but less goodies... so might be more fun to drive, but maybe have less value then the 9-5.
It's a car I want to keep for long (10+ yrs), and have no kids YET, but they might be in the picture very soon, hence the decision for a family oriented car (practical)... but I still want something decent to drive... much better than the 94 civic I have.

Anyways... waiting on input.

[2000Z-71]

the only bigger prick than a BMW driver is a BMW salesman

That's not fair! I'm probably a bigger prick than most BMW salesman. Actually, I've never bought a car from a BMW dealership, and from my experiences with the local probably never will, at least not from them.

Jason

Sorry to offend Jason but my experience with the BMW dealer just further reinforced my BMW stereotypes.

First I had to ask "permission" to test drive the car from the sales manager. It was the only manual transmission car with the sport package that they had on the lot.

Then I had to listen to the salesman berate my Camaro for the entire length of the test drive and tell me how superior ther BMW was. I finally had enough of it and challenged him to autocross for pink slips me in my Camaro and him in his precious BMW. He wouldn't take me up on the offer because I was a "professional" driver as he was merely and enthusiast and it wouldn't be fair.

Did I also mention the prescribed 5 minute test drive with the constant backseat driving by the salesman? "Sir, you're exceeding the speed limit!" "Sir I really wish you would not rev the car above 3,000 rpm!" "Slow down for the upcaoming turn!"

The salesman had absolutely no technical knowledge. I asked the difference between the 325 and 330. His response was that the 325 had the 2.5 litre motor and the 330 had the 3.0 litre motor. I then asked if that was the case why did the window sticker specifications for the 325 that I was driving said it was a 3.0 litre motor. He then said the difference in power output between the 2 cars was due to tuning and the two had the same size motors. He had no answer when I asked what kind of tuning the additional 6K price for the 330 bought.

Then there was the discussion with the sales manager when I got back about ordering a car to my specifications. He explained that there was a $2,500 non-refunadable deposit up front which I thought was too much but could understand. Then the kicker was that any trade-in would be negotiated upon delivery of the new car and not at the time the deposit was made. I asked specifically what would happen to the deposit if we could not agree upon the trade-in amount. The response was that it was a non-refundable deposit and if I didn't agree to their offer I would forfeit the deposit.

The sad part was I actually liked the 325 better than the Infiniti G35 that I bought. However, the only car on the lot had about 6k in useless options like $1500 for "deluxe" plastic wood trim. In order to get the car to be within my price range I would have had to order one. I was not willing to do that with their terms. After dealing with them, I really wouldn't care if a BMW was the last car on the planet, I still wouldn't buy it.