The fundamental things apply, as time goes by

For the second consecutive weekend, my focus yesterday was jaunting around South Florida to test drive some cars. I had mapped out 5.5 cars to check out and after swimming yesterday morning, I headed west to start my test drives at Saturn. There, I was checking out the Astra (pictured at left) and somewhat the Aura (the .5 car of interest mentioned in my last post).

Upon arrival and a brief inspection, I dismissed the Aura as an option, and moved to wavering between the 3-door and 5-door Astra. Initially I was drawn to the 3-door option--in my seemingly quest to not get a sedan as my next car--and so this was what I test drove. The test drive, however, did not go great: whether due to a mentally assumed familiarity, or simply because it just was that way, I did not drive the car well. In fact, it was the worse test drive I had of all the cars I tried. Compounding this issue is that the service manager from where I've taken my current car (and felt like I've been ripped off), has since moved on to this location. So following the dual experience, I probably won't be getting another Saturn with my new car (not that I don't like/love my current car, but mostly because the current models aren't the right fit).

Following Saturn, I started heading toward Volvo, which was located farthest away, and figured that on-the-way I would find a Pontiac dealer and well as be able to grab a quick lunch--both of which happened. I checked out the Pontiac G5 and G6 coupe (it also comes in a sedan). As the 2 cars look highly similar, with the 5 being a wee bit smaller than the 6, I've only one pictured (that's the G6 at right). Both drove similarly, with the G6 having a little nicer interior than the G5, but both work. Both test drives also went much better than the Saturn one, which was nice but just further cemented the losing appeal of the Astra.

Once done at Pontiac, I went to test out the Volvo C30, which while looking highly similar to the Astra, produced a completely different experience. In fact, the C30 was the first car I've actually really liked to drive while on the test drive. It stood out in that way: all my other test drives have just been comfortable/normal.

And shortly after finishing my test drive at Volvo, a massive rain storm came in, which stopped any further possibilities. As I had finished with my targeted drives for the day, I wasn't terribly upset about it. But yesterday did leave me with an interesting quandary in that the car I liked the most, also appears to be the least practical of all (though some additional research remains).

So I am now left somewhat perplexed on what to do, and somewhat thankful that I've got a few months to figure it all out. I also happened over to a Ford dealership and tried out the Focus and Fusion. The Focus was the smaller of the two, and while I did fit inside, the side mirror couldn't adjust to my height (bizarrely). Also strange was the fact that there was less headroom in the bigger Fusion--which just means that I really won't be considering either as an option.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die