My New Car: 2008 Toyota Corolla

Just about 2 hours ago, I became the proud owner of a brand new silver 2008 Toyota Corolla. I had no intention of driving one home today, but the sales guy ended up offering it for my asking price. I figured I'll just take it and spare myself another day of haggling.

I actually started the day off in a Nissan dealership. I thought I would buy an economical Versa, but the Sentra looked nicer so I test drived them both. Both were ho hum on the road. I told the sales guy I wanted to check out the Toyotas first, which is what I went on to do. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted from Toyota though. I didn't like the Yaris, the RAV4 are too big now, and the Corolla just seemed too common. I had a look at the Corolla anyways, since it was about the right size and price for me. Plus, they get good mileage at about 28/35. Once I test drove the car though, I knew this was the one.

The 2 main things about the Corolla was how comfortable I felt in it. Everything was within a short arm's reach and the seat was high so I could see well over the steering wheel. The drive is also very smooth and the engine pretty quiet. I like this car better than the RAV4 I previously owned. I chose a Corolla with a sports trim that came with all of the options, including a sun roof. The only thing a Corolla doesn't have is MP3 playback capability - not even an audio jack.

The sticker price at the dealership was $19600 or so. All of the 2007's were already sold out so I was stuck trying to negotiate on a 2008. The sales dude off the bat came down to $18600 since I was paying cash. I wasn't planning to buy so I kind of threw out my "buy now" number at $17000 thinking he wouldn't match it. He said he couldn't do it, so we walked out. Sure enough he came knocking on our car window with their "invoice" price of $18300. I was firm on my $17000 so he brought it to $17500... 400... 300... 250 (at this point there's no reason for them to stop)... and finally $17000. It was almost too easy so I'm wondering if I could've gotten it for 16 something had I started with that. Probably. I think they were trying to make their end of the month sales quota. I shouldn't complain though at $2600 below MSRP and $1100 under true market value (from edmunds.com), so I'm happy with my purchase. Now I just need to make sure I don't run into a deer the first day off the lot like my friend did with her brand new Corolla (she had a silver one with the sport trim too) back in '06.

First day back

The day started early, but I took it a little easy. I went and got a pedicure in the morning and then had a look around for cell phone. I'm still debating on which cell phone to go with. Verizon supposedly has the best nationwide coverage and good customer service. However, they are on a CDMA network which is not available outside the U.S. I would need a global phone with GSM capabilities in order to use the phone overseas. Sprint is also CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. I suppose no matter which GSM provider I go with, I suppose I will have the problem of a locked phone. Maybe I will be able to use European T-Mobile SIM cards with T-Mobile phones tho. I'll have to look into that. Could be screwed tho for Asia, but perhaps if I beg them enough they will unlock the phone for me when it becomes necessary. The only thing about T-Mobile is that they didn't seem to have a very good coverage map. I only checked Virginia, but their coverage seems limited to major cities and highways. If I go off into the boonies of VA, I'm not sure I'll get coverage.

One of the things I noticed as I hopped from one store to another was how polite all the customer service reps were. I know I complained a lot about the Dutch Service, but I never really thought that customer service in the U.S. was particularly spectacular. Cell phone providers were notorious for bad service, but I think perhaps people got sick of putting up with it and the BBB is cracking down or something. It wasn't just the cell phone companies either, the nail salons and the Chick-fil-A girl were also really nice and polite. Maybe I used to take it for granted and never noticed before. Speaking of Chick-fil-A, mmmmmmmm... that was yummy.

Oh, I had thought I made up my mind about getting a 30" LCD Monitor and use my computer for watching TV, movies, etc. However, my brother recently bought a 56" 1080p DLP TV and it's niiiiiice. So I'm having second thoughts. In the land where everything is big, 73" and 60" TVs are on sale like it's the norm. Who needs to go to the movies anymore with a TV that big?? They are like $4000/$3000 though, and I think my new place will not be so big. So I think 50" is more than enough, maybe even too big. I should really take a look at the place first. The only problem with my brother's DLP is that there's no DVI input, which is surprising. Anyways, I need to look into this a bit more....

I also went back to my karate class for the first time in about a year. I knew I was really out of shape but I had jump right into a fighting class. Lucky for me there were not too many advanced students so I didn't get my butt kicked much. My 6'3 200 lbs instructor, however, kicked me really hard in the back of my head with his heel. That hurt.

Back in the U.S. of A.!

I made it back to the U.S. last night safe and sound. Aside from the long travel time, the flights were pretty smooth. I saw Fantastic Four and Fracture and slept rest of the way. The only strange part of my flight was that the cabin crew didn't prepare the flight for landing as usual, so I was about to land with a partially full can of soda on my table tray until I secured the can myself. I was also very lucky at customs that they didn't ask about the contents of my belongings even though I ticked off that I was bringing in "plants, seeds, food". I had 3 packages of flower bulbs, and even tho they were certified to bring into the U.S., I was sure they would want to inspect it. My suitcases were packed tight (I had to get rid of 3 kilos from one bag at check-in) and it would have been a mess if they wanted to go through all of my stuff.

Once I arrived at the Norfolk Int'l Airport, my brother and his kids were waiting for me. It was good to see them again and catch up with him since we hardly talk when I am away. This morning I was up bright and early before the crack of dawn thanks to jet lag. It's starting to get light out now so perhaps I should start getting on with my day. I have lots to do - go for a pedicure (it's hard to get one a good one in Holland), shop for cell phones, get my butt kicked in karate, see friends, etc. Tomorrow I will spend the day test driving cars with my brother.

Oh, btw, did I mention it's like 28 degrees here during the day? Summer has finally arrived for me.