finally, my new car

Car shopping is a painful process. At least for me. This month.

I have been patronized, mislead and outright lied to. Several times. If you're in the Edmonton area, I would strongly suggest avoiding Park Mazda in Sherwood Park or Autoworld in Leduc at all costs. They are owned by the same company, and they seem to have the same deceptive style. I still feel belittled and insulted after my recent exposure with these dealerships, and it just about put me off ever buying a Mazda at all. I still can't figure out why they would blatantly lie to me about something so easily checked with a simple phone call. Oh well. Luckily I was able to find a local dealer with a little more integrity.

Sundance Mazda was willing to negotiate over the phone and was very pleasant to deal with! So they got our business. I have heard that Jarman Mazda is also excellent (except they didn't have the model I wanted). I had kind of set my heart on a Mazda 5 because it was more or less the best of all worlds for me - a micro minivan with good gas mileage. It has room for SIX passengers (comfortably), sliding rear doors, easy to drive and park, the rear seat folds down quickly to turn into a station wagon if I need more cargo space and I could get a manual transmission. I have never owned an automatic, and I love my 5 speed manual transmissions. So I picked up my car tonight! The kids love it, of course (hey, they can each have their own row!), and it was lovely to drive home from the dealership. I am looking forward to many years of enjoyment in this car. Especially with the heated seats come winter. :-)