Discussions with a car salesman today - Hybrid ignorence

[catsailor]

Shopping for a  mini CUV that can tow my 2000 lbs boat and trailer brought me to a Mitsubishi dealership. Guy sees me pulling up in my C Max and proceeds to ask me if I am not happy with it and trading her in ...... I tell jack ass that on the contrary its the best car I have had, besides won't give up on +45 MPG all around with 43.1 MPG lifetime (20,000 miles). Now the fun starts when sales manager chimes in and tells me how useless Hybrids are since you need to own them for a long time to see a payback which I proceed to tell him yeah 100,000 miles is my break even point with $4 gas. As if I never did the math. Now I tell jack ass one and two that I own my cars until they rot off the vine. I hate the new car buying experience and my C max is one if not the most comfortable cars for its size I have owned. Factoid I told them its got more power than anything in 4 cylinders on their lot.

 

Now the real reason I went there today and I may give up on my quest to find wifey a new ride since we own a 2001 Ford Escape with a 200 hp V6 set up for towing (hitch and oil cooler) and this car easily tows our small sailboat everywhere and the 4 WD helps pull her on slippery ramps. I may end up keeping the Escape (55,000 miles in 13 years) cause its simple and works like a champ and tell wifey to go out and buy anything she wants. I really liked the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport for fuel efficiency and 4WD but I hate the plastics they use inside and frankly their NAV package does not come close to the Ford Sync and my touch system

 

BTW jack ass seems to feel my car with be worth SQUAT at 60,000 miles because ...well its a hybrid and these cars implode at 80,000 miles.

 

Anybody have any suggestions on a small efficient CUV that tows 2000 lbs. I really hate going to a Turbo Boost engine to do this with anew escape besides they have had their share of problems with the 1.6 Eco Boost engine right now and that was the engine that appealed to me the most.

[Jus-A-CMax]

lol, great story, thanks for sharing...CMax rawks, nothing matches that in size, comfort, power with MPGs thus far. + gas pods, gotta :love_shower:  that :)

[Recumpence]

I have gone through a similar situation, but in a friendly way. When I test drive both my C-Max and a Volt, I knew more than both salesmen about each car. They were cool about it, though. They knew both cars were very technologically advanced, but they both appologized and said something to the affect of "I am sorry I do not know more about this car. It is new on the market and our training on them is on-going."  To that I said, "No worries, I know you have many models to understand. I know what I am looking for and how this system works. I am good. :~) "

 

One funny thing about your story is this;

 

Our cars will FAR outlast a normal car because they are advanced hybrids. As for my car, the engine only runs less than 40% of the time. So, with my current 44,000 miles, the engine has only run 20,000 of those miles. So, the engine and all supporting equipment (exhaust, cooling, fuel system, etc) should last longer than the body of the car. Oh, and my brakes have only been used 4%! Gee, I wonder how long they will last.

 

Ask guys with Prius and other hybrids. They last a LONG time. The reason you do not see a huge number of hybrids for sale is because people KEEP them! And there is a reason they keep them.........

 

My wife and I are beginning the hunt for a car for her. We will be buying something for her in about two years. There are some cool options on the horizon. Ford (obviously), maybe an updated Volt?, even the new Mitsubishi plug-in Outlander looks interesting. All I know is, we will definately buy her a hybrid. It may be a plug-in, it may not. It all depends on what is available at the time. I know i will not listen to much the salesman has to say, though, because odds are I will have read everyting there is to read about the car we buy before we even test drive it.

 

Matt

Edited December 18, 2013 by Recumpence

[Jus-A-CMax]

Good point with the ICE, mine is 10,200 miles out of 22,000 that is gas. Although I drive double of the "average" my ICE log is only reporting a "average" miles. I will keep Maxine for sometime as well now that shes all shiny et al.

 

I can't convince my wifey on a hybrid...she still wants fast fast ala Cadillac SUV or another Jaguar. Next year or the following is the time to buy as the Jag is now getting up there...sigh.

 

Plus she wants a lockable boot (translate to US...trunk). Women.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[Recumpence]

Hmm, get her a Model S.

 

That is fast!    :)

 

Matt

[zhackwyatt]

I'll be honest, I'll sell the C-Max in a heartbeat if I can get a self-driving car, just jump in and go along for the ride :shoppingcart_:

 

http://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2013/12/12/ford-reveals-automated-fusion-hybrid-research-vehicle--teams-up-.html

[chrisl]

I'll be honest, I'll sell the C-Max in a heartbeat if I can get a self-driving car, just jump in and go along for the ride :shoppingcart_:

 

http://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2013/12/12/ford-reveals-automated-fusion-hybrid-research-vehicle--teams-up-.html

 

If they can put it on the fusion, they can put it on the Cmax... the electronics are essentially the same, and it's some adjustment of the physical envelope. 

 

I'm expecting my next car to have significant self-driving ability.

[Jus-A-CMax]

I'll be honest, I'll sell the C-Max in a heartbeat if I can get a self-driving car, just jump in and go along for the ride :shoppingcart_:

 

http://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2013/12/12/ford-reveals-automated-fusion-hybrid-research-vehicle--teams-up-.html

Not if there is Micro$oft code in there, that would be a bridge too far to trust... ;)

 

Hmm, get her a Model S.

 

That is fast!    :)

 

Matt

She does want one of those!!!! Don't they burn easily :baby:

[Recumpence]

I actually had a coversation with my dentist today (who owns a Model S). I can drive it anytime, he told me. So, I will take him up on it.

 

AFAIK, they have had 3 fires. One was driving 95mph and went off the road into a tree. One hit a trailer hitch on the expressway that punctured the 1/4 inch plate steel under the pack and I do not remember about the other one.

 

At any rate, I will definately take him up on his offer to drive it ----- And SOON!   :)

 

Matt

[Jus-A-CMax]

Yeah, please report back - I really like to know how the regen works - is it aggressive like our CMaxs or not, feel of the brakes etc. It suppose to have 260+ miles a day and in theory, with the right regen and driving, this should translate to 300+. And don't light this one up, lol ;)

 

Going back to Catsailors post, I saw they started advertising the Mirage and claiming 44MPG, that beats the official CMax EPA, not too shabby for a wee small car.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax