Final Car Decision

We spent Friday and Saturday test driving some cars.  First it was the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4-door.  It was a very comfortable ride, as opposed to everything I read saying it was not really built for the road.  However, visibility was very poor because the dashboard was placed very high.  I would say it’s almost as if you were driving a truck, but I’ve never really driven a truck before.  Otherwise, it was a very decent car and the price wasn’t so bad either.  The major turn-off is that the second row seats don’t have that much leg-room for such a massive vehicle, and the seats backs could not be adjusted.

We weren’t really planning on checking out Volvo but since it was just next door to Jeep, we decided to look at the S40 which was advertised at 99K AED on the newspapers.  At first we were unimpressed with the size but the overall sporty design and the interiors changed our minds.  They only offered the car in the R Design format, which is intended to cater to people who liked aggressive and sharp looks, as well a sportier performance without compromising the level of safety that Volvo is know for.  The agent was also very cordial and emphatic so we arranged for a test driver.  It was very smooth and accelerated very quickly without really giving you that bumpy sports car feeling.  It quickly became one of our top choices simply because Bianca liked it plus the fact that it was relatively cheap, and a bargain for a Volvo.

We had to return to Volvo on Saturday because I apparently left my driver’s license.  The agent claimed that he was trying to call me but that I might have switched my phone off.  That’s bullshit because I never turn my phone off and I always make sure that it’s charged.  And as far as I know, that day I never went any place where there was no signal.  I don’t know what it is with people here in Dubai but they always tend to do stuff like that - claiming to have done something but not.  I mean, I experienced it before in Manila - sort of like saying you’re already in Buendia when you’re actually still in Ortigas.  But here it’s just too much.  Anyway, I digress.

Fortunately we were scheduled to test drive the Merc C180K around the same area so it was no issue passing by Volvo before to get the license.  The C180K was absolutely gorgeous but a lot less luxurious tha I expected, and less roomy.  As with most German cars, it needed a little getting used to such as which lever is used for signalling since there were two levers on the left side of the wheel.  The emergency brake, which is normally a hand brake, is a small pedal on the left side.  That’s something I’d actually like to see on all cars since it’s really convenient, but I guess that won’t work for racers and drifters.  And the light switch is a knob on the dash instead of turn switch on the signal lever - something which I think MB should change since it’s easier and maybe even safer to be able to switch the lights without removing your hand from the wheel. Anyway, we found out that they didn’t sell the basic model in Dubai and they only had the Elegance range which is disturbingly a lot more expensive than the basic range.  That’s another thing with Dubai, it’s not enough that they’re selling a luxury item, that luxury item should be in the luxury level or range for that particular item.  So it’s actually double luxury!

On the way home, feeling a lot more confused about what car to buy, we passed by a Ford showroom which was again not on our list, and thought that we should just check it out anyway.  The Ford Flex and Edge didn’t really interest us so we went straight for the Explorer and Expedition.  Next to the Expedition, the Explorer looked really really small but only because the Expedition was so big.  It also didn’t look quite as aggressive and intimidating as  the Expedition.  There were also some additional perks with the 2008 Expedition.  It came with free first year insurance which is about 5% of the total price of the vehicle, plus free maintenance for three years or the first 60k KMs, whichever comes first.  That’s a real great value considering you could pay up to 1K AED for maintenance costs every 5k KMs.  To cut a long story short, we chose the Expedition right then and there at a cost of 135K AED minus 2K AED month end discount.