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I've been nothing but ecstatic about my 9-3 since I got it last month. We've already been all around Europe with it, and I'm getting the oil changed today at 3000 miles (only 2.5 weeks after we got it). And this week, I've gotten to see how Saab's cars, and their sales program, stacks up against the competition here.
Some background- I'm stationed in Kitzingen, Germany. (near Wurzburg; about an hour and a half from Frankfurt) I've been in the US Army over here for 3 years; I'm about to change stations back to Fort Gordon (in Augusta, GA). We needed a new car after I wrecked my El Camino in icy weather, and my wife fell in love with the 9-3. I didn't argue too hard; we had a good deal, a free trip to Sweden (we drove through Denmark too), and a hot new car.
My best friend is here for a few months longer, and his situation is different. He's 25, single, and has over 10 grand in the bank from our last deployment. He wants a new car, something different from what his brothers/cousins have (all ricers), fast and somewhat luxurious. He loves the Saab too; I've let him drive it, which as you can imagine, took a lot of trust. But I wanted to make sure that he saw all the options out there that might be right for him. So Wednesday (he was off work, and I'm clearing so I might as well be) we took a spin around all the local car dealers to look around. My story was that I was looking for a second car, and he was looking for a first. In reality, I just wanted to see what I could have had, and how the Saab stood up.
First was Mercedes- they have a huge showroom in Wurzburg, complete with the little coffee bar in the back for upscale customers. They had one of just about every model, except the AMG numbers. When we asked for a military sales rep, we met Jurgen. A nice enough fellow, not very high-pressure in his tactics, and although he took a desultory stab at showing us an E-class, we all knew the only thing in our range was going to be a C-class.
The C230 was about the only car in the range that fit us; it had a few things I did like (6 speed tranny standard; V6 with about 200hp), the options were less insanely priced than I expected as well. Mercedes offers all US overseas military customers 10 percent off the car, as well as all options. Factory pickup in Bad Cannstadt (suburb of Stuttgart) is available. They do not ship to the States for free (point to Saab), only the first dealer service is free (major point to Saab- Merc dealers in the States are mercenaries), oh, and this got my eyes rolling- he claimed that he wasn't allowed by corporate to sell any US spec cars without the sunroof package ($1700).
It was also kind of funny that in the huge, huge luxurious Mercedes showroom, here was a guy apologizing to a couple of lowly E-4s that the only info he could give us were on paper printouts- they didn't have any brochures, and for that matter their Internet didn't work for some reason, so we couldn't even look at the specs on their website.
When we asked about a test drive, he hemmed and hawed a little, than told us the only thing on the lot was a C200 diesel; however he did say he could call the factory dealer in Stuttgart and have a car moved up here for me to take out for a day. We gave him our numbers, thanked him and left. He called yesterday while I was out at work and told my wife that he hasn't forgotten about us, but it might be a week or two before he can get the test-drive car up here.
We move out next Wednesday. :)
Next up- the Volvo dealer. This place was more of the "cater to American" dealer. It was a Volvo/Jaguar/Land Rover dealer, with a few used BMWs and Chevy SUVs in the bargain. Three steps into the door, we were getting the full court press from a slick salesman with a Bristol accent. (England, not Connecticut.) He tried to fob a few of the used/demo cars on us, but switched gears easily when we told him we were looking for new.
I'll admit, I knew nothing about Volvo's car range. I knew the S80 was out of our reach (my buddy's budget was around 30k, and so was mine), so we started with an S40. They were surprisingly quick to give a test drive- within 10 minutes we were on the road in a new S40 T5 with Tiptronic tranny and upgraded interior. They did ask us to keep the revs down (it had less than 100 miles on the odometer) and to be back in 30 minutes or so. A mile down the road I noticed the fuel tank was already near bone-dry empty. We both thought the interior sucked, I thought the engine had anemic acceleration, and I started to really dislike the "wait a minute, wait a minute, ok now" shifting of the transmission. We turned around and turned the keys in.
The sales manager (the aforementioned slick guy) was dumbfounded that we were back so soon, but took it well enough when we told him that 3 miles in the S40 was enough to tell us we wanted no part of it. The only S60 they had was a 2004 with 22k miles on it; they slapped a set of dealer plates on it and away we went. After listening and nodding when they asked us again to keep it below 4000 RPM, I crept out of the parking lot, turned the corner and floored it.
The S60 had more get-up; it still paled in comparison to my 9-3, but the turbo had a much smoother delivery. We took it to a deserted traffic circle a few miles away to see how well it cornered- it felt floaty, much like a luxo-barge on the order of a Cadillac, but it did hold in the turns nonetheless. We both liked the interior more than the S40, but less than the Saab. We turned back and sat down with the dealer.
The S60 started about 6 grand higher than the 9-3; leather was an expensive option (9-3 was standard), the base engine was so-so. The dealer (never caught his name, but Slick will do for here) didn't do much to sell Volvo as a brand; when we asked questions about things like safety, dealer service, home shipping, factory pickup in Sweden (all areas that I knew already were pretty much equal to Saab), his answers were cursory. We got the feeling that Slick thought we were just a couple of tire-kickers wasting his time. We grabbed some brochures and left.
Next stop- the Saab dealer I got my 9-3 from. Now, my buddy had been in before to pick up some brochures, so Hines remembered him. Hines is a piece of work- he's been selling Saabs right outside the back gate of our base since 1962, with the pictures and the stories to back it up. His sales technique is as low-pressure as it gets; I probably talked to him 6-7 times over the course of four months as I was making my mind up about buying a car, and he always took as long as I wanted to ask questions. He even liked just telling stories about how the US Army was back in the 50s-60s in the area, and how different it is today. When we were ready to buy, he shopped us around and even got us a better rate than I was going to settle for. I was going to borrow from USAA at 7 percent (my credit is still suffering from college), but he got me approved at Air Force Federal Credit Union (har har) at 5.8 percent.
All in all, a cool guy. Anyway, he went through the options with my buddy, gave him the price (27k for an Arc with all the options but Navigation), and did the math on what his payments would be at different interest rates. When my buddy said he might not be buying a car until June, Hines said sure, come back when you're ready, or if you have any questions, or if you want a test drive, or hell, just if you're bored and wanna hear some stories.
Next up was the VW dealership. I wanted to check out the new MkV GTI model; my pal was interested in the Passat. We stopped at the mega-huge VW dealer down the road, looked around a bit, and when no salesman came up to us, we asked at the info desk if they had a military sales program. It turned out that no, they didn't, but there was a guy that sold VWs to Americans a few miles away. After ogling the 3 Phaetons they had on the showroom, we left.
The guy they sent us to was pretty much the bottom rung of the military sales ladder. Big sign with an American flag, a name like "Patriot Military Sales", dealer logos from Mazda, Ford, Honda, VW, Toyota and Audi. A small office trailer, six cars in front (including the GTI- oh my god, what were they thinking with those seat colors), and an obviously ex-military old man browsing the Internet inside. I managed to ask three questions.
"Do you have any brochures about the GTI or Passat?" No.
"Uh, can we check out the GTI out there?" It's sold.
"Ummmm.....Do they still do the factory pickup in Wolfsburg?" No.
Ok, guy. Thanks, I guess.
At this point, I had a surprise for my friend. I had called the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, and managed to get us in on the factory tour. Turns out Hines had a buddy who has the only Porsche military sales dealership in Germany, so we dropped his name and got in on it. It lasted two hours, and was absolutely incredible. We saw every assembly station from beginning to end (except the paint shop), and the attention to detail was incredible. If you ever, ever have the chance (you can call for a tour, you don't have to know someone, as it turns out), do it.
Anyway, the last stop of the day was the BMW dealer outside Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, which just so happened to also be....the Porsche dealer. And the Mini dealer. And the Saab dealer for the area, as well. It was pretty much the same setup as the pathetic VW guy- two little office trailers right off-base, although this lot had about 15 cars (mostly BMW/Porsche).
As it turns out, the salesperson was the exact opposite. Charmaine was helpful and friendly, dropping what she was working on to show us a 325. It had the nav system and upgraded interior, and I was blown away. I hadn't seriously considered buying a BMW (I think they're boring), but the interior was the only one I'd seen yet that improved on the Saab. The plastic was solid, the console was laid out sensibly, and the iDrive cut down on the button clutter from the 9-3. I'm not crazy about the iDrive (it's suicidal to use while driving), but I do like the insane amount of customization you can do to your settings.
The exterior- ehhhh, it's a BMW (my friend agreed), so it looks like every BMW made in the last 100 years. The options were pricey, and since the 325 started at $27.5k base, he was leery of what it would cost loaded. A nice car, superior in some respects to the Saab, but not worth it. As far as the military sales side- they didn't offer free home shipping, and although the first dealer service was free, you'd run into the same problem as the Merc- dealers in the US don't cater to people like us, who make 30k a year.
As it turns out, we met the Porsche guy (Larry Miller), and I admitted that while I loved the factory tour, even a Boxster was far out of my league at this point. He shot the breeze with us for a while (turns out he was an officer in my same branch), gave me a few brochures and a t-shirt, and told me to call if I was coming back to Stuttgart, and he'd be more than happy to give me a test-drive in a Boxster if I wanted. I heartily agreed.
So, the attitude I got from our experience-
Saab- Come on in, take a look around, tell me what you need, we'll try to get you a good deal, if you wanna come back later feel free.
Volvo- HEY THERE HOW YOU DOIN' FOLKS WE'VE GOT A SPANKIN HOT S40 T5 HERE, THAT'S WITH A TURBO FOR MORE POWER AND SOME AWESOME SPEAKERS AND.....
BMW- We're BMW. We know you want us. You know you want us. Here's our car. Interested?
VW- Huh?
Audi- Military Sales? Who do you think we are?
Oh, and my friend? Going next week to put the down on a 9-3 Aero (bastard!). After all that, we got right back to where we started- me happy as hell with my Saab, him eager to get one.
, Fri, 7 Apr 2006 10:06:07, Fri, 7 Apr 2006 13:00:37
, Fri, 7 Apr 2006 07:09:08
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