We had decided on Friday to check out the orange Element that was 35 miles away. When yesterday morning rolled around, I called the dealership and ensured they still had it. Yes, they did. Was it still $12,995? Yes, it was. Okay, we'll see you in a couple of hours.
Now, the funny thing about all this was that this car was at the Luxury Motors group out in Downers Grove. I have no qualms mentioning it, because the idea of us trading in a VW to get a Honda at a Bentley dealer is pretty amusing. "Hello! We'd like a Be.... Element!"
Jeani and I headed out after her morning appointment and some good Middle Eastern food. Unfortunately, said food was loaded with garlic so a stop at CVS to get mints and gum was necessary; my breath was kickin'.
We arrived at the dealership a good 30-40 minutes later. Now, again, this was a Bentley dealership per the site: Superior Motor Works. So you can imagine our surprise - and relief - when we saw that this particular branch of the car group was just a nondescript white building with cars around it. Nothing Bentley about it. They did have more than a few BMWs and Mercedes and, due to the lack of parking, I placed the Beetle in between a couple of 'em.
Headed in and met up with our contact, who took us out back to the Element. There it was, looking at us head-on. And the first thing I saw was a big gash in the front bumper. "Uh oh," I thought instantly.
It looked just like the gash that lived in the PT's bumper for years, when I rear-ended a car and smashed only the plastic bumper part into another car's trailer hitch. Same deal. "It's been in an accident," Jeani said. Our salesguy said, "No, an accident doesn't do that." What?
We were starting to get really disappointed. We walked around the car, and Jeani found more than a couple of scrapes on the passenger's side doors and molding. I walked around back and noticed, yes, a nickel-sized spot of rust underneath the nameplate. The rear bumper was also loose and cracked, and there was more damage on the driver's side.
We looked inside and saw that the driver's seat was ripped! Ripped, I tell you. We could see foam. At that point we'd had enough. We told the guy that we weren't interested and thanked him. "Why not?" We told him it was more beat up than we'd like and, frankly, it looked like it was in an accident.
As we walked back to the car, the bummed-ness levels were running high. We'd driven so far to see... a piece of crap. A car we wouldn't buy, ever. Visions of us driving a nice, shiny orange Element home changed into us driving a dirty, black Beetle home.
We left and headed to a gas station where gas was a whopping 14 cents less than it was near our place, and put in a few gallons. Then we sat in the car and discussed things, including how bummed we were. How could that guy say that car wasn't in an accident? "A child didn't just, you know, punch that bumper," I said. Jeani said, "It's obvious that it was - the car either hit another car or even a stationary object. That's an accident!"
We still had a list of all the Elements under consideration with us. Since we weren't terribly far from Countryside, I suggested that maybe we should look at the Jetta wagon. That was our other vehicle under consideration, and this would be our only opportunity to see it, really. It was an 04 with low mileage and was still under warranty. But, one of the Elements we'd had on our list was in Countryside too, at a Honda dealer.
It was decided then that we'd drive to the Honda dealer and check out the Elements they had - but new ones. The whole new versus used debate was sussed out in our car, with both of us raising good points. If anything happened to a new car, we would know what happened. We could stain our own seats (ew!), rip our own fabric, and make our own rust holes. It sounded good, actually.
But on the way over, the notion of new car payments just twisted my stomach a bit (as I know it did Jeani's). The final plan was to forget the orange Element, forget the green Element, and look at the used silver Element this dealer had. We'd also talk new ones if it was a big miss.