Wednesday, July 12, 2006
New Car & GPS choice
We have been talking about getting a new car for me for over 2 years. My Altima is older than my 10 year old daughter by about 6 months. However, it has low mileage and still runs well. The clincher is that Andrew is now driving and needs a way to get to school.
On Fathers Day, the family surprised me by taking me car shopping. Due to a family connection, we were able to get employee pricing at Chrysler (ironically they brought back employee pricing for everyone after I bought the car). Anyway, I purchased a 2006 Pearl Blue PT Cruiser. Just the basic model. The only options I wanted were Air Conditioning, Automatic, and GPS Navigation. Why did I want GPS? It is useful for driving to new places, but mostly as a toy (I have to admit that). The dealer found me a car with AC, Automatic, and Sirius Satellite radio. I told them to keep trying, so they gave me the Sirius radio for free. They also setup a work order to install the GPS unit the following week.
First of all, the Sirius radio is cool. I'm not a Howard Stern fan, so that meant nothing to me. However, the comedy stations and the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s stations have been nice. I get 1 year free with the radio. I doubt that I will renew the subscription next year, but I will enjoy it while I have it for free.
The GPS unit turned out to be a saga. It turns out that the 2006 PT Cruiser has had the dash redesigned and the Chrysler Mopar in-dash GPS unit no longer fits. I found this out after leaving my car at the dealer one afternoon and returning to find that nothing was done. Instead they ordered a Garmin-built unit that would be installed on the top of my dashboard. I had to persuade them to dig out some specs for the unit. It was much cheaper than the one I intended, smaller, less functional, and sat in an obvious spot for thieves and blocking my vision.
At that point, I did some serious research into options. The dealer wasn't helpful. I found a Pioneer in-dash unit that was very cool. It was small and would slide the screen in and out of the dash as needed. It also was a DVD player. Lots of cool toy potential. However, the cost was more than I had paid and the dealer was not willing to eat the additional cost. I was not willing to pay additional cost.
A few days ago, I decided to think about portable GPS units. As it turns out, this was the obvious answer to make this more than a toy. A unit that could easily move from car to car and travel with us would be very useful. In fact, it would have been really helpful on our trip back East last April.
Yesterday this was resolved. The dealer is refunding what we paid for the GPS and I am spending less than that to purchase a high end portable unit. The order was placed last night. I can't wait to get my new toy!
On Fathers Day, the family surprised me by taking me car shopping. Due to a family connection, we were able to get employee pricing at Chrysler (ironically they brought back employee pricing for everyone after I bought the car). Anyway, I purchased a 2006 Pearl Blue PT Cruiser. Just the basic model. The only options I wanted were Air Conditioning, Automatic, and GPS Navigation. Why did I want GPS? It is useful for driving to new places, but mostly as a toy (I have to admit that). The dealer found me a car with AC, Automatic, and Sirius Satellite radio. I told them to keep trying, so they gave me the Sirius radio for free. They also setup a work order to install the GPS unit the following week.
First of all, the Sirius radio is cool. I'm not a Howard Stern fan, so that meant nothing to me. However, the comedy stations and the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s stations have been nice. I get 1 year free with the radio. I doubt that I will renew the subscription next year, but I will enjoy it while I have it for free.
The GPS unit turned out to be a saga. It turns out that the 2006 PT Cruiser has had the dash redesigned and the Chrysler Mopar in-dash GPS unit no longer fits. I found this out after leaving my car at the dealer one afternoon and returning to find that nothing was done. Instead they ordered a Garmin-built unit that would be installed on the top of my dashboard. I had to persuade them to dig out some specs for the unit. It was much cheaper than the one I intended, smaller, less functional, and sat in an obvious spot for thieves and blocking my vision.
At that point, I did some serious research into options. The dealer wasn't helpful. I found a Pioneer in-dash unit that was very cool. It was small and would slide the screen in and out of the dash as needed. It also was a DVD player. Lots of cool toy potential. However, the cost was more than I had paid and the dealer was not willing to eat the additional cost. I was not willing to pay additional cost.
A few days ago, I decided to think about portable GPS units. As it turns out, this was the obvious answer to make this more than a toy. A unit that could easily move from car to car and travel with us would be very useful. In fact, it would have been really helpful on our trip back East last April.
Yesterday this was resolved. The dealer is refunding what we paid for the GPS and I am spending less than that to purchase a high end portable unit. The order was placed last night. I can't wait to get my new toy!
Labels: Day Trip, Driving, GPS
# posted by - Rob @ 12:55 PM 
Comments:
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For a while there, we'd thought about a personal GPS for Connor to wear, in case he managed to escape the house.
We couldn't figure out a way to keep it on him that he wouldn't undo it, and he doesn't like any kind of wrist, ankle bands or anything like that anyway.
So we never did get one. That's all I've ever thought about having one. Of course, we don't even have a cell phone. We're so behind the moon.
:P
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We couldn't figure out a way to keep it on him that he wouldn't undo it, and he doesn't like any kind of wrist, ankle bands or anything like that anyway.
So we never did get one. That's all I've ever thought about having one. Of course, we don't even have a cell phone. We're so behind the moon.
:P
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