I’m currently in the market for two new cars. We were considering Cadillac Escalade and the Lexus RX 350. We went to test drive a few cars and were truly surprised to really like the Hyundai VeraCruz. Compared to the Lexus, it was nearly identical in so many ways sans the logo. We actually liked the Veracruz better because it included a third row seat and was a bit bigger than the Lexus. We began to do some research and came across this article from Motor Trends
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/suvs/112_0707_hyundai_veracruz_lexus_rx350
which speaks favorably about the Veracruz. The Lexus was too small and quite frankly, too overpriced for what you got. I ruled out the Escalade after watching Who Killed The Electric Car on TV a few days ago. I simply can’t forgive GM for destroying perfectly good electric cars and killing the technology so I won’t be buying a GM vehicle any time soon.
As we looked at the Toyota Sequoia’s and Highlanders we began to wonder if we’d ever narrow it done. Every car had its pros and cons but were surprised that the Toyota dealership was nearly out of cars.”New 2008 inventory coming soon,” is what the dealer told us.
After getting home a bit tired and flipping on the tele I began to wonder why out of the 1000 channels on TV there isn’t one dedicated to buying cars. On ShopNBC, QVC, etc I can buy pretty much anything on TV: jewelry, electronics, clothes, toys, and more but I can’t buy a car!
With all the TV commercials about cars from various manufacturers, you’d think they’d all get together and start their own car channel. Here’s the potential schedule:
9 a.m. to 10 a.m. – Lexus Hour. Have a panel of guests talk about how great their Lexus is and the features they like best; then have a 10 minute interview with actual customers about how much they like the Lexus. Interview a mechanic about the maintenance schedule; have a consumer reports interview talking about customer satisfaction and perhaps an insurance agent talking about safety and crash ratings.
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. – The Toyota hour. Same thing as above but talk about Toyota cars
11 a.m. to 12 p.m – The Car Buyers Power lunch – Have some negotiator talk about how to negotiate the best price then accept calls from viewers.
12 p.m. to 1 p.m. – Lunch with the Car manufacturers- Headline news about cars, recalls, interviews with manufacturer CEO’s etc.
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. – The Big Three hour. All about Ford, GM, and Chrysler cars & trucks.
4 p.m. to 5 p.m. – The Car “Environmental” Hour – Give an hour to environmental groups to discuss pros/cons of hybrids, fusion hydrogen cars, ethanol, flex 85, etc to duke it out to tell us which is best and why.
I could go on but I think you get the point. Rather than wasting hundreds of millions on TV commercials with little or no information, give us something BETTER like a TV channel dedicated to cars!
I can flip through all the channels on my TV and watch knife enthusiasts, coin enthusiasts, makeup enthusiasts, etc but not a single car enthusiast sales channel. I am aware that there are various shows dedicated to niche car enthusiasts but not dedicated for the general consumer.
Oh well, we’ll make a final decision on the type of car we’ll buy then we’ll start the negotiation process.
We’ll keep you posted.