Hi Rob
I'm in the middle of an animated discussion with my wife over the purchase of our next car. As I'm sure you hear all the time, there is always a difference between the wants and needs of women car shoppers and men car shoppers.
Don't get me wrong I completely get it when women say they need a certain car. I see this as the big difference because I don't need; I want a car that is quite a bit different from my wife's way of thinking.
How can we compromise when she needs a Honda Fit and I want a Mustang? I know I'm putting you on the spot, but how do we go about deciding which direction to take? Practicality over fun, pink car or blue?
Ron
Ron, Ron, Ron. To think that the male of the species has any say in the decision of car buying! Did you know that 75 per cent of car purchase decisions are made by the pink side?
OK, now that I have that out of my system, we can get serious about the fun part, because right now in auto history, there are more choices that will fill both your needs than ever before.
What's better, is that I can finally use a colour that my Dad made up when I was young; sky-blue pink. It never used to have relevance but NOW, it makes sense!
I would like to throw into this, a discussion my wife and I have had, and that is, well, pretty much what you have outlined Ron - how to combine fun and practicality. Although there are lots of crossovers out there, they still tend to be a little too minivan-ish in the looks and performance department. Not that there's anything wrong with that, because there are lots of reasons to buy a vehicle like that. In my household, this had lead to many philosophical discussions on the subject but I'm lucky in that my wife does not want a minivan. That said, she does need something to haul our son and friends around to soccer and such.
We came up with the Mazda3 Sport. I love this little car for a number of reasons, not the least of which (from a mechanic's perspective), reliability and low cost of repair. As an example, I checked out a 2003 model year 3 Sport for recalls, service campaigns and service bulletins. These are generally regarded as a benchmark for possible problems down the road, and I'm here to tell you that in total, there are only nine of them! This is very low. This alone has made us plan on buying a Mazda.
Combine this with superior build quality, beautiful interior fit and finish and a look that is like no other car in its class, and you have a winning combination. And you don't have to stop there because Mazda offers lots of performance upgrades that make the 3 Sport live up to its moniker.
Ron, take a hard look at the Mazda3 Sport. You'll get what you both want and if you look hard enough, you might even find a paint shop that could spray it sky-blue pink.