And The Winner Is.....

Ka-Ka-Ka-KIA! Who knew??

After selling my Bronco a couple weeks back I started sorting through my car options. I landed on getting something new and cheap. Jen's wisdom tipped the scale. She reminded me that our house is 32 years old and could throw us a $urpri$e at any moment. Ergo, she figured that we should get a vehicle that would be under warranty for the foreseeable future.

I determined that I'd be purchasing a hatchback- because guys always want to be able to transport stuff. Even if we don't actually haul anything, we like to know that we could. So after checking out all the options, Jen and I sat down last Saturday to choose a car. I was just about to tell her that I thought we should buy a Nissan Versa, when Ryan- from the local Kia dealer- called. He told me about some additional discounts they were able to offer me- and suddenly I was driving to Durham to test drive a Kia Spectra 5. After taking one for a spin and settling on a final sales price, my mind was made up.

We picked up the car last night.



Jen hadn't seen it until then and was pleasantly surprised. I'm thrilled. The combination of good gas mileage, decent looks, sporty touches inside, a great list of standard features, nimble handling, a generous warranty and the price ($3100 BELOW INVOICE!) made the decision a no-brainer for me.

On top of all that, I had the best car buying experience I've ever had with a dealer. All the folks at Johnson Kia in Durham treated us well. Our salesperson (Ryan) was incredibly pleasant. The sales manager (Caz) was the most straight-forward car guy I've ever dealt with. The numbers ended up exactly where he promised they would be. Caz also went above and beyond to find a car in the color I wanted and trade another dealer for it. The finance guru (John) even made paying for the thing fairly painless. I was treated like a valued customer and a friend.

If you are in the market for a new hatchback, give Kia's Spectra 5 a look. If you are buying a new Kia, Dodge, Chrysler or Jeep in the Raleigh area- swing by the Johnson dealerships. They'll take good care of you.