Crikey, where to start....
Last year SWMBO and I decided that I deserved something special, so I started looking at new cars - something with all the latest tech, comfortable to drive, and with nice long legs for driving around the country side.
At the time, the Liberty was 50K+ which put it above our price range so I just looked at Mazda3, Camry, Compass North etc. Then life got in the way (as it does) and the adventure was put on hold until earlier this year. That's when a mate asked me if I'd considered the liberty, I told him I had but he suggested I take another look - suddenly it's under the 50K limit and something worth considering again!
Being from the country we called in to the Ballarat dealership where we sat in the 2.5 basic model that they had on hand, I told them I was looking to buy in a few months and would like to check out the 3.6 - "Sure" they said, "we'll let you know when one comes in"
I spent the next several months watching every Youtube video on the net and reading every review I could get my hands on - The Liberty was clearly the car I wanted, but I never heard from Ballarat again until I sent them a Test Drive request through the Subaru website.
Their reply was short, and to the point; "We don't have a car for you to drive. Try Carsales-com"... Nice...
I shot off another request, this time to Docklands, and within an hour I was called and told that there was a pop-up shop closer to me and would I mind if they gave them my number... 20 minutes after that Tony Ha rang me and invited me to test drive the car I wanted.
When I got there he handed me the keys and let me take it out unacompanied to do with as I pleased. This was not something I expected. On my return we chatted about my experience, what I thought of the car, what I was comparing it to, and what I was looking for.
I made it clear; I was looking for Red with Ivory leather, front and rear sensors, and the right price. He gave me the retail price and offered me free floor mats. Yeah, that wasn't going to fly... We checked the stock on hand and there was no Red, and no Ivory at the warf, I gave him a nice low offer and he went white, we shook hands and I told him I'd think about it.
Last Thursday I was finally ready to buy. It was down to the 3.6R or a Mazda3 SP25A, and I was truly undecided. So I rang Tony and asked if it was possible to take the car for a couple of hours night driving and he was happy to oblige. I reminded him of my offer, and he regretfully told me that it was not possible, gave me his "best price" and told me that "although I hate the idea of rejecting a sale, we can't possibly go lower".... I love salesmen....
So Friday night I took the keys to the 3.6 again, and hit the back country highways, the freeway, and did some city driving too, and although I'd never admit it to Tony, I was convinced that this was the car I wanted.
When I got back to the dealership, 10 minutes before closing, Tony told me that they'd found a Red car at the warf for me but it was Black leather. We haggled some more, the price came down some more, I shook his hand and told him we had a deal. I even scored the free floor mats
Long story short; Where you buy the car from makes no difference, you're getting the same car regardless. What makes the difference is your experience with the dealership. I was very pleased with the way Tony Ha from Docklands dealt with me, and I'll admit it was probably a factor in my purchasing decision.
As for the car, it's comfortable, has almost everything that I wanted - but no car had everything I wanted, and I'm looking forward to many long days of touring.
I'd love to know from the membership here;
Are 'Blind Spot Monitors' anywhere to be found after market? I'm amazed that I couldn't get them from Subaru directly
Are the Dealer installed Parking Sensors integrated with the reverse camera display? And where do they fit the button to activate them (for forward parking)?
Thanks for reading
