First and foremost, before the introduction of myself to this splendid
forum, I'd like to thank all the users on here that always offering
sincere, honest and reassuring advice. It helps so many potential
buyers/enthusiasts like myself make clean cut
decisions due to the support of this forum. Even with its beautiful
curves, I would not have loved the Z enough to buy one without this
forum. Thank you all!
Now onto my awesome little adventure...
I've been looking around for the last year for a 2010 Pearl White
touring 370Z with either light grey interior or Persimmon interior
with sports package and navigation. I wanted to buy a preown vehicle
that was 1-2 years old for "new car" depreciation lost purposes. Looked on
every major car buying website for the entire state of Florida for
something along the lines of what I wanted, couldn't find anything that met my specific guidelines. I waited, and waited, and waited, and looked
everyday online. One day I decided to drive by the local Nissan
Dealer and notice a preown 2010 Black 370z with persimmon interior,
sports package and nav. And damn, I fell in love. The interior stood
out so nicely, gave it that nice "pop" factor with a strong sportiness
attitude. I had to have this interior, then I looked behind me and
there was a Pearl white Nismo tucked into a parking space smiling at
me. I personally don't care for the Nismo (not crazy about its
styling with the exception of the nice front fascia), BUT the PEARL
WHITE WAS AMAZING! Looking at both cars made the decision for me... I
had to have a 2010 Pearl White 370Z, persimmon interior, Touring,
Sports package and Navigation... And damnit this made things a lot
tougher for me, because it was near impossible to find that exact
setup in Florida without buying new.
So a few months passed by and I found a Dealer in Amarillo Texas
through autotrader.com that had the exact vehicle I had been
masturbating....errr I mean fantasizing over for the last year! 2010
370z, with all options except for mud flaps, 21,000 miles, asking
price of 36,950, a clean carfax report, AND COMPLETELY STOCK so I can
do my own modding! My interest was through the roof! Only one little
problem.......It's all the way in Texas!!! The very upper tip of Texas
might I add! And I am in Florida! Do I buy a car without seeing it
in person!? Who does that?! I looked into transporting the vehicle
from that location to Florida and was quoted cheapest at around $1300
bucks because of its remote location. So after multiple text
messages, countless emails back and forth and a few phone calls with
the seller (Street Toyota of Amarillo was the seller) and a SET
out-the-door price of $30,000 if I did not finance, I decided to make
travel plans. So after toying with the thought a little more, I
consulted with my awesome younger brother (just freshly graduated from
UCF, unemployed, and with no obligations of any sort) and decided to
take a Friday off from work and spend the entire weekend on a 1800
mile road trip!!
March 24th departure!
** I couldn't sleep the night before because flying early in the
morning always gets me excited/nervous, and for the most part, I
hadn't seen the car so I was for sure nervous. Bought two one way
airline tickets to Amarillo and crossed my fingers.
6 am flight out from Palm Beach Air port Florida to Houston. Early
as hell. Everyone was trying to sleep on that flight.
(picture taken towards landing at Houston Airport)
When I landed in Amarillo at Rick Husband airport, the air was fresh
and cool. Temperature was in the lower to mid 40s with the sun
beaming. Oddly it was T-shirt friendly. It was a superb day to buy a car =) Walked outside and to my left stood an old/senior gentleman standing next to a Scion XB with a sign on the door "Street Toyota Shuttle". Walked over to him and he instantly introduced himself with a great big smile and grabbed my bags, stowed it into the back hatch and smiled at me with that mid west hospitality. It was a twenty minute ride or so to the Street Toyota Dealer. I guess we were on the main highway and man there was soooo much empty land / fields / planes compared to West Palm Beach Florida. Wow.... When we arrived he grabbed my bags again and made it his business to not let me carry my own bags. Talk about customer service/ good ol' dealer hospitality!
HIS NAME IS GREG MULGIN from Street Toyota AND HE'S A COOL DUDE (my sales rep) !!
I think he's a hugging kinda guy because the minute I shook his bear paw, he instantly swung me in for one those "bro" hugs. Nice and friendly. He grabbed my bag, walked me and my brother towards the Service director's office to introduce me and then right out to the delivery bay because he knew I meant business. I mean I spent $350 bucks to fly there and it wasn't
for cookies and laughs.
** Cleaned and parked in the delivery bay ready to go**
Everything on the car was in better condition
than I had hoped for! Holy crap! I thought there would be more paint
chips/ issues on the front of the vehicle because I know these cars
have "soft" paint from reading on the forum. Barely any to complain
about, except for the lower lip of the bumper (few scraps there which
is understandable) and a few rock chips on the hood. Other than that
not a scratch or chip anywhere else on the entire body of the
vehicle. The leather and suede was perfect, no stress/stretch marks at
all! I told Gregg I didn't want him to do what other dealers
normally do when they prep a car for delivery (shine the hell out of
the dashboard with all purpose cleaner/ dash polish, and just use all
these cleaning agents that mask certain scratches in vinyl, or
dullness. ) I work for a Lexus dealer in Florida as an Assistant
Service Manager and know how detailers work, especially on preown
cars. The car was clean, from head to bottom without the smell of
chemicals. The dash and interior looked normal as if purchasing new
from the dealer without any cleaning products caked on. What really
sold me was the smell of the vehicle; it literally smelled like a new
car. That was my first initial thought when I opened the door and sat
in it. My brother instantly thought the exact same thing. It really
smelled like the car hasn't been used, or when it was the previous
owner didn't use those stupid vanilla or coconut scented air
fresheners. Ugh. I thanked Greg for keeping with my request on not
over cleaning the interior and just wiping it down with a damp towel
if anything.
In Greg's office signing paper work (little brother) ...
Two keys like I asked....
**Look at that bear paw lol...**
**Packing the Z with two medium sized duffels and two backpacks for the
drive to Dallas to spend the night. WOw that trunk is packed!
**
**Random picture when I was passing through a small town on my way to Dallas.**
** EMERGENCY! Had to pull over and take a piss behind an abandon building!**
**Bro was tired as hell......**
**I was excited as hell....**
**Our hotel we got on Kayak.com, $50 bucks a night!**
**Even though we were dead tired....we drove around downtown Dallas that
Friday night looking for something to do, it didn't really seem popping and actually kinda dead, or we were missing something....ended up stopping
at a hole in the wall to eat Tacos.**
** In front of Hooters downtown Dallas**
!!Welcome to Louisiana!!
**On our way to Louisiana to visit my brother's friend at LSU. So many
bugs on the way from Dallas to Baton Rouge....had to pull over and
clean them off after hours of driving.**
**Nice sun setting in the background!**
Went out and partied downtown Baton Rouge that night, nothing super
interesting, just a bunch of college kids getting wasted. No pictures
from that night...sorry.
**Sunday morning.....went to eat at some breakfast joint my brother's
friend was recommending and then walked pass the law building at LSU
(he's a law student so he was excited to show us this)
Now for the super long boring drive back to Florida from Baton Rouge....
Yay in Florida now...Pensacola Rest Stop.
Made it back to Palm Beach Florida at 5:00 a.m. on Monday and went to work at 8:00 am. =)
Total cost for the Trip $800 - $850 bucks with food, hotel, flights, gas and miscellaneous. It's not all about the money; it's about the
time spent with my younger brother and the mini Road Trip itself!!
:: Random pics a few days after a good clean wash::
** Sorry this post is soooooo long and I don't think most of you will read it at all but a few sentences, but that's my story!!** Cheers