First, I have to say that I'm shocked and saddened by the bomb blasts in London today. It's sobering to realize that two of them - the Tavistock Square and King's Cross ones - went off right where we stayed in March. Our first hotel was on Tavistock Square, and the second was right near the King's Cross tube station. It's just awful that this has happened, both because of the people who died and were injured (and their families), and because of the way the heightened atmosphere of terror is going to send shock waves through this country, at least. Violence begets violence, no two ways about it . . .

So. About the Saab. I didn't mention the Full Story in my last entry. We did, indeed, go off to the Ann Arbor Saab dealer on Tuesday, in search of anticipated rebates and employee pricing. I went in the morning, and drove a very fine little car, indeed. I then went to the Subaru dealer and drove a nice Subaru (although it was an automatic, which just made me want a manual). Then, later in the day, Emil and I went back to the Saab dealer - and when we sat down to talk turkey, we pretty well got the brush-off; we told them 'where we wanted to be' with the payment (I love that car dealer talk), and they basically said, Sorry, Saabs cost way more than that, thank you, bye. Maybe next time.

We found ourselves driving home feeling rather disgruntled by the whole thing. I figured, well, hey, it's the last day of their killer promotion and rebates, and we got there kinda late, so maybe they didn't have time to deal . . .

So yesterday I got the blue Subaru lined up; I didn't actually get to see it, because they had to go get it from Muskegon. We were supposed to take delivery today - except, this morning, just for the heck of it, I called the Saab dealer back to see if they had continued the rebates (as I knew the financing program had continued). Yes, indeedy. You could still get $5,000 off the sticker price of the car we were looking at.

So then I felt really bad. Called my brother, who suggested that we go back to the dealership and talk to the sales manager. I called Emil, who found another Saab dealership (in Toledo). I called that dealership; they had the model we were looking for, in a color we preferred, but with far fewer features (and a similarly stripped-down price tag) compared to the one we'd looked at here. Talked to the Subaru dealer, who wanted to know when we were coming in, and I had to tell him that we were waffling, but that I'd be in later to drive the car and see what I thought. (I felt really guilty, given that they were going out of their way to get the car. In Absolute Car Dealing Terms, I know that guilt is misplaced in such situations . . . but heck, first and foremost, I'm a person, not a haggler, and I was feeling bad to have betrayed the sales person . . . )

So we went to Toledo this afternoon, all prepared to sign on the dotted line and get the other Saab. But as it turns out, the car was a yawn: It seemed noisy, the interior looked cheap, the clutch went really hard. At this point, we were both exhausted; it's been a fairly intense couple of days with lots of indecision and no clear best choice. When we got home (we'd had to rush home), EB went off to play tennis, telling me, "Go fall in love with the Subaru."

So first I went back to the Ann Arbor Saab dealership, spoke to the sales manager, indicated my unhappiness with the way we'd been treated the day before . . . and got nowhere. They couldn't offer better financing, they couldn't come down in price, they couldn't go up in the trade-in value. But they apologized for having been rude.

So then I went to the Subaru dealership, where I saw the blue car sitting out in front, all shiny and everything. And I thought, "Wow! That's a pretty car!" I peeked in the interior, and for some reason, although it's appointed similarly to the Saab, it didn't seem cheap. (I think it's because the seats are a nice basketweave fabric that actually looks pretty classy.) I drove it - and I can't attest to the Clutch Issue (if nothing else, biking has made my thighs really strong!), but it seemed, actually, quieter than the Saab.

So - that's the one we're getting. We're signing the papers and picking it up tomorrow. I'm happy, and relieved we've finally decided!