The Fiesta test drive, and advice on car searching

Hello and thanks for reading about this journey to find my next car! My Nissan Versa is swiftly nearing 200,000 miles so (I haven’t told her this yet) there will come a time when she’ll need to be retired, sent off to the Nissan nursing home where she can play shuffle board and eat supper at 5.

A few weeks ago I test drove a newer Versa at a local Nissan dealership, where I learned some pro tactics of a car salesman. I left without succumbing to the pressure to buy, and then a few days ago I did a test drive with a Ford Fiesta.

Am I the only one that thinks of this 80s game show when I hear the word Fiesta?

If only I could win a Fiesta, my car search would be over! Where are you when I need you most, Alex Trebek? But back in real life, I met the car salesman and told him what I was looking for. He was a nice guy with a style that went heavy on “be your friend” plus a dose of “I’m new here but…” We took a 2017 hatchback off the lot and I liked this car much more than the Versa from the last test drive. Part of the reason is that it was a manual transmission (which is also available in the Versa). I forgot how much fun those are to drive. Very responsive, great interior style and accessories, and I was sitting higher up than I would guess for a compact car.

So the hatchback stick-shift Fiesta is currently sitting at #1 on my list but I’d also still like to test drive a few other cars, including a Fiat, and maybe a Mini.

I’ll wrap this up with a piece of advice I’ve learned the hard way. If you’re out there car shopping like I am, do NOT give out your phone number unless you’re ready for 10 calls a day. I made the mistake of submitting my info to a few dealerships online and now my phone lights up throughout the day. I guess I could answer but now I’m just annoyed when I get a call from a number I don’t recognize.

Most of all, though, have fun looking! For the majority of us, it’s not often we’ll be in the market for a car, so let’s make the most of it this time around.

Having a fiesta in Nashville,
-Out of the Wilderness