When I bought the previous car (2007 Escape) I had the sales guy search around to find me a manual transmission. He did, and found it at another dealer 50 miles or so away and made some kind of swap arrangement with them to get me what I wanted. And he told me, "You're one of a dying breed." I was a bit surprised at that. I knew it was probably unusual for someone in my age group to insist on a manual, but I thought they were still all the rage with younger men. He said not.
The car before that was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and that dealer had one on the lot to suit my specifications. It was four wheel drive, which I didn't particularly need, but that was OK.
I have known for some time that this next vehicle had to be a hybrid or plug in electric. And that was going to mean an automatic transmission because they only come that way. It's part of the energy saving design, I guess, to let the internal computer stuff control the power train. I delayed replacing the Escape until it literally rusted away because the price for hybrids and electrics has been so high. When Ford set the base price for the Maverick to just $20K, I knew the wait was over. We've been talking about the need for a small truck here on the farm anyway, and I was on the point of starting to look for a used Ranger or something equivalent.
What I didn't expect from Ford was the very long delay in actually delivering the vehicle. They were only selling the hybrids as direct customer orders, and I figured three to four months. So I put in the order. Here we sit at eight months from the order date and they keep pushing back the build and delivery date. Now it looks like late June, ten months.
[Afterthought: I just remembered something from probably near 20 years ago. It was after we had moved out here to the farm. I was at the local grocery in Marengo, where they still insisted on having someone take your groceries out to your car and load them for you. Talk about a blast from the past! We thought it was cute. Anyway, a young guy wheeled the load out to my car and I opened the hatchback. He expressed admiration for the Cherokee (it was bright red and still pretty shiny then) and then he noticed the manual shift. He whistled and asked me how I got a manual. I was a bit surprised at that, but told him I just asked the dealer to get me one and they did. Alas, that grocery store closed down a few years ago. We miss them still.]
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2022-03-30 10:58 am (UTC)The car before that was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and that dealer had one on the lot to suit my specifications. It was four wheel drive, which I didn't particularly need, but that was OK.
I have known for some time that this next vehicle had to be a hybrid or plug in electric. And that was going to mean an automatic transmission because they only come that way. It's part of the energy saving design, I guess, to let the internal computer stuff control the power train. I delayed replacing the Escape until it literally rusted away because the price for hybrids and electrics has been so high. When Ford set the base price for the Maverick to just $20K, I knew the wait was over. We've been talking about the need for a small truck here on the farm anyway, and I was on the point of starting to look for a used Ranger or something equivalent.
What I didn't expect from Ford was the very long delay in actually delivering the vehicle. They were only selling the hybrids as direct customer orders, and I figured three to four months. So I put in the order. Here we sit at eight months from the order date and they keep pushing back the build and delivery date. Now it looks like late June, ten months.
[Afterthought: I just remembered something from probably near 20 years ago. It was after we had moved out here to the farm. I was at the local grocery in Marengo, where they still insisted on having someone take your groceries out to your car and load them for you. Talk about a blast from the past! We thought it was cute. Anyway, a young guy wheeled the load out to my car and I opened the hatchback. He expressed admiration for the Cherokee (it was bright red and still pretty shiny then) and then he noticed the manual shift. He whistled and asked me how I got a manual. I was a bit surprised at that, but told him I just asked the dealer to get me one and they did. Alas, that grocery store closed down a few years ago. We miss them still.]