My long nightmare of salesmen and test drives is finally over

For the past few weeks I have been going through the agonizing process of buying a new car. For those of you who have stuck with me, your reward is now at hand.

Day 17: The decision.

Yesterday morning there were five. Today, there is one. And it really boiled down to a battle between desire and money.

I love the BMW. The way it drives, the way it fit me, the way it felt to be behind the wheel. Heck I even liked the looks. But after realizing that we need new windows to make the ramshackle beach cottage a little less like a wind tunnel this winter, $41,000 may just be a little out of reach.

Then there is the Audi A4. Very close to the BMW in every way in my mind, and with the added benefit of not carrying around all that yuppie baggage. Quattro all-wheel drive, a fast revving, quick shifting powertrain and understated good looks. I could really see myself driving this car. At $37,500 equipped the way I want it, however, the A4 presses the upper reaches of my budget.

The VW Jetta TDI SportWagen looks great, drives better than I expected and delivers the kind of fuel economy even a penny pinching, tree hugging, car hater could love. Can I really put my family and clients through the torture chamber that is the back seat in this car? And at nearly $30,000 it doesn't feel like a great overall value. But damn, this car is fun to drive.

As I said before, if I wasn't interested in something sporty, the Subaru Outback would be the perfect car for me. Incredible utility, excellent performance, with just enough personality to keep it from fading into the mainstream. And the price of $27,500 seems like a bargain compared to the Jetta. If I were a rational being this would be a no-brainer...

The Ford Fusion Sport is fun. The powerful motor and 6-speed automatic launch the car from a dead stop. The tight suspension digs into the corners without being too rough on the highway. The seats offered great support and the overall design of the interior is as good as I've ever experienced in an American car (as long as you stay away from the optional color accents for the seat and dash). The price I was quoted was $25,250. Very reasonable.

The problem is I made the mistake of driving a BMW and Audi and realizing how much I enjoy driving a car with a real stick shift.

I blame my father. He bought that Porsche 911 Targa back in 1968 and as soon as I could reach the pedals, I was sneaking it out of the garage and driving it around the neighborhood. There's something so active, so satisfying about running through the gears. And no matter how good the auto-stick or steering wheel paddle shifters are, they just can't match it.

So on the advice of my son, I did a quick search of the web and found a Certified, pre-owned 2007 Audi A4 with 32,000 miles on it for $22,000 at a dealer in Chicago.

It's set up just as I would have ordered new, even the speeding ticket red body color. With the Audi program, it comes shod with new tires, brake pads and anything else that might be suffering a little wear and tear. I get the balance of the four-year, 50,000 mile warranty plus an additional two-years and 50,000 miles of factory-backed coverage. Audi made the financing easy with 2.9% interest for 36 months and they have a promotion going on so they're making my first payment for me.

I put the deal together over the phone last evening and will drive to Chicago to pick up the car on Saturday. And for less than the price of a base Hyundai Sonata, I get exactly the car I discovered I wanted.

Going into this process, I fully intended to buy a new car and it really wasn't until late Sunday that the thought of buying used occurred to me. I know I'm not stimulating the economy as much as if I had purchased a new car, but I'm improving my personal economy and psyche as well.

I'll give a full report on the car next Monday after living with it for the weekend.

Now I can get back to my regular rants about marketing, advertising and new products.

Whew.