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A pleasant home visit from a Mercedes
Benz salesperson. The Mercedes Benz salesperson from Clair
Motors came over today and I have to say that the home visit was a
pleasant experience -- keep in mind, however, that price negotiation and
purchase did not take place. The salesperson did not exhibit any
hard sell tactics discernible to the naked eye -- though some subtle techniques
for moving in the direction of a "close" were discernible to the well-trained
eye :-) (after all, he is a salesperson and that is his job). Thus
far, I would rate this salesperson as at least very good in person.
I'd like to see him use email a bit more, though this is not entirely his
fault. Clair does not provide him with his in own in store terminal
or his own email account. He could, however, get a free email account
from a variety of services (e.g., Yahoo
or Hotmail).
The vehicle that Amy and I test drove was a well gussied up version which
did not have the third row seats option -- the option we need to see.
The salesperson said that he could probably bring over next week an ML
320 that has the third row seats. At the moment, Amy and I are
not ruling out this vehicle as we both approved of its drive and comfort.
The only open issue, and perhaps the most important one, is the ability
of this vehicle to help us transport three young children and "stuff" with
pleasure (a term that is comprised of many elements, no doubt).
I've been visiting often the Mercedes Benz ML
320 forum at Edmunds.com's Townhall.
The contributors there and Andrew -- an ML owner that I met at the Acura
MDX forum at Edmunds.com's Townhall and ML owner -- have provided terrific
information and assistance. Some of the comments were from people
with two or more children. The suggestions were mixed as some thought
the ML could work for us and others thought the Honda
Odyssey
would be a better choice. We're still not sure which way to go, though
I am going to begin to look into used -- or, pardon me, "pre-owned" --
1998 Toyota Landcruiser
and 1998 Lexus LX470
sport utility vehicles as possible alternatives. I believe that space
would not be an issue with these vehicles and that getting three kids in
and out of this vehicle would be relatively easy. These vehicle do
munch on gas; we drive so few miles, however, that the financial impact
on us of a low mileage vehicle is minimal -- even if gas is $2-$3 per gallon
(which I hope it will not be for a sustained period in the near future).
The environmental impact of these behemoths is a little bothersome, though
I believe that they are low emission vehicles (LEV). |
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