About 4 weeks ago, we decided that it was time to trade in our old car, the 2003 Hyundai Getz GLF that we bought used in 2006, less than a year after we arrived here in Israel. The Getz was a great car for us and gave us excellent service, but it was beginning to have problems. Last Fall, the A/C quit working, and various other things were also beginning to cost us money nearly every month.
So, I did some research on the internet about the smallest and cheapest new cars sold here in Israel. We picked 6 of them and located dealers for each of these in Haifa, the nearest really large city. The 6 on our list were: the Nissan Micra, the Chevrolet Spark, the Peugeot 107, the Suzuki Alto, the Hyundai i10, and the Fiat Panda.
The first one we checked out was the Spark. Although they had one in the showroom, it's not actually going to be available until May (and, in Israel, who knows what the REALLY means!?). Besides that, they informed us that they would NOT be taking trade-ins for it. So, it was the first on our list to be ruled out.
Next, we visited the Suzuki dealer located right across the highway from Cinemall (formerly called Lev HaMifratz -- the name was changed when they added a huge, 23-plex cinema) in the Checkpost area. They didn't have an Alto in the showroom, but they managed to book us an appointment to drive one -- the following Sunday! Well, actually, we might have been able to try it only a few days later, but I'm almost always too busy with Berlitz classes to have time to get to Haifa and back Monday through Friday.
Then we went across the highway to the Hyundai dealer, which is right in front of Cinemall. They had an i10 in the showroom. We sat in it and then talked to a salesman who was very helpful, including giving us detailed pricing information and an estimate on what our old car might be worth as a trade-in. However, they were unable to schedule an appointment for us to test drive one until more than a week later! We left with his estimates and a brochure.
After that, we drove a little ways east of that area to the Peugeot/Citroen dealer. They had a Peugeot 107 in the showroom, but the saleswoman there told us that it also would not actually be available until May. Furthermore, there were several things about it that left us rather unimpressed. We immediately ruled it out, as well.
The next stop was the Fiat dealer just a short distance north on the other side of the highway. The salesman there, Avi, was also very helpful, and they, too, had a model in the showroom for us to check out. After quite lengthy discussions, he managed to find a red one (the only color they come in that we really liked) for us that was not already reserved and arrange a test drive for us the following Sunday (right after our Suzuki Alto test drive, although we didn't actually tell him about that).
The final stop of the day was the Nissan dealer, located a mile or 2 north on Highway 4, across from the oil refinery. They had a Micra (a new model only recently released) on the showroom floor, and they were the ONLY dealer that actually had one right there that we could test-drive immediately, which we did. There was one really BIG problem, though, with the Micra: it only comes with an automatic transmission, which I have always disliked. But I thought to myself, "Well, maybe automatics have improved since my last experience in one, 5 or 6 years ago. I'll check it out." Theory disproved -- it was fully as awful as ever! No chance AT ALL that we would get THAT vehicle!
During the intervening week, I did some more research on the internet about these small cars. None of them are available in the U.S., of course, but they ARE available in the U.K., so I was able to find quite a few reviews in English. However, the engines and other details are not always the same, so I also made sure to check out articles in Hebrew since they definitely refer to the vehicles actually available here in Israel. Reading in Hebrew is a bit slow for me, but I managed to slog through a few articles, and in some cases I cheated and used Google Translate to speed things up. The translations are quite rough (and even a little humorous sometimes), but I was able to get the meaning quite well. I became quite convinced that the only really viable competitors for us would be the Hyundai i10 and the Fiat Panda. But the delay in when we might be able to test-drive the Hyundai was fast eliminating it, as well.
So, the next Sunday, March 20, we headed out bright and early for Haifa to make sure we beat the rush-hour traffic. What we didn't remember, though, was that it was the actual day of Purim, when schools are not in session and many places are closed. So, the traffic was actually quite light, and we arrived long before our appointment at the Suzuki dealer. Of course, we had to wait a while, but they did manage to get the car there for us to drive some 15-20 minutes before our scheduled time. The guy who took us on the test drive was very nice. He lives in Haifa, and he and I chatted quite nicely in Hebrew. The Alto was quite an impressive car, considering that it is the very cheapest new car sold here, I think. However, the impression inside was also a little cheap, and the engine was slightly buzzy. But if it had been our only option, I probably could have lived with it without too much difficulty. It did NOT feel underpowered.
Immediately after that test-drive, we headed right up the street to the Fiat dealer to try out the Panda. Even before driving it, I was pretty sure that this would be the car we would choose. The guy who took us on that test-drive was from Tel Aviv and had brought the car up from there. When I struggled just a little with talking with him in Hebrew, he asked if I'd prefer English, and so we switched to English from there on. Like most Israelis, he was a little apologetic about his English but it actually was, as usual, FAR better than my Hebrew! Anyway, at that point we definitely decided to go for the Panda. We took our old car to a test place up the highway (actually, near the Nissan dealer) for an independent evaluation so that Fiat would be able to quote us a trade-price (but not that day!).
The Panda's list price is around 13,000 shekels HIGHER than the other cars in this competition, but Fiat and המשביר לצרכן HaMashbir LTzarkhan ("The Consumer Supplier" -- the largest and probably oldest department store chain in Israel) had a deal going where members of Club365, the store's membership club, would receive a discount of, you guessed it, 13,000 shekels off the price of the Panda. We were already members of the club, but it would have cost only 100 shekels to join, so it's really more of a marketing gimick than anything. The important thing is that it makes the Panda truly competitive with the other vehicles, all of which are newer on the market.
In the States, that would have been just about the end of the story, and we probably would have driven home with the nice red Panda that we had just taken the test-drive in. The financing would have been done on the spot at the dealer, and they would have done all the registration right there, too. But this is NOT the States -- this is Israel!
Our loan had already been approved, but the following Sunday, March 27, we had to go to Karmiel, to Bank Mizrahi/Tefachot, to sign the loan papers. The bank sent the money the following day, and we paid our down payment (over the phone, by credit card). Avi then assured me that we would have the car -- in less than 2 weeks! TWO WEEKS!!! Ouch! Anyway, we realized that this is just how things work here. That's how long it takes the bureaucrats to issue the new registration! When I was obviously not too pleased with this time-line, Avi promised to do everything he could to shorten it. In fact, the process only took nine days, although we weren't able to find time in my schedule to turn in our old car and pick up the new one until one day later.
So, here's how the exchange went. We drove our old car to Auto-Deal, a used-car dealer on the other side of Haifa. They did some paperwork there and took possession of it. Then they hired a taxi to take us to the Fiat dealer (on THIS side of Haifa) to get our new car. To my delight, the taxi took us through the new tunnels, our first time in the southern one! When we arrived at the Fiat dealer, Avi was waiting for us, and we were off in our shiny new red Fiat Panda 1.2 in an amazingly short amount of time! It had only 2 kilometers on the odometer when we got it!
Although Fiat is, of course, an Italian car manufacturer, the Panda is actually built in Poland! Of the other cars on our list, three are made in India (the Alto, the i10, and the Spark), and the Peugeot 107 is built it the Czech Republic. I'm actually not sure where the Micra is made.
The new car is really wonderful! I had some concern going into this about several things. But my biggest worry was that the cars would be underpowered and might not handle very well. Of course, they're NOT sports cars, but I can assure you that the power and handling of the Panda is VERY nice. It's quite well-equipped, too, with a trip computer, ABS, airbags, power front windows, A/C (of course -- this is hot Israel!), and a CD player. Having driven it now for a couple of days, David and I are both very pleased with it.
Yesterday morning, I took some pictures of the new car sitting in our driveway. Here are a couple of them. Enjoy!
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