My wife and I went back to the Mazda dealer on Saturday to take a car out for a 24-hour test drive. On our way we were saying we liked the bright red color, but upon arriving my wife decided she really liked the Steel Gray Metallic—the very color I’d first had my heart set on. So Steel Gray it was, and after hemming and hawing for a bit, we took the dealer’s only Steel Gray 5-door Mazda6 home for the day.

Mazda6 s 5-door in Steel Gray Metallic

Just like all the other Mazda6 V6 models in stock, the car was fully-loaded. Luxury package, power moonroof, Bose audio package with 6-disc in-dash CD changer, side impact air bags, automatic transmission. There wasn’t much choice in the matter, so we took it. I can tell you that I did try the cloth interior on one of the stripped-down cars they had in stock, and after a minute of trying to get comfortable in it, I decided that it had to be the absolute worst cloth upholstery I’d ever felt in my life. It was like velcro—or a cheese grater—rubbing on your back. And I had a thick cotton shirt on!

Well, we chatted with the salesman for a bit after driving around the block, ran some numbers, then took the car home. By then we were thinking we were going to actually buy this car. I put about 75 miles on the car over the course of the next 24 hours, including a drive down to the local library to take some pictures. I found three hopefully minor defects with the car, including a poor alignment that caused the car to pull slightly to the left, an irritating rattle in the trim over my head, and a malfunction in the automatic headlights (they didn’t turn on when it got dark out; it’s probably a fuse that somebody didn’t put in correctly).

We had some concerns about some of the numbers the dealer was trying to put past us, but when we went back in today to get further explanation, we saw how everything went together, and it all made sense. At first I thought they were trying to charge us holdback fees, but then I discovered that it wasn’t a charge, it was merely a declaration that those fees are built into the invoice price (which I already knew—I just didn’t intend to be double-charged for it). We also were rudely introduced to loan finance charges, which we were getting stuck with even at another lender. Beyond the simple 4.x% APR interest payments on a loan, apparently there are also other interest charges built in, about $1,000 worth. We found it at every lender we checked out, so it’s just standard practice I guess. (The banks gotta make their money somehow, and $890 in interest on a $19,280 loan admittedly didn’t seem like enough, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.)

By the time we left the dealer today, we were pretty certain we were going to buy the Mazda6. And it still looks like this very car we test-drove all Saturday is the one we’re going to drive away with. I have, in writing, a request to fix all three of the issues I noted above, plus have installed a complimentary set of wheel locks which I got them to throw in—with a warning that I required all of the above to be handled to my satisfaction before I sign the paperwork. If no other surprises crop up, we should be good to go. We’ve run the financial figures over and over, and we’re in safe territory for the monthly payments on the car. They’re far less than 20% of our income, and we’re putting down a best-practice 20% of the vehicle price at signing.

Now we just have to get all the stuff settled with the insurance company (including final arrangements on the totaled car) so I’ll actually be able to sleep again. And enjoy the new car, for that matter.