JOC2C - Round 3 Part 1 - Five test drives
Ken arose the next day and phoned up the dealerships of the remaining 5 vehicles on his list: Armor, Watson, Wells, Primus, and Mayflower all claimed to have cars on their lot to drive. He then phoned Bruce and asked him to join, eager to keep up the pace with his car search. Of course Bruce was as excited as Ken and didn’t have to work until tomorrow, so they took advantage of the time.
Bruce offered to pick and drive Ken to each dealership “just in case” he wanted to make a snap decision and sign for one on the spot. Good friend, that one. heh.
Their first stop was at Mayflower, just a few miles down the road. On the way, Ken shared his thoughts on the brand.
“I don’t know much about this one, to tell you the truth. It always seemed to be high-class luxury.”
Bruce replied, "Well, I decided to pick out the most expensive car first, and you’re right, it isn’t cheap. But look at you, Ken, you earn it every time you strap in and fly those scary new jets. You deserve to live a little. This beast sells for almost 31 grand, but I’ve looked into it and it might be worth it. Let’s just see what you think when you drive it.
Ken realized how good a friend Bruce had become, and he had even improved his own surfing skills watching Bruce’s technique and effortless method.
“Deal, buddy. Let’s go see the thing” Ken affirmed.
Mayflower Sixth Avenue
Upon arrival, Kenneth met with the sales folks and found the person he reached on the phone earlier. He had the keys at the ready and walked Ken to the car outside. Ken walked around the wagon, gently touching the chrome and woodgrain accents on the sides, noting the build quality. It had a nice presence and the earth tone interior and exterior was easy on the eyes. He opened the driver’s door and sank himself into the luxurious interior.
@S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T
“OK, I’m starting to see the big deal here. Can we drive it?” Ken asked the man, who’s nametag read “Frank”
“Of course! Easy on the throttle, Mr. Bower. This car has over 240 horsepower!” said Frank as he opened the passenger door for Bruce.
“No problem, Frank, I’m used to at least 20,000 or so.” Ken chuckled to himself while doing the quick math in his head converting pounds of thrust of the engines he’s throttled up recently. It was probably a low estimate, given his latest Mach 2 flights.
“Frank” Bruce called out to the salesman from across the dash, “He flies, I fix” as he used his hands to form a plane taking off - expressing that Ken flies for a living.
“Got it sir, have fun!” Frank replied, slightly bewildered by his customer’s response.
Kenneth pulled out of the lot and started test flying…er… driving the Sixth Avenue. He noted that while the car had tons of space, it wasn’t all that easy to drive at all. It was reasonably comfortable, and the full disc brakes were a nice touch, but the rears locked up somewhat readily. Bruce explained it probably did better when it was towing or hauling, a plausible explanation. Ken brought it back to the dealership after a few miles, and gave the keys back.
“I’ll let you know, Frank.”
OOC
The Mayflower is the most expensive car of the bunch, and has quality bumps in the interior, suspension, brakes, etc. Subjectively, it ranked 1st place. Attention to detail was off the chart. The wrap-around tail lights, stout front grille, accents everywhere, I could go on. It wears the widest radials with a nice cushy sidewall, typical for the class. It ranks dead last in Drivability, 1st in Safety, and and midpack in the other stats.
Wells Big Chief
“Time for something different!” Ken exclaimed to Bruce
“the Chief is definitely different, I’ll give you that” Bruce responded, while heading to the dealership just a couple blocks away.
The two reach the Wells dealership, exchange pleasantries with the salesman as before, and go out to the Big Chief sitting on the lot.
@DuceTheTruth100
“I’m looking at a convertible utility truck here, with 4x4, locking diff, the works. Where’s the 8-track?” called out Ken to the salesman, this one named Bill.
“Sir, our Chief comes with a luxurious AM radio” Bill quipped. This wasn’t the answer Ken wanted to hear, and in fact all the other cars up to this point had 8-tracks. Maybe the aftermarket had a solution, who knows.
Bruce spoke up as he walked around the Chief and asked Bill in the same tone, “Why does this truck have staggered tires on these wire wheels?” Even that spec missed Bruce in his own research because it didn’t quite make sense in his mind.
Bill became somewhat nervous but replied, “Uh sir, nobody really has ever noticed that before. I really don’t know why.”
“Ken that’s going to up your maintenance costs for sure, I hope it was for a good reason. I wonder which size the spare is” Bruce questioned to himself.
Kenneth, slightly bewildered by the Wells offering but eager to drive the only utility vehicle on his list, took the keys from Bill and joined Bruce who was already in the passenger seat, feeling out the stark white and blue interior. It certainly made a statement.
The drive was quite comfortable if not sporty, and a little excursion into a nearby field proved it was indeed offroad capable. Despite the lack of power, it offered impressive cornering and braking.
A few miles later, Ken had his impression and returned the Big Chief and its keys to Bill.
“You know, these utility vehicles are pretty interesting, not sure it is for me but I’m glad to have driven it. I bet it would do well in the beach sand with the 4-wheel drive” Ken told Bill.
OOC
The Wells Big Chief is the only SUV in the crowd, and has real potential. A few engineering choices felt off, as the flavor text explains. A lack of 8-track radio, the pinnacle of audio technology at the time, was a miss compared with all the other entries. The staggered tires didn’t make sense and never will on a 4x4 with locking diffs. Think about it, that’s not going to work IRL. The Chief was 1st in Offroad, last in Prestige, 2nd in Comfort, and so it went back and forth in objective measures. Subjectively, the Chief ranked 8th on visuals, low ranked because of porportion problems. The small front and rear overhang with a massive wheelbase, on small wire wheel 15’s just didn’t impress the subjective judges. The interior was nice, but stark white on blue felt a bit like being in a speedboat.
Continued shortly!
…so one size up on the rear corrected everything smh… our engineers suck
