My wife Peggy had been driving an Audi A6 for 12 years. It was time to purchase a new car and we evaluated models for two years. Her requirements were smaller, AWD, smooth ride, great technology and sporty. We narrowed it down to the Mercedes C300, Volvo S60, Audi A3 and the BMW 328i xdrive. She drove the Mercedes. The car did not fit her and was more luxury than sporty. The Volvo is in the process of updating the technology in their cars but the S60 is still a few years away. The Audi A3 was redesigned in 2014 and she was comfortable with the car meeting her requirements. At that point, we stopped looking and were waiting for a year-end sale from Audi, in addition to finding the car with the right packages. In some respect, I think Peggy had a comfort level with the A3 because she was driving an A6. I suggested we take a Saturday and drive a BMW 328i to just complete the research process. From attending the auto show in Denver last April, we were left with the impression that BMW would be more expensive and less technology value. That was our impression at the time. I called Murray BMW since they are 4 miles away and asked to talk to a professional salesperson who has been there at least two years. I was connected to Teddy Santoso. I said we wanted to look at and talk about a light colored BMW 328i AWD, with a good technology package, that looks sporty and rides like a sports car or a comfort car on longer trips. I had low expectations of what we would find but said we would be there in 45 minutes. To our surprise, there was a silver 328i parked in front with our names on a card, in the inside windshield. I was surprised at the attention to detail and prep with only 45 minutes notice. Teddy Santoso greeted us and asked us to sit down and talk about our requirements in more detail. He explained how the 328i meets our requirements with the packages equipped on the car we would drive. Since I teach Marketing and Sales at a University, I was pleased to see Teddy listening and answering questions rather than trying to close the sale before he knew what we wanted. Good Job Teddy! We then went for a test drive where Teddy continued the explanation of the car, while demonstrating the technology as Peggy drove. The car performed. We went back to the dealership and Teddy told us this was a 2015 model with pricing incentives from BMW to clear out the existing year-end inventory. I said we would think about it and get back to Teddy in a week. No pressure, he said: "great". After spending all day Sunday researching the Audi A3 and BMW 328i along with applicable pricing, the better value was the BMW 328i. I called Teddy the following day (Monday) made an appointment to come in and an hour later agreed on the terms. Since it took a week to transfer the money as we were paying cash, there was no pressure to wait a week to sign the final paperwork. After signing the paperwork, we had an hour training session by the BMW Genius "Mariah". She did a wonderful job providing an extensive overview of the car and functionality. Thank you Mariah. As we left the Murray Dealership we were certain we received a good deal, without frustration and we felt like smart shoppers. I think Mariah is responsible for the "smart" part. I did not comment on the building as they are in temporary quarters while their new $40M building is being built on Colorado Blvd (close to Kentucky). The plans look amazing. I would recommend Murray BMW to others. I would also recommend Teddy as a salesperson and Mariah as the BMW genius who explained the car to us post-purchase. Ed
New to the BMW Family
Dec 2, 2015
