Noting that GM was trying hard to pump up the 2016 sales stats and probably their stock price too, GM and Costco are offering supplier price, a $700 cash card, and probably a cheesy toaster too if you’ll buy a new GM car by end of business year. “Vettes and Volts included. So on the off chance a good deal on a Colorado diesel pickup was in the offing, I queried Costco’s auto website and made the mistake of giving them my e-mail and phone number…

What followed was a deluge of e-mails, phone calls, and even a text from Hendrick Chevy here in Naples. Would I like to make an appointment for a test drive? Even two calls from allegedly my home area code to verify that I’d been contacted. I actually stopped by the dealership to measure the bed of the pickup and quietly parked by the used car office… I’d hardly gotten out of the car before a salesperson was being paged there over the PA. I ducked out before he arrived, by which time an actual paying customer had arrived for him to “help”. Did a quick visual inventory check, and nary a long bed crew cab on the lot, and the diesel is only available with the crew cab. Wandered through the show room and not a brochure in sight… God forbid a customer actually help themselves!

Having no luck with the Chevy store, I tried Costco’s local GMC dealer, Devoe. They at least had the wisdom to surrender after only one phone call, and shared that GM only builds long box diesel Colorados to order. Meanwhile, a day after I told Hendrick Chevy they didn’t have a truck to suit me, they just sent me another e-mail…

Maybe I should have shopped for a ‘Vette… Searched some online forums and with the GM/Costco deal 20% off list is common. ‘Vettes list for $55K and it’s near impossible to option one over $100k, despite the fact that on the tracks the ‘Vettes routinely beat imported exotics with $200k and up price tags. And Hendricks Chevy has a whole row of ‘Vettes, and whole rows of dorky pickups with similarly lofty price tags… Easy choice! Heck, even the loaded Colorados are pushing $50k.

The ‘Vettes are darn tempting, problem is, anything that looks that fast is a “rolling probable cause”, which means you’d best not be speeding in one. Better a plain sedan with muscular powertrain and suspension, for my purposes…