[rayneraingoaway]

Hi guys,

I'm a new member here, and in the process of test driving some used H3 Alphas. I came back from a local CarMax here in Southern California, and have to say I was quite disappointed. They had 2 2008 H3 Alphas in stock, both under 35k miles, so I thought I would have a good chance of leaving the lot a proud new H3 owner, but was I wrong.

1 of them had scratches all over the side of the vehicle and the engine knock from hell. This thing only had 27k miles, but I guess the previous owner drove it like it's stolen or something.

The second one had 34k miles, and ran a bit better, but you could tell that the previous owner really wore down the breaks, and this also had some major scruff inside AND out.

I'm a former Infiniti FX owner, and I pampered that car before selling it when I moved here. I guess I'll just have to keep looking until I find the right Alpha that suits me.

BTW, I have lost a LOT of trust in CarMax. "The way car buying should be"? The sales person told me he owned an H3 for 3 years, and didn't even know how to open the hood, and was very unfamiliar with the vehicle. I could let that go since he was just trying to make the sale, but when I asked the manager to see if I could have the scratches detailed BEFORE I paid for the vehicle, she was very pushy on me buying the car tonight and setting an appointment at a later date to fix it.

Anyways, if you guys have any advice on any specific areas I should look at when looking into Alphas, it would be greatly appreciated. I already know about the Hood Louver Separation recall and spoke to a local GM dealer who said they could take care of that with no problem.

Well, hope to find the right H3 soon and become an OFFICIAL member of the forum!