Heh, nope that's not my garage... those were from the Auto Trader advert. My wife is in Tokyo at the moment, and she has our camera, so I'm afraid the photos of the interior will have to wait until she gets back at the end of next week.
@ norlec, yeah, I probably could have got something extra if I'd haggled more. I think the problem is that I've had my heart set on a Lexus for ages, and I needed to get shot of the Xsara pretty quickly because of some issues it had developed which I didn't want to spend money on getting fixed (the central locking was playing up and my normal garage had a quick look for me and said it was gonna be expensive to repair). I had been to see several other cars near-by over the past few months, and each time I ended up missing out on getting them because someone would come along and offer the full asking price without any bargaining or haggling.
I missed out on a real beauty at the Jag garage here in Swindon cause I stuck to my guns and thought they'd budge on what they were asking for. From conversations I've had with various different people it seems that although the economy is completely fubar'ed at the moment, it has impacted the new car market moreso than the 2nd hand market, and that some dealers (including the guy I got the IS200 from) are struggling to find enough stock. One of the dealers (although not a Lexus dealer) I spoke to said that they've even started going to auctions... but as buyers not sellers, that's how high the demand for good 2nd hand cars is, whereas the new cars are gathering dust in the showrooms.
I think this was playing on my mind when I bought the car. I did do some haggling, and the guy increased what he'd offer me for my old car instead of decreasing the screen price of the Lexus. Not sure if that's to keep his balance sheets in good shape, or just some creative accounting thing going on... it still meant I had less to hand over, so I was happy. But, yeah, I think that deep down you're right and I could've been more aggressive. As it is, I let my heart rule instead of my head ;)
@ LOcKY, I've pretty much forgotten about the Xsara already. I did feel a bit emotional when I handed over the keys, but because I was getting what really is the car of my dreams (does that sound really sad?) I was happy and it made saying goodbye to the Citroën that bit easier. I think if I had been trading the Xsara in for a dull car like a Ford Mondeo then I'd have felt completely different. Not because the Xsara was any good - it was a basic car really, nothing special at all - but because I had got emotionally attached to it. As it is, I'm just as emotionally attached to the IS200 already, even though I've only owned it for a week, primarily because I've been dreaming about owning one for ages and have had my heart set on it for so long.
Does that make any sense?