I think I can just title every entry from now on by labeling what is currently sucking in my life. Haha! Of course I won’t do that, what do you think this is, Livejournal? Ooooooo – I apologize to all of my LJ friends…
Alright, the basic story is that we only have The Woman’s minivan for another couple of weeks. The nasty downside of leases is that they actually do want the car back when you stop paying for it. Actually, that’s the nasty downside to a lot of things in life… Regardless, as much as I love looking like the coolest cat on the block thanks to the sweet ride that is a Honda Odyssey, it is unfortunately time for us to get a more practical car. You know, like… a car. Since I’m already on the hook for my hot new Corolla – remember, that’s how I roll – we decided to start looking at used previously enjoyed and then subsequently trashed cars. That’s a fun experience.
There was a time when you could wander through a car lot and get an idea of what you could afford by looking at the stickers on the windows. Now they love to give you the keys, show you how much the car suits you, take it out for a ride, and then act surprised when they realize it’s 3 times what you actually want to spend. No matter, they will then proceed to waste the next 5 hours of your life trying to figure out how to make a deal so that you can drive away with a vehicle you’re not even that thrilled with for a price that you’ll regret later. The constant question of “What would it take to get you in that car today?” is just begging for the honest answer: “Give me the keys, back away, and wave bye-bye.”
Despite the horrendous nature of the industry, we did manage to find a pretty good deal yesterday. And this morning The Woman got to drive in her not-quite-new 2005 Ford Focus. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “An American car?” That’s how I feel. But she’s paying a lot less than me, still has a fairly recent car (it’s actually a year younger than the one she’s leasing), and should get much better gas mileage than the oversized troop transport. At least we got to give that beauty a fitting send off with the trek out to Ohio last month.
So that’s taken care of, and we’re on to the next stage – worrying if we actually made a smart decision…
Actually, speaking of the Ford Focus –
My one aunt in Ohio has one (a 2005 I believe) and my cousin also has one (a 2006) and they absolutely love the car. Mark and I had the pleasure of renting a 2007 while in Florida. I was thinking about getting one back when I got the 2003 Jetta (also a pre-owned that I got at a really good deal), but unfortunately my lust for the VW Jetta won over the Ford Focus. 🙂
I think Brian V also had one, and he seemed pretty happy with it.
And hey, if I’d know we were sending the ol’ girl out with a bang, I would have had the reception at Niagara falls 😉
I’m looking at what I’ll get when maintenance/repair on the Escape outweighs the cost of getting another vehicle. Eva and I are both moving out of our current pads when we finally get a place this year, Tony’s moving in a few months, so it would be nice to have at least one of us driving something with some storage space. Now, if I can find something that gets good gas mileage and doesn’t cost too much as well, I’m set 🙂
Awww, farewell family truckster.