Great Expectations

I didn’t realize it was so much to ask for little things like power seats and automatic headlights.It’s not like I am asking for the unsinkable ship or anything (which obviously would have been a bad choice… lol!). I just wanted some of the SAME features in a new car as my base model 2000 Oldsmobile Alero… I didn’t know that was asking a lot. I was wrong…

Well we began our hunt a while ago when the truck started acting up. We had a deadline though.We had to buy something before we venture out to OR/WA for a quick trip. We didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere after paying through the nose for gas. Plus, the window regulator broke during our camping trip and that was the last straw for P.

We started off by looking through a Consumer Reports Guide for 2011 that my dad let us borrow. It turned into our bible as we were going through this whole thing. We were able to look at all the pros and cons, trouble spots, safety ratings, etc of each car we were considering. It was AWESOME, and I would highly recommend it if you are in the market for a vehicle. We of course used a few other resources (Edmonds, NADA, KBB, and a couple others) to get a good handle on our options. Can you tell I am my father’s daughter? J Thanks again Dad for letting us use your book.

So we were looking at the Sonata and the Camry. They received great reviews from everyone and were rated highly by said resources. After driving them, we really liked the feel of the Sonata. They didn’t have a used one in stock so we waited a couple days and the dealer let us take it home for a night and see what we thought. The more I drove it, the less satisfied I was. It didn’t have the previously mentioned, what I thought, basics… This is when I started to realize that those weren’t actually base standards, even in these newer cars. LAME right!? That’s what I thought at least.

Back to the drawing board… and I will tell ya, Preston wasn’t very excited about this. So then we went back and forth. Do we repair the truck and live with the expensive gas bills and hope it will actually be fixed? Do we “settle” (as Preston says) for the Camry that did come with all the things we wanted? Do we go a year or two older (with less of a warrantee) with more miles but same price with the features we wanted? Maybe we look at some small SUVs?

Actually, lets test drive the Subaru Legacy! We hadn’t really considered this option since we just figured the Subaru was going to be a little too much. I am a stickler about staying in the price range. Turns out, since the economy has been poor, and the disaster in Japan, they have actually come down a little in price…

We test drove one. Loved it! Talked to the sales rep (Pete Kuhn) about the features this one has. Auto lights, powered driver's seat, heated seats (my favorite), high-end safety features, all wheel drive, aux sound capabilities… it kept getting better. Then it was time to talk to the dealer (usually the terrible part, but would definitely recommend them since they were landslides above the last one!!) about pricing and we got them down into our price range. They broke out all the pricing and showed us flat out what we would be paying for. No hidden fees. No hidden interest fees. No dealer "additive" charges. How could we refuse?

Now we are the proud owners of this beauty… (which would look prettier with a better camera than my phone... lol...)

What better way to celebrate the Pioneers right!?

Oh and don't worry, we still have that little gem, Darby. She is broken in other ways now, but at least somewhat usable... The "anti-lock" light came on. Any suggestions besides "it probably has to do with the anti-lock brakes"?