New Wheels

On Saturday, my car once again declined to start.  There we were on the hottest day of the year, sweating our butts off in the Costco parking lot with a car that didn't want to start.  Luckily, we could still pop the hood to jiggle the magic fuse that makes it start.  Not embarrassing at all!  I thought the problem was fixed in June, but I guess not!  With the unpredictable starting and the check engine light blaring (engine misfire), it looked like we were going to need to purchase a new car sooner than we thought.  And if we were going to do that, I needed to figure out what I wanted. 

While this may seem like a knee-jerk reaction to some, it's something we have given a lot of time to.  Truth be told, we have been thinking about it and researching and thinking and researching for quite some time.  We were just hoping to wait until next Summer to make this purchase.

Our Sunday started out just like most Sundays.  We went for a run in the sweltering heat, showered, and then went out to run some errands.  After a quick, early lunch at Panera, I got it in my head that I wanted to test drive a Ford Escape Hybrid they had at Carmax in Greenville.

Thus, off to Carmax! 

I was really pumped about the hybrid - sleek new body style, great gas mileage, AWD.  What more could I want?  Well, it turns out, a lot!  Despite driving well and being incredibly quiet, the Escape left a lot to be desired on the inside.  Everything was just choppy and not well thought out.  Plus, the expensive hybrid battery was in the back of the car - perfectly placed to be ruined in a rear-end collision.  And since they cost $4,000 to replace, that was a major downer. 

But they also had this Jeep Liberty there.  It was incredibly unpractical, yet crazy fun!  What could a little test drive hurt? 

Jeep has corrected every problem I have an issue with in my car.  More leg room in the front, more head room, cup holders in the back, split folding seats in the rear, fold flat front passenger seat, head rests on the back seat, and more space for people in the back.  It drove well, too.  And, did I mention the panoramic sunroof??  We left with a lot to think about.

After much deliberation, the verdict was - we had the financing, we had a car we both liked a lot, and neither one of us wanted to invest more money into something that could end up being a money pit, so we bought the car!!  Yay!!