It's too late now to take a picture, but sitting outside our house is our new car. Finally. And, of course, it isn't at all what we thought it would be.
It went like this:
Ann: We don't really need an SUV anymore.
Me: Really? Why not? (I'm stunned because Ann has always been the proponent of a larger car so we can "haul stuff" though mostly we just haul the dog.)
Ann: Well, we already have the furniture we need for the house and the deck and all the landscaping is in place. There's nothing big we really need to buy anymore.
Me: So, what do we want to buy?
Ann: I don't know let's just see.
First we went to the Toyota dealer as our SUV needed service. We dropped it off and decided to look at Toyotas primarily because we like the dealership and also we love the reliability of the car. We asked for a non-smoking car salesperson, as if they would be any less slimy, and ended up with Lawrence, a former NFL linebacker for the New England Patriots.
What we wanted: Mid-priced, fuel efficient wagonish car that could hold "stuff" and be versatile.
Lawrence showed us a Scion Xb. It looks like a toaster if that helps at all. Then he showed us a Toyota Matrix. Ann liked it, which made me laugh because a few weeks back, when our friend Laurie drove up in one, Ann said she thought it was ugly.
Go figure.
We drove the Matrix. Zippy, roomy, and a good mileage. Plus, all the Toyota's and Scion's have low emissions meeting the new standards, even California standards, for how much they pollute. I liked that.
Then we drove the Scion. Did I mention that it looks like toaster on wheels? Well, it drives like one too. Ann's first words, as she pulled out of the parking lot were, "I feel like a little person." Ann's not all that tall, so I just chuckled at her comment. Then I drove it and said, "God, I feel like a little person too!" I am a tall person so this meant something!
Toaster on wheels. Need I say more.
Then we discussed with Lawrence the difference between a hybrid and a regular gas guzzler. He was informative. Both cars put out the same emissions when emissions flow out. The advantages of the hybrid are that emissions don't flow out when it's running on electric, which only happens when you're going 25 mph or less OR when you run solely on electric, which you can do for about 30 miles and then you have to switch back to gas. The difference, according to Lawrence, is minimal. The price, according to Lawrence, is not.
$10,000-15,000 more for a hybrid.
That was the clencher. Yes, we want to be environmentally friendly, but since both cars get relatively the same gas mileage (the hybrid does a better job, but not substantially so) and they both "pollute" at the same rate (though that rate is substantially less than our 4Runner), we opted for paying less and going with the smaller car.
Two cars, two test drives, and there was no need to go anywhere else to look for a car.
And just like that, we came home with a 2009 (how do they do that?) Toyota Matrix S (one up from the standard model) in a charcoal gray (Ann wanted the dark blue, but the car has a dark interior and I wasn't into dark on dark as I'm prone to depression =-) so we went with a cheery gray...go figure!)
When we went to pick up the car we brought Rubin along. He was hesitant at first...the car is, after all, smaller than his 4-wheel drive truck/SUV and therefore not as roomy in the back, but soon he adjusted and now hops in and out of the car (a much more sustainable jump) like a champ.
Pictures tomorrow...
1 comment:
well, congratulations, you two (ok, three)! I HATE car shopping; it makes me sweaty and tongue-tied. But there is something so remarkable about a brand new car - and driving a brand new car - that first time - is like losing one's virginity all over again. Like a paranoid virgin. One is hypervigilent. One holds one's breath. One doesn't quite know what one is doing. Forget the "quite". The surrounding situation becomes "the enemy". One is certain someone is going to bump you, scrape you, plow into you. Your own street becomes dangerous, your garage becomes the enemy, your spouse becomes the enemy. What if she comes out of the house, spoon in hand, and inadvertantly drops the spoon on the car? What if a bird poops on it? What if.....And the smell! Is there anything else like it? No. There is nothing else like the smell of a brand new car. And the things you SAY to yourself about this car. I WILL BE CAREFUL, ALWAYS. I WILL NEVER obtain even the slightest scratch. No mother, no father, ever pretends so magestically or so pathetically - makes so many promises - as one does about the brand new car. One keeps it clean. One wipes the dust from its brow. All wrappers are dumped into a bag. LINT is dropped into the bag. NOTHING is allowed to touch the floor. One's own FEET become suspect. And so it goes, until the car (it takes about 4 months, average) is broken in. Not broken-INTO, just broken-in. After all, for God's Sakes, it's just a car.
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