We went car shopping today. It’s something we knew we needed to do but have been avoiding for a while. (Hi, we’re accountants and we don’t like debt.)
This week, I needed Mike to do most of the kid duty so he had the minivan while I drove the car. I know all cars are different and I don’t drive it often but it definitely felt as though the brakes were going. And, I’m not talking “it grinds when I apply pressure to the brake”. I’m talking, you pushed the brake pedal to the floor and it didn’t slow down until you stomped as hard as you could on the brake. As in, I was mentally rehearsing the “throw the car in neutral and using the parking brake” move they’ve been talking about on the news with regards to the Toyota recall. We had already decided not to allow the boys to be driven in the car but it got to the point that **I** didn’t want to be in the car either. Car shopping it is!
(The death trap immediately prior to being traded in. It should be noted that the freakin’ rear view mirror fell off as Mike was emptying it of our stuff. The car was literally falling apart on us. LOL)
We decided to buy a used car so we headed out to one of the bigger dealerships where they have a big resale center. We saw a lot that we liked right off the bat but the car we ended up buying really stood out. Only 3 years old, with only 16,000 miles on it, in great condition, TONS of room for Mike, and lots of room for the boys (and carseats) in the back. It has a surprisingly large cargo area as well.
Previously, we used the minivan exclusively for family transportation because the car was so uncomfortable for us to be in all together (too small). The car was only used to commute to/from work or in the rare instances when Mike and/or I went out alone. The new car will give us a lot more flexibility and result in less wear and tear on the minivan.
Here it is! Our 2007 Pontiac Torrent!
We love it! 🙂
Fun facts on this car purchase:
1. This is the 3rd black car we’ve purchased in a row. We obviously didn’t plan it this time (since we were limited to what was available in the lot) but how funny is that?
2. This car came with the original purchaser’s 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. Which expires tomorrow. So, we literally bought this car almost 3 years to the day the previous purchaser bought it. LOL
3. It also means, we have 24 hours to put about 20,000 miles on the car. 😉
4. The car we traded in was purchased (by me) on 3/22/01. So, we bought this one almost 9 years to the day I bought that one. 🙂
5. We bought this car from the same lot/dealership that Mike bought his last car.
6. Mike’s last car and my old car (that we traded in today) were the same car: Oldsmobile Alero. They were different model years and colors but I still think it’s funny that we both bought the same car (completely independent of each other because it was before we started dating). 🙂
6. Mike’s car (that was purchased from this lot/dealership) was purchased with a small crack in the windshield. The car we bought today has a crack in the windshield (which is getting repaired sometime this coming week).
Pretty strange, huh?
LOL @ #3. I know how you can get a head start… 😉