![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyMy somewhat-beloved and venerable Hyundai Santa Fe, named B, managed to acquire a repair bill twice the value of herself. After a period of panic, I sold her to my mechanic for $200. He says that he can fix her up for his 16 year old daughter. So, she should have a good life after me. She was at 155,000 miles, and had done yeoman service for six years. Her name was short for Behemoth, as she was the largest thing that I have ever driven. Also, a nod to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (David insists that my very first car, Orange Blossom, was larger. She was a 1976 International Scout II Travelall, and this may be true, but she stopped running in the late 80s, and I do not remember for certain.)
I purely hate car shopping. The choice space is just too big. Upon recommendation from Sharon, I googled "Cars for Old People" since one of my actual issues is that getting in and out of normal cars hurts my back. Not a lot, but enough. I knew I really liked my old Subaru Forester, of no name, who I killed a while back by ramming a wall. So, I ended up going to a Kia dealership to drive a Kia Soul, and then to a Subaru dealership, with the intent of test-driving an Impreza. I got into the Impreza on the show floor, and that was an instant nope. It was too far down. It hurt. I did test drive an Outback and a Forester. The modern Forester was lovely, lovely, lovely, but the Outback...was like driving butter. Really expensive European butter. It was priced to match, you understand.
And so, to Car Soup. I found a dealership that had a 2017 Kia Soul and a 2017 Subaru Outback, both ex-fleet vehicles, both at extremely good prices. The Kia had Most of the Things, and the Outback had All The Things. David and I went down and test-drove them both. And, yes, this Outback was still like driving butter, oh god. AWD and Eyesight and Blindspot and adaptive cruise control and heated seats and the fancy interface with my phone and really, honestly, All The Things. The Kia was well set up, with stuff I care about, including cruise control, climate control, Bluetooth connection for my phone, a back up camera, but no heated seats. So, really only Most of the Things. In the end, I decided based on price. The Kia was available for $50 less per month, with a loan a full year shorter. And so
I am now the proud owner of a white Kia Soul. Which, because I am Captain Obvious, I have named Psyche.
I purely hate car shopping. The choice space is just too big. Upon recommendation from Sharon, I googled "Cars for Old People" since one of my actual issues is that getting in and out of normal cars hurts my back. Not a lot, but enough. I knew I really liked my old Subaru Forester, of no name, who I killed a while back by ramming a wall. So, I ended up going to a Kia dealership to drive a Kia Soul, and then to a Subaru dealership, with the intent of test-driving an Impreza. I got into the Impreza on the show floor, and that was an instant nope. It was too far down. It hurt. I did test drive an Outback and a Forester. The modern Forester was lovely, lovely, lovely, but the Outback...was like driving butter. Really expensive European butter. It was priced to match, you understand.
And so, to Car Soup. I found a dealership that had a 2017 Kia Soul and a 2017 Subaru Outback, both ex-fleet vehicles, both at extremely good prices. The Kia had Most of the Things, and the Outback had All The Things. David and I went down and test-drove them both. And, yes, this Outback was still like driving butter, oh god. AWD and Eyesight and Blindspot and adaptive cruise control and heated seats and the fancy interface with my phone and really, honestly, All The Things. The Kia was well set up, with stuff I care about, including cruise control, climate control, Bluetooth connection for my phone, a back up camera, but no heated seats. So, really only Most of the Things. In the end, I decided based on price. The Kia was available for $50 less per month, with a loan a full year shorter. And so
I am now the proud owner of a white Kia Soul. Which, because I am Captain Obvious, I have named Psyche.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-17 11:49 am (UTC)Cars that don't quite work for you can be frustrating. Years ago we were looking for a car with a roomy back seat (anticipating carrying passengers of size). We looked at the Saturn. "Not much room in the back seat," we said. "You can move the front seat forward," said the salesperson, demonstrating. "But then there's not much room in the front seat," we said. "You can move the front seat back," was the reply. Such cluelessness led to our quick departure.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-17 03:43 pm (UTC)Also, cool that you know where your old car go to a good home.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-17 09:02 pm (UTC)I really do like the getting in and out part better, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble and expense of a car upgrade at this point. But it's definitely handy to know that there's another car out there that I like.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-17 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-18 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-18 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-22 04:15 am (UTC)K. [congrats on the new car]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-22 04:26 am (UTC)In the end, given that I drive less than 5K a year, often less than 2K a year, I couldn't justify the extra money for a car whose extras were really geared towards road tripping.
I really wanted a Subaru, but the price shows that so did everybody else. Maybe next car...
no subject
Date: 2019-04-23 02:23 am (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-25 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-25 01:08 pm (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-25 02:50 am (UTC)