New Cars -- Finally!

It has been an interesting couple of weeks for me. First, having to get a new car (or two), then trying to catch up with everything that didn't get done in the week with no car, then getting quite sick, etc. etc. So sorry I'm just now getting around to getting some pics up. First, the pics. Then I'll tell the "Tale of the Two Cars" below.

Lee, here's your new car!! A Toyota Corolla complete with sunroof, spoiler, CD player, tinted windows, etc.:

The sun was shining off the panel and making it hard to see everything, so I tried a picture when the car was in the garage. Now it's just plum dark, but you get the idea...

And here's my new car -- a Honda Pilot. I'll admit my decision in cars was swayed by the fact that it will now say "Pilot" on my car, but I was also sold by the consumer reports ratings. Both these cars are top choices.

The picture below shows the configuration with part of the back row up. You can also put up the extra seat and/or put this part down. The goal was to get a vehicle that had enough room for us to vacation comfortably with Lee (We did fine in our Escort with all us girls, but Lee would have had to put himself and his stuff on the roof!) -- especially for when we go camping and have a decent amount of gear; while yet having the option of seating more people if we wanted. This vehicle seats eight with the whole rear seat up.

So here's the scoop: We had planned to get a new car next year when we would be in a better financial situation. This purchase had to come sooner than we'd planned and not at the best time, but actually turned out to be a blessing. I won't go into all the financial situations and events, but suffice it to say we are blessed to now have two reliable vehicles with plenty of miles and years left in them. We don't have any additional big purchases to make so now we can just buckle down and get it all paid off!

I will point out one major blessing: That my car waited to die until at least Lee had this new job. New cars wouldn't have been much of an option with the last job, especially with the uncertainty of what would happen.

After MUCH pondering and studying (I'd actually been looking at cars for months), I decided on a Honda Pilot. I wanted a new one so it could have the warranty. When I found a good used one at the dealership that still had the warranty, I realized I might be able to squeeze in a car for Lee and still stick to the payment I was shooting for. Yes, I also could have just gotten myself a cheaper vehicle and saved lots of money, but being able to qualify to get Lee a vehicle also is where all those blessings come in that I was talking about above. His car has one problem after another that we've had to pay big bucks for, so we had wanted to trade it in as soon as possible (although not expecting it to be this soon!!!).

I looked around the lot at all his Civics and Corollas. There were only two vehicles anywhere near the price I needed that still seemed to be good cars with enough life left in them. Both were priced too high, but it turns out you have more bargaining power when you are purchasing more than one car. So, for an extra $15/month, Lee and I now both have reliable cars. Hooray!!