Thankfully, we have finally reached a decision and we have a car.
We were not planning on buying a car, and a car payment was really not in our budget. We started out looking at used cars - but with financing offers and other fun stuff like that, we quickly realized that a new car was the best option (for not that much more money) and we have a warranty.
In my previous post I mentioned the different cars we were considering and the websites we were using as references (Edmunds and Consumer Reports)...but I forgot to mention another one which we used - truecars.com. If you will be in the market for a new vehicle use this one! It tells you what the dealer paid, any incentives to the dealer, what MSRP is, as well as what others have actually paid for this car - locally, regionally, and nationally.
Anyway, to make a long story short...this is the car we ended up with:
That's right - the all new, uber-efficient, gas miser Honda Insight.
We are hoping that the savings in our gas bill will, somewhat, offset the car payment.
Of course, since I do much more driving than Tim (school, ballet, Taekwondo, shopping, errands, etc.) it means that in order to see the most savings in fuel, I will need to drive the hybrid more. Which means, by default, that Tim will have to drive the minivan to Lowes, Pinch-A-Penny (pool supplies) and the YMCA. Tim is not thrilled about this, because he has long maintained that driving a minivan causes (ahem) certain parts of a man's anatomy to "shrivel up and fall off" and leeches all testosterone from his body. He is afraid that he will "start shopping at Target" and his voice will get high pitched and he will start reading (and caring about) People magazine.
I will keep you posted on his transformation, if it should occur.
The Insight is (so far) a great, fun little car. It gives you constant feedback as to how efficiently you are driving and what your mpg is. It rates your driving skills for gas savings. Honda says that it gets 41 mpg in city driving, but owners are apparently saying that they get closer to 50 mpg in the city. Wow. After the 18 mpg in the city that the minivan gets - WOOHOO!!! I can't wait.
Wanna hear the best news? Now our dryer is broken.
Ugh.
When it rains, it pours.
