After a close brush with buying a new car to replace Marin’s pickup back in November, we tackled the issue again this week and got us a minivan.
Huh? As Peak Oil tangles the nation and world, not to mention recession, and as lives need to be changed, we up and buy a guzzler. Gets about 20 mpg on a good day, we hear. Marin reminds us that her pickup got 15 on a normal snowy day. Which we still need to sell, by the way – 2000 Tacoma.
But we need a big vehicle for an expanding family, for any expeditions, for upcoming visitors. Then we need a small vehicle for commuting around.
We were in a quandary about which should come first. The 95 Subaru from Esther and Sterling (my deceased parents) is neither big enough for much, nor does it get more than 24 mpg on a good day. It does hold the four of us (when we’re four in a couple weeks...). We can resort to two cars if we need to bring family along for anything. But not for camping. Two-car camping doesn’t cut it.
We were stalled, not the least by needing to install a HRV in our house in December.
But then, parked next to me last Sunday at UUFF was a beautiful Toyota Sienna, examples of which, along with the Honda Odyssey, I’ve been seeing incessantly for six weeks, in San Francisco and in Fairbanks. Van on the brain.
I peeked in and saw two child seats. Could this car belong to Thane and Janie? I e-mailed Thane later that day, and it was. He liked it. Janie drives it, and she loves it.
Tuesday I re-initiated the quest. Marin called the car dealership and got info on two used Siennas which were on the lot at Toyota. I poked around on the web. Friday we drove one of them.
It was a good price, according to three web sources. But it was more than we’d ever considered paying for a car, before recently. So we had to consider and rule out other cars, new cars, which the money could buy.
So, skipping out of the Unitarian Retreat on Congregation Care Saturday morning, I joined Marin and Matteo at the car lot and we test-drove a Rav4, along with the Sienna again. We decided on the van.
Again the salesman showed us papers which proved that they weren’t making much money on the van. Marin and I were hoping to pay a little less. He stood his ground. Marin walked away, I couldn’t believe it. She just up and declares she needs a Kleenex from the bathroom, and leaves me and the salesman sitting there. In the sun, on a minus 35 degree day outside.
I continue to assist Teo at great length in playing with a bead maze (wires with beads traveling on them).
When Marin came back, and reiterated her request for a break, the supervisor was called in, who repeated that it was a great price, and they had discounted all the cars on the lot. Marin laughed nervously, and said, we just wanted something, can’t you do something.
He shrugged, turned to the salesman, and said, turning back, well, how about $200. Marin lit up. For us, it was like hitting a single up the middle. Yay! The crowd cheers.
For them, it must have been like not throwing the runner out at first because you can only win the game if you hold the runner at third.
In any event, I picked up Marin at work (she’s putting in overtime to get ahead at work before a baby comes along) today after church. We drove over to the lot and picked up the automotive “new addition” to our family.
Huh? As Peak Oil tangles the nation and world, not to mention recession, and as lives need to be changed, we up and buy a guzzler. Gets about 20 mpg on a good day, we hear. Marin reminds us that her pickup got 15 on a normal snowy day. Which we still need to sell, by the way – 2000 Tacoma.
But we need a big vehicle for an expanding family, for any expeditions, for upcoming visitors. Then we need a small vehicle for commuting around.
We were in a quandary about which should come first. The 95 Subaru from Esther and Sterling (my deceased parents) is neither big enough for much, nor does it get more than 24 mpg on a good day. It does hold the four of us (when we’re four in a couple weeks...). We can resort to two cars if we need to bring family along for anything. But not for camping. Two-car camping doesn’t cut it.
We were stalled, not the least by needing to install a HRV in our house in December.
But then, parked next to me last Sunday at UUFF was a beautiful Toyota Sienna, examples of which, along with the Honda Odyssey, I’ve been seeing incessantly for six weeks, in San Francisco and in Fairbanks. Van on the brain.
I peeked in and saw two child seats. Could this car belong to Thane and Janie? I e-mailed Thane later that day, and it was. He liked it. Janie drives it, and she loves it.
Tuesday I re-initiated the quest. Marin called the car dealership and got info on two used Siennas which were on the lot at Toyota. I poked around on the web. Friday we drove one of them.
It was a good price, according to three web sources. But it was more than we’d ever considered paying for a car, before recently. So we had to consider and rule out other cars, new cars, which the money could buy.
So, skipping out of the Unitarian Retreat on Congregation Care Saturday morning, I joined Marin and Matteo at the car lot and we test-drove a Rav4, along with the Sienna again. We decided on the van.
Again the salesman showed us papers which proved that they weren’t making much money on the van. Marin and I were hoping to pay a little less. He stood his ground. Marin walked away, I couldn’t believe it. She just up and declares she needs a Kleenex from the bathroom, and leaves me and the salesman sitting there. In the sun, on a minus 35 degree day outside.
I continue to assist Teo at great length in playing with a bead maze (wires with beads traveling on them).
When Marin came back, and reiterated her request for a break, the supervisor was called in, who repeated that it was a great price, and they had discounted all the cars on the lot. Marin laughed nervously, and said, we just wanted something, can’t you do something.
He shrugged, turned to the salesman, and said, turning back, well, how about $200. Marin lit up. For us, it was like hitting a single up the middle. Yay! The crowd cheers.
For them, it must have been like not throwing the runner out at first because you can only win the game if you hold the runner at third.
In any event, I picked up Marin at work (she’s putting in overtime to get ahead at work before a baby comes along) today after church. We drove over to the lot and picked up the automotive “new addition” to our family.
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