Escape

I wasn't going to blog about this at all...but I will just for my Mother in Law. :)

Kev and I have been talking about getting a new car. Our 2002 Volvo S60, which we love, has 195,000 miles on it. It needs some expensive repairs. We'd been debating putting the money in the car or in just getting a new one. We've been back and forth.

We like the Volvo.
It gets excellent gas mileage.
It drives beautifully.
It looks good.
It had lots of safety features.
It is expensive to repair.
It is paid for.
Because it's paid for, insurance is cheap.

But, it has reached the point where we needed to do something and soon.

I really don't care what we drive, but wanted something with more leg room in the back seat. We carpool with Patrick, who's 6'6". He can't fit in the back seat, and I'm tall enough that my knees rest in his back and he's been crowded even in the front seat of the Volvo. So, I wanted something that was more comfortable for me and more comfortable for him. In addition, Andy's gotten tall enough that he didn't sit comfortably in the back seat of the Volvo either. So, my main criteria for a new car was leg room.

So, on Saturday, Kev and I drove to Wichita to shop. Car shop.

He was leaning toward a Ford Fusion. He's researched them and liked what he was learning. But, we've also talked about getting another SUV, and have discussed the Ford Escape. We had an Explorer years ago and loved it. Our 1997 Explorer routinely got 27 mpg. We haven't met anyone else who got that good of mileage, but we did. We loved it. It really fit our lifestyle very well.

When we got there, we test drove a Fusion Hybrid. Holy cow, was it fancy schamancy! The dealer kept talking about how it could sync this and that and you could bluetooth and use your mp3 player and how it would even wipe your butt if you needed it to. (Ok, maybe not that last part...)

After driving the hybrid, we tried an Escape.

To be perfectly honest, after driving a hybrid, the Escape sounded like a jet plane. Those hybrids are quiet! Especially since most of our test drive was running on the battery and not the engine. But, it had lots of leg room in the back seat, which I enjoyed tremendously.

So, we then test drove a regular Fusion. Which was still pretty fancy schamancy, but since it wasn't a hybrid, it didn't come with that butt wiping option. We really liked the Blue Fusions, but didn't necessarily like the upholstery...it looked like computer code... So, we looked at other colors with different upholstery and fabric/leather options. The color they came up with was an off white which to me said "OLD LADY DRIVER".

And, I shared that opinion with Kevin--it was UGLY.

So, we drove the Blue Fusion to lunch to decide if we wanted it, and could live with upholstery that we didn't really like, or if we wanted the Escape.

I really didn't care. I did like the idea of the Escape, because it would be something we could take out to the farm, and if Kev and I hunted separately, I would look better driving an Escape in my Camo than I would wearing Camo in a car. We both liked sitting up higher, and the leg room. The Fusion had sufficient leg room, it just wasn't quite as roomy in that back seat. Kev noticed how much easier it was for him to get out of the Escape than it was the Fusion.

So, we went to lunch and discussed what we wanted to do.

We decided to keep the Volvo, because it has little trade in value, and Miss Kat will be driving in 2 years. She can drive the Volvo, which is a nice looking and very safe car for a beginning driver.

But trying to decide on which vehicle to buy wasn't as easy. I really didn't care, and told Kev I would be happy with both, but I wanted him to be happy too because he drives more often than I do. He finally said we'd get the Escape.

Which totally surprised me, because I figured he'd want the car. And, to be honest, I preferred the Escape. But, really, I told him that all I cared about was the color. I wanted whatever vehicle we got to be blue.

We got a pretty good deal, and believe me, we made the salesman work hard. He probably went home that night and had a good stiff drink.

I'm going to hate paying the insurance bill and property tax bill, but financially, we can handle it. I just hope we like it, and don't regret not choosing the car.

But, I do have a bone to pick with my husband...

Yesterday morning, I was still in bed and overhead Kev and Andy talking about the new Escape....

Andy: "So...you let Mom have her way and got the Escape."

Kev: "yep."

Andy: "So...now you don't have a vehicle at all, because the Diesel is hers too."

Kev: "yep."

Andy: "She's so spoiled."

Kev: "yep."

I should have gotten out of bed right then and there and smacked the two of them up-side the head. Men.