Happy Easter , Here's a New Car

My car is now almost paid off, and since Kris’s car is almost 11 years old, and things were starting to need to be replaced, it was time to shop for a replacement. Kris had been looking online and pricing things out lately so on Friday since I was off, we decided to go test drive a couple. What began as just a trip to take a test drive turned into an all-day affair and resulted in us buying a new car. We now have a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe.

I cannot stand the whole car buying process. It sucks! The people you end up having to deal with are total a-holes. We found the guy who sold us our last two, and we like him a lot. He is very low pressure, wants to make sure that we have what we want, etc... After test driving and coming back to discuss prices and financing options, the sales manager gets involved, tossing out all kinds of numbers and scenarios. If we had wanted to purchase it outright, lease, 72 month, 60 month 36 month, blah, blah, blah… We wanted to keep the payment around what we pay for my car now, so we swap out one payment for the other. And we also didn’t want a cheap, unsafe car either.

Anyway, we went into things with the intent of downsizing from the big SUV, to more of a crossover. Kris was looking at a Tucson. Mainly because the gas mileage was better and we thought that with only Alison at home we didn’t need to have as large of a vehicle. After driving both the Tucson and the Santa Fe, and thinking that with Ali, we might still have to haul around cheerleaders and we will still be driving to LaCrosse a couple of times a semester, hauling things for Sarah, that we should probably go with the bigger one. Then in three years when Ali is done with HS, we can re-evaluate and downsize then if we think we need to.

Overall, it is a nice ride. Very smooth. Much more "luxurious" (if I can use that term for a Hyundai) than the Tucson. The Tucson was a nice ride too, and there was plenty of rear seating room, but it just felt cheaper… very "plasticy" (if that is even a word). I would have driven either one, but the overall difference in the price was only about $2500, and they weren't willing to deal as much on the Tucson (which also should tell you how overpriced the Santa Fe is). So I guess I'll try and enjoy it, and not think about it too much. Because when I do, it hacks me off. I feel like I got screwed. But I also felt like I got screwed when I bought the Ford. Apparently, walking away feeling screwed is all part of the process.