Guess I'm lucky after all...

Ok….so I absolutely had to go car shopping. I was in a little bind; I had work related commitments Thursday, and the chili pepper was acting up since Sunday, laid to rest on Wednesday. A moment of silence for my cute little red van, please… Moving on. This meant, I have no car! And unless I wanted to drive the pickup (without power steering) 44 miles to daycare and work, I had to do some quick problem solving. Here are the possible solultions as they came to me in that moment:
A. Drive the pickup. Good exercise.
B. Buy a hot sexy Mustang convertible, after all, you DO have to go car shopping…
C. Get a cheap 4 banger asap and make it do.
D. I SO WANT a stickshift! I refuse to compromise my values in this aspect….
E. Just get yourself to the dealership and look around, Ruth, don’t stand here daydreaming. You have 4 hours to figure this out!

So off we went (Dad included) to the nearest dealership at which we knew someone. It happened to be Hokah Auto Outlet, twenty minutes down the highway from where my van gave up. They had three vehicles within the price range I could afford (I could? From what budget was I pulling this figure?). There was a ’99 Ford Windstar, and ‘96 Mercury van, and a 2003 Chevy Venture (van). I sized them up. My spirits sank a little lower.

None of them were red or sexy, sigh….

We drove the powder blue Windstar first. I decided before I even sat in it that I didn’t like it, couldn’t own it and hate it. Too bad. It ran nice and included a DVD player. Well, it did have a “check engine” light on the whole time. I told Dad forget it, I don’t want it. He told the dealer about the light and the dealership put it on the computer at no charge to us. It had three minor problems with a total of 300-500 USD to fix it. This made that vehicle STILL the cheapest option among the three.

We walked past a royal blue GT two seater 5 speed on the way to the garage where we were going to have coffee and warm up. I tried not to look at it too much.

Next up was the Mercury van. I am not familiar with the Merc Vans. It wasn’t there, because one of the dealer boys had driven it home last night. He said it was a great little deal and ran awsome. It had a new old engine in it since it recently blew a gasket or something like that. The guys around there used it for a runner.

Since the runner wasn’t there we drove the Chevy Van next. I drove it first, it was quiet, and it was fast. It is mechanically sound and rust free. There end the perks of this vehicle-but that is pretty perky. I mentally decided to make a lousy offer for this one and forget the one we hadn’t seen. I needed something I could drive home right now. So I decided how high I was wiling to go and no further.

Step back for one minute and realize, neither of these vehicles are what I really like in a car. All of them are bulky and high. The pale blue one looked like a sausage somehow, I think it was the way the hood was designed; the Chevy was silver, of all awful colors, and an auto 4 speed tranny . But….reality sets in when you slip your hand in near your pocketbook….not in a position to be choosy…need a way to work tomorrow….had to decide what to do. Consider I need a vehicle with room for three car seats all the time and sometimes other riders. A van is the practical answer to this.

While I was thinking, drinking coffee and staring out the window the dealer was chatting with Dad. They both walked over toward me, so I figured Dad needed a cup of coffee too. Then, a good thing happened.

“You can take this one home tonight, get a feel for it, ya know…take her to work tomorrow. Check in with us tomorrow night and let us know what you think.” This solved my problems for exactly 24 hours and I shook on it.

I would like to notate here: I was going 60 on the bottom of Shibley hill. There were four vehicles behind me. Just to check out the vehicle I put the pedal down and pulled away from them all. Guess Chevy had reasons for putting a 6 cyl 3.4 in this thing! Zoom. Going nearly 70 by the top of the hill and no lack of power at all. I laid off a little to avoid speeding too much (with a car I didn’t own besides).

I drove it home. It drives great. Really quiet. I have to listen really carefully when turning the ignition-it turns over so smooth. Automatic windows, locks, doors and stuff. I don’t even know how to use all that stuff. I took it to work, and thought it looked pretty darn decent in its parking spot.

That evening I did go back to the dealer. The mercury still wasn’t there. I made a low offer on the Chevrolet Venture. They grimaced a little. The dealers had to discuss this. Eventually we agreed upon a price which seemed fair enough to all and I now am the proud owner….

of a not red vehicle which is not a stick. But oh well! Guess my pride has to wait until next time. But hopefully there won’t be a next time for a long while! I have decided by willpower to like silver vehicles…

with red seatcovers. (I just had to get some red on that thing!)