The Holtonian

Car Hunt

      The car hunt went as expected. The wife and I have totally different out looks on cars. The problem we have is the need for two cars, her cav is very unreliable with things going wrong that always go wrong with american cars. Mine leaks oil at a good rate and is not in great shape but runs fine. Really we just want a car that we can drive to say Indiana (our destination for Thanksgiving) and not worry about whether our car will make it or not.
    I really liked the Element, more than I thought I would. The interior is nice, its spacious, more than the accord. The backseat is huge! and very roomey. And the little bit of trunk was bigger than I expected. It drove nice, a little different from our small coupe style cars. The exterior wasn't great, I mean I'll admit its not the hottest thing on wheels, but the interior redeems it. The floors are rubber so no stains, the seats are stain resistent material. The back seats come out, but they're heavy so thats tough, but the also fold up into the side and clip in place with a carrabeaner. Good stereo and all that stuff... its a fun car. They didn't budge on the price though so doubtful we'll get one soon. I basically said, I can afford X dollars and the guy sort of laughed at me. Basically what I can afford is the manual no AC version which I don't want.
      Wifey didn't like the car at all and didn't want it for herself. She wants more of a bigger SUV though we can't afford one. We tried the Matrix out... THE MATRIX.... and it was a great car, but not for us. I mean if they had this when I was going to college I'd totally have gotten it, but its a bit too small for us right now. So we left frusterated at both our lack of funds and lack of a consensus on a car.
      But we've talked it over some and what we figure is wifey will hopefully get a teaching job for the spring or if not that then a job that has regular hours and a consistent pay check so we can budget better our income. Then we'll look for an accord with medium miles (around 50K) and get that for her. Then she'll have that for a few years, then when the kids start rolling out then we'll get an suv or van. Meanwhile maybe in the next year I can squeeze out an element or something. Depending on what the finances look like.
      My thing is the element is a great A to B car. Its reliable, not great looking, but durable. So its what I want in a car. But time will tell... time will tell.