It's a 1990 Corolla, so we'd been thinking it going to die pretty soon here, and had sort of been planning on buying a new car for awhile, but didn't have the motivation to go car shopping. We kind of just thought, "Well, she finally died, guess it was the car's time to go." We got it home, though it was moving very sluggishly and making a ton of noise. Sort of like those cars that have the suped up engines and no mufflers.
The next day, Kevin went to see what there was to see, and got underneath the car. He called up to me that it looked like someone had sawed off part of the exhaust pipe under the car. I thought that was really random, but thought it was just some jackass playing a prank. After consulting the owner's manual thought, Kevin found that it actually our catalytic converter that was gone, and after a very brief search of the Internet, found out that they are a popular thing to steal these days. I guess they have some amount of platinum in them, so precious metals and all that. Bleh!!! We felt so violated! We never really thought twice about leaving our car places, since it's old and kind of junky looking. I guess it's true what they say: It's what's on the inside that counts! Since the car isn't worth very much, and converters are kind of expensive to replace, we decided to bite the bullet and get a new car!
So for the last week and a half, we have been doing nonstop car shopping and research. Kevin did an amazing job figuring out all kinds of useful info, and finding good places for us to go car shopping. Luckily, my dad loaned us his Miata so we could still get around! We did a lot of test drives, and went back and forth about whether we wanted something that gets good gas mileage but maybe wouldn't be as great for things like road trips and going to the moutains (like a Prius), and something that had a lot of room and could get us anywhere but we would have to eat a lot more money in gas. After driving a few different cars, we kept coming back to getting a Forester, which we have both loved for a long time. We don't like the newest model, so we knew we would be getting a used car, so it just came down to finding a good one at the right price! Fortunately, it didn't take too long. Long enough for our house to completely fall apart without any chores getting done and no food being cooked, but not as bad as it could have been!
We ended up buying one in Renton from the Subaru dealer there, but only after a lot of apprehension about them. It was a really weird experience! It's run by a bunch of hyperactive Eastern European men in leather jackets who clearly want their cars sold fast and furious. Kevin and I are anything but fast and furious (read: 8 years to get married!) :) But they had a great looking 2006 Forester with really low mileage that had just been traded in earlier that day. It hadn't been through it's complete inspection and detailing, so we wanted to wait to take it for a real test drive when it was completely ready to be sold. The guys really wanted us to buy it that day, but we held firm that we wanted to see it in the light of day and take it for a test drive.
Fortunately, Kevin had Thursday off for Veteran's Day, so first thing in the morning he headed to Renton to check it out again and take it for a drive. It seemed great still, and the price was much better than most of the other Foresters out there. So he went ahead and bought it, then took it for a buyer's inspection up here in Shoreline. The guys there are totally awesome, very thorough and super patient explaining everything to me in terms I could relay to Kevin. Luckily, there was nothing actually wrong with the car, and they gave it a flawless bill of health! Hooray! So here's our new car!
1 comment:
She looks great! Love the color!! :^) Good for you guys to not get swept along by pushy car dealers! Now hopefully you are good till 2026!
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