1 month ago...

We bought a new car!

Surprise! :)

And now for a little background...

Back in January, when we were having all of our car drama, Daniel began to research new cars. It honestly stemmed from need as when we found out our timing belt had snapped, we did not know if the CRV would be declared "totaled". Thankfully, everything worked out, but our interest in a new car was awakened.

Then, when we had a bit more car trouble in March, we began to think about cars a little more seriously. Obviously we repaired the CRV, and it was working fine, but it is getting old. And because it was our only car, we depended on it heavily, and were using it constantly. Plus, the gas factor. The CRV gets decent gas mileage for a small SUV (around 20 mpg) but obviously we could be doing much better then that.

So, Daniel began to casually (and at times, not so casually) research cars. And we went to a few different dealers to test drive a few different cars. And we haggled a bit. We were doing this all for research, but we really had no intention of purchasing anything until after Daniel graduated.

The front runner for quite some time was the Honda Fit. Oh how Daniel loved this car. I liked it too, even more once I got to see it in person. It is so cute and extremely practical. Plus, the price is not bad for a brand new car. My only "complaints" with it was I felt it was too similar to what we already had, except without 4-wheel drive. We were planning to keep the CRV as a back-up/snow car. One of the great features about the Honda Fit is now adaptable it is. We could probably carry the same amount of cargo in the Fit as our CRV. But we already have the CRV to carry any big load we may have! And yes, the gas mileage was a little better (33 mpg), but I still felt it wasn't really offering us anything we didn't already have, besides its newness.

But Daniel was pretty set on the Fit, and the price was not too bad, so that was "the plan". One Saturday, March 26th, we were planning to go to a Honda dealer so Daniel could finally test drive a Fit sport manual (his car of choice). As we were on our way there they called to say they did not actually have that car on their lot, so we decided not to drive down.

But, since we were already out of the house and in our car, we decided to visit the Toyota dealer about 15 minutes away from where we live. Even though the Fit was #1 in our eyes, we had been toying with a few other ideas, including a new CRV, Honda Accord, or a Toyota Prius.

See, our current CRV has treated us so well, we felt loyal to the Honda brand. Plus, my parents are very loyal Honda customers and have never really had problems, so why mess with success, right? Well, a hybrid car was also very intriguing to us, but unfortunately, Honda's hybrids were not rated anywhere near as well as Toyota's. So we decided to see if we could test drive a Prius, as Daniel said he could not feel right about purchasing a Fit until he had test driven all our other "options".

And that is when I fell in love.

Oh, how I loved the Prius. We were both able to test drive it, and were both extremely impressed by it, though Daniel could tell I was absolutely smitten. Unfortunately, the Prius costs a bit more than the Fit. A good bit more.

We did not go in that day expecting to buy a new car, but somehow we did. :) They gave us an offer we couldn't refuse, well below what everyone else is selling them for right now. They had quoted us a price earlier in the week online and were forced to honor it, though they were not too happy about it. (Daniel is still convinced we could have gotten a better price; but between gas prices being on the rise and showing no signs of stopping, and the earthquake in Japan meaning less Prius' are coming to the states, I am confident we got a good deal.)

So, Daniel gave up his dream of the Fit because of my love of the Prius. Though not really, because Daniel loved the Prius too, and has only grown to love it more. He says that this was the "smarter" buy, and that he probably would have regretted purchasing a Fit a few years down the road. It is a great little car, and you can't argue with the 50+ mpg! We have more than doubled (practically tripled!) our gas mileage, and we finally went to the gas station last week to fill it up for the first time. Though I wish I held out longer, as I didn't even fill up 10 gallons of our little 12 gallon tank. Halfway through tank #2 I am currently averaging 58.6 mpg.

Our first month with the Prius (affectionately called Pri-fontaine-us) has been bliss. Seriously, every day I look forward to driving it to work. And while I am at work, rather than looking forward to going home, I look forward to driving it home. And every weekend, when Daniel is on driving duty, Daniel looks forward to the time he gets to spend with it.

Driving it has become a bit for a game for us, trying to see how high of a mpg we can get (on the display screen it shows your current as well as average mpg per tank of gas). So we have little contests to see who can better gas mileage.

Pri-fontaine-us has been a great addition to our family. While we primarily still act as a one car family, (I have occasionally dropped Daniel off at his school while on my way to work on days he has class; though to be honest he has lately been driving himself in the CRV) it is nice to have a second car for emergencies, or if Daniel needs to go out for some reason on the days he is at home. Or when I go to an antique store and Daniel does not want me dirty-ing up the new car. :)

And don't worry, the CRV has not been too neglected, a few days after we brought Pri-fontaine-us home, we had a snow storm. So I took the CRV to work just like old times. :)

And yes, we did buy new. And yes, we know they lose thousands of dollars in value as soon as you drive them off the lot. But, we plan on keeping this car until it dies. So, if we never plan on selling it, we will never "lose" money on it. We just spent money to buy it and will enjoy it for many years to come. If we eventually have more children then can fit in this car, and would therefore need a bigger car, this will switch to Daniel's primary car. You can't argue with the gas mileage. Not to mention to peace of mind of the warranty. The entire car is basically covered for 7 years, which means we should not have to worry about a thing the whole time Daniel is getting his PhD, which is great.

Also, the free rent helps big-time, so the car should also be completely paid off before Daniel starts at a PhD program. Which will be awesome not having to worry about those payments, as well as saving on interest!

I went to Costco for the first time with it last weekend and was shocked with how much it held. I do not know how, but it honestly held more in it's trunk then we could ever fit in the trunk of the CRV! Now granted, I could have just been packing better since I was anticipating having less space. We have those jumbo, reusable Costco bags, and we can usually squish 3 and some other random things in the back of the CRV; but I was able to fit all 4, plus other things tucked in the corners of Pri-fontaine-us' trunk. It just made us love Pri-fontaine-us even more. :)

Here is a semi-awkward video of Daniel driving Pri-fontaine-us down the driveway for the first time...

pri-fontaine-us from Jenny McDowell on Vimeo.

To explain how I was able to film this momentous occasion; Daniel had to put away the chickens on his way coming in, so I had time to park, get out the car, get the camera, and film the homecoming of our beloved. :)

Oh, and I guess people want to deets. It is a 2011 Toyota Prius 2 in classic silver metallic with a dark gray fabric interior. The Prius' are all "5-door" hatchbacks so there is a good amount of trunk space (as I raved about above), though not super deep because of the hybrid battery. It has keyless entry which has been my dream for many years. It also has a "smart key" so you press a power butter to start the car rather than turning a key in the ignition.

Also, it should be noted that Pri-fontaine-us helped us meet our personal goal for the next car we owned being built in this century :) (between the 2 of us, our "newest" car had been the 1997 CRV.)

Sigh...we are so in love.

We love you Pri-fontaine-us! Welcome to the family.