We are officially old...

Well, we realized the importance of getting a new vehicle after Cara picked me up from outside the School of Dental Hygiene. Some background first, on Sunday we wanted to take Rowdy out for a swim and were driving to Jeff's cottage so we decided to stop by the old fisherman's shack to let him swim. There is a parking region in there and a few cars were about. While it was a rough looking gravel road, I didn't think it was too rough... We heard a "CROINK!" which I can only assume meant that the car's undercarriage hit a rock! The next day the car sounded like a souped (sp?) up thing, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Right after being picked up, the car's loudness increased 10 fold after sitting at a stop sign... In the interior it went from someone fairly quietly blowing air though their lips to an amplified Harley. We drove the whole way there and Cara said she never felt so much like white trash. We got on the lot, thanked God and then noticed that the exhaust pipe was dangling from the front!

In the end we went with a low end, normal length Chevy Uplander with the extended warranty (Uplander LT1 - with traction control & remote starter for those who care). In the end the difference between leasing and buying was $75 and an extra year, so we went for the purchase.

That actually was the last regular wheelbase on the lot as they had a deal on them, with a $3500 rebate coupled with 0% for 4 years (or in our case 2.9% for 5). We also got a $1000 automatic credit for owning a cavalier, our trade-in (which wasn't much seeing as the noise plus the cracked windshield, dented panels & trunk, broken trunk, excessive kilometers (just under 200,000) and general mess) and as recent grad we get the first 2 payments on them...

As I said it is white, and drives nicely. It was room for seven and NOTHING else, but the back seats individually fold down or can be removed. Looking at the engine it appears as though even changing the battery could require a trip to the shop, as everything is packed is so tightly. The vehicle has room for Rowdy and Little Yostie and all there stuff which is what we were looking for. It was a stressful day, but fortunately it went smoothly. Cara was very nervous about driving it around yesterday but is OK today.