No Test Drive Required

You've seen our adventures in vehicle shopping, since the a/c went bye-bye on the original Kia. You've seen our line-up of test driven vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and colors. But now, what do your wondering eyes reveal? The newest member of the family fleet--Celia, Sea-lia? 'Cuz it's blue. We're still working on a name, ha!

I know it doesn't look blue in this picture, but that was one big deciding factor for me. I've seen this color in the brochures, but never in person. I'd decided to settle for used with low mileage. I'd even considered--burgundy. In fact, it was a used burgundy model that led us to the same place we began with Kia . . . all those years ago.

It was spring of '05, I was expecting our third child while carrying the second in the infant car seat, as the three-year-old first-born ran in circles around the lot. Lol! I won't go that historic, but that's kind of what happened. We had that big, old beautiful truck that we'd leased--and then regretted leasing. We couldn't afford it, and we couldn't get rid of it . . . until Kia stepped in and said, "We have this modern-day covered wagon for you; if you take it (since next year we're going to trick these things out with all kinds of sweet features), we will buy out your lease and send you away in a Brand, NEw, CAR!!" It might have been Bob Barker, I can't remember for sure ;)

For 12 years, we've driven Bessie, here--there--and pretty much everywhere. We've dented her with bicycle handles, crunched her plastic interior with a load of lumber, melted crayons on her seats, stuck stickers to her windows, destroyed her carpets (thrown away her rugs), moved appliances and furniture--with the entire family in tow, but she kept right on running for us (well, until the whole a/c thing, but we'll consider that a temporary concern, since we don't have to concern ourselves with it until we want to now :) I've changed diapers in the back, packed picnics in the front. I've nursed babies while sitting in a child-sized car seat (I can't remember why, but I remember I did :) We've driven it to CA, AZ, NYC, MN, TX, OK, GA, NC, SC, TN, Chicago, the moon . . . seriously, I bet half the 50 states we've driven to or through in this vehicle! It's amazing to think of it--four car seats for years!!! Rotten bottles under the seats, ice cream cones melted into backseat consoles, a GPS that disappeared for nearly a year only to reappear under the passenger seat in plain view. Christmas trees on top, guitar stacks and karate bags in the back, house plants in the front seat when we moved to a new house--but still the Kia came with us. Whew! A lot memories in this beat up, stinky old van :)

Just look at that historic dashboard--no touch screen, no digital delights, no cooling glove compartment to store drinks. We were excited to have a c.d. player and remote entry on our key fobs! My brothers would climb in and not know how to close the doors--because you have to do it yourself! Well, not anymore, my young fellows! You can now push buttons and secure yourselves for a ride, lol ;)

The new dashboard--alight with wonders! I can have text messages read to me aloud. I can answer them back! (Well, kind of . . . I kept saying, "MORE" for more pre-programmed replies, and it kept saying, "Okay, four. Sending, 'LOL' to 'Mom home.'" Noooooo!!!! :) Heated/power adjusting seats, digital information on the amount of gas remaining in the tank and how many miles I can drive before becoming stranded! Not to mention . . . I can have my van tell my phone where it parked, and it will send me a message to help me find it. I mean . . . welcome to the new world of vehicle marvels! :) I'm digging all these new gadgets, even though in general I am anti new gadgets! Oh, and my mirrors fold in with a button push, yup, no rolling down windows and stretching across seats. Oh, and the doors lock automatically! (I can't tell you how many times I've felt bad remembering to lock, because in this town--I lock, at a stop light with questionable people waiting--innocently, I'm sure--to cross the road).

Eight passenger van, yes, sir! With a removable 8th seat for easy dog walking access. Window shades that drop down in the back. Remote start (what?!) Look at all that stow-and-go space!

You might even lose a kid back there! :)

We didn't test drive this vehicle. I simply vetoed the burgundy and said, "Show me any year you have in blue." He had a 2016, told us about a $6,000 decrease for a three-year lease to buy option, and I said, "Okay, we can look at the numbers." In no time, he was back with what we were paying on Buck's car (a little less actually) before it was paid off, and the three-year buy out was less than all the used versions we'd been looking at--we can save that up and pay it off (at least that's the plan :) PLUS--my favorite thing--we have the original 5-year, 60,000 mile/10-year, 100,000 mile warranty that we so enjoyed about our last Kia. (Did I mention the marshmallow, surround air bags, because I'm pretty stoked about those too?!)

It was so easy and relaxed. The sales guy grew up in the same area I did. His family bought the acreage of the veterinarian that lived in my tiny town of 300 people. (I don't know if I was ever a patient, but I do know that because of our little town's remote location, Doc S sometimes got to see the humans in his home-practice location :)

During the wait, Buck's coworkers were texting him, and he told them he couldn't reply because he finally had me in a car sales office and he wasn't going to let anything interrupt the process. They immediately texted back cheering! (I guess this car buying thing has been a topic of discussion for some while . . . :)

I know it took me a long time, but here's the benefit in that. I was willing to compromise. Before, I wanted all the bells and whistles (remote trunk open/close, built in navigation), but it was too much money (unless we gave up all the kids' extracurricular activities :) I was willing to "settle" for used with all the perks. Then God gave us brand new, with a few less perks, but everything we needed. And the story-teller in me loves that it came back full circle to (the dealership) where we started our family travels--back to the beginning to continue the tale . . . with Cealia . . . ooh, that may be the winner!