When I woke up yesterday it was not my intention to go out and guarantee that I wouldn't be retiring for the next six years, but that's exactly what happened.
Originally the plan had been to take a drive out to Tolleson and pay a visit to CarMax to arrange that a MINI Countryman I'd been eyeing be shipped down from Henderson, Nevada, so I could take a test drive and hopefully like the car enough to buy it.
Instead, I went online and started searching other dealers' inventories in Phoenix just to see what was available. A lot of them had vehicles similar to what I was looking for, but unfortunately they all had automatic transmissions and I really wanted to stay with a stick. (The car in Henderson was a six-speed stick). Call me old fashioned, but with the exception of my New Beetle back in the late 90s, every car I've owned has had a manual transmission.
After reading the Yelp reviews of the Carmax dealership, it spooked me. The reviews either seemed to be only one-star or five-star, with the one-star far outnumbering the five. It was time to rethink my priorities.
I decided to take one of these local automatic Countrymen for a test drive, and after grabbing lunch with Ben, we headed to the north valley AutoNation. Surprisingly, I didn't hate it. In fact, I pretty much loved every aspect of the car. The no-haggle price and projected monthly payments were in line with everywhere else I'd looked online, so four hours later (I'll be blogging about that too), and committing myself to not retiring for another six years, I bid a bittersweet farewell to Anderson, my faithful companion for the last fourteen (!!!) years, and we drove off.
When the new car bug hit me a few months ago, after seeing a lime green Jeep Renegade I was intrigued. But could I see myself in a different brand after a decade and a half as a MINI owner? Not a chance. I knew in my heart that if I'd gotten anything other than another MINI, every time I saw one on the road I'd sigh and wish that things were different. Also keeping in mind that barring winning the Lotto and being set financially for life, the next car I bought would probably realistically be my last if I ever hoped to retire, and I really wanted to be sure it was something I wanted.
Very Nice Car.
My dogs would never fit.
It looks very nice. We bought a new 2020 Rav4 Limited last November. Since we are both retired we pay cash. This is our third Rav4. This one is like buying a new computer. It practically drives itself.
BTW, did I mention in the past that Amoeba records is moving to Hollywood Blvd.?