12 Cup Holders Baby!

The word for my new car is LUXURIOUS!

I didn't plan on buying a new car this weekend. I was just going to shop and look around to get an idea for what was out there. But I found THE ONE.

It started when I saw a beautiful white Lexus RX 330 glistening in the sun as we were walking over to the Saturn place. That is my dream car. I love it. It has the cutest backside on the road! (I am obsessed with how cars look from behind sometimes.) A salesman saw us looking (of course he did...they must have a beeper that goes off as soon as you set foot on their property) and asked if I wanted to take it for a test drive so I thought "why not?"

Big mistake. This guy sucked as a salesman. He was asking me all these personal questions about what I did, what car did I have now, what kind of payment did I want, when did I loose my virginity...ok maybe not that far, but seriously, I just agreed to take it for a spin not tell you my life story. Whatever you do, do not step into the office.

But the test drive was glorious. It drove so smooth. It had all the bells and whistles. The salesman made sure he pointed out the dimmer on the visor mirror because we all know that is all girls care about when buying a car- how is my face going to be lighted as I put on my makeup on my way to work. Seriously, the sales guy almost ruined the experience of driving my dream car. The car was great, but had a lot of miles for a lot of money, so I was not sold on it at all.

I'll spare you the rest of the details of our day-long car shopping excursion. Let's just say I was very closed off to sales people for the rest of the day. I looked at the new Saturn VUE but it was too much money for what you get in my opinion. I really wanted to find a used Ford Edge. I looked at a lot of them. The sunroof is amazing and the back seats even recline! One of the top contenders even had DVD players in the headrests.

We went to a total of 4 or 5 places and by the time we got to the last place I was kind of annoyed with the sales experience of car shopping. Our last stop was Auction Direct, a semi-new place in Raleigh. It is kind of like Carmax but way nicer. But the unfortunate thing was you couldn't get on the lot without being assigned a salesperson, answering this questionnaire about what you were looking for, and getting the low down on how things work at Action Direct. I suffered through all this because I knew they had some cheaper Ford Edge models on the lot from my internet research.

I liked one of the Edge models we looked at but my attention was drawn to this red SUV sitting further down the lot. I liked the way it looked and took it for a test drive and was already well on my way to falling in love with it. Then they let me take it home overnight and that sealed the deal.

I forgot to mention that literally 30 seconds after I stepped away from the Ford Edge I liked, a couple came up to look at it, took it for a test drive, and actually bought it before we had left the lot on Saturday. So I saw firsthand that cars move fast around there. I was so afraid if I took back my new love it would be sold right out from under me. But I had to wait until my bank opened on Monday to get the financing (they had a lower rate). I explained this to them and they said "No problem. Go ahead and take it home and bring the check in tomorrow." I love them.

So I went back today and officially am the proud owner of a slightly used (but new to me) Volvo XC90! (and yes- the fun fact of the day is it has 12 cup holders!)



The only sad part was trading in the 4Runner. My parents got me that car brand new back in 1997 and I loved that car. I loved it so much that I kept it during my lease on the Beetle Bug. But it was time to give it up. I almost cried driving away from it tonight though. But it was worth it. I love my new car!