*Does a little dance*

As promised, here are a few pictures of the new Jeep.

View from Left
View from Front
Posing with the spare tire

So, here's the story of how I came into possession of the Jeep:

I had narrowed my list of prospective purchases down to three vehicles: the Subaru Outback, the Honda Element, and the Jeep. I actually added the Jeep to my list at the last minute. I don't remember how I got it in my mind - I think perhaps I was thumbing through Consumer Reports and saw its rating. Anyhow, I had asked for a quote on a Liberty through a dealer's website and was quoted a number that was pretty hard to beat. I asked if I could come in and test-drive it. The problem was that the vehicle I was quoted on (a 6-speed base model) was 100 miles away and they wouldn't bring it in unless I would commit to purchasing it. Having never driven anything larger than a 1986 Lincoln Town Car, I worried that I wouldn't be able to handle a large vehicle so I asked to come in and drive something of the same size. I had no intention of actually making a purchase that day especially considering that the next day (today) I would visit another dealer that was going to let me take the vehicle home overnight to test.

Anyhow, when I got to the dealership I was put into a 2005 Liberty with a diesel engine and two-wheel drive. I wasn't particuarly enthralled with the performance, but I loved the feeling of being off the ground. Upon returning to the lot we looked at all the 2005 Liberties available. To keep cost down and still get the size vehicle I wanted, I really had my mind set on manual transmission, however there weren't any available on the lot [in my price range].

The salesman encouraged me to testdrive a PT Cruiser. I should comment here that I hate how "cute" those cars on, but seeing how the base model for those vehicles were running about $13,000 I figured it couldn't hurt to see how it drove. Well. I didn't really have anything bad to say about the perfromance of the car - I just couldn't get over the way they look. Also, I realized once I got into the Liberty that I definately wanted to be higher than a wagon would get me. I scratched the Outback off my mental list.

Eventually, I relented to considering a vehicle with automatic transmission and four-wheel drive (it's basically dumb as fuck to ddrive a utility vehicle during the winter if you don't have 4WD). There was a red one that was a good price because it had been sent back to the factory for a paint defect. They repainted it and sold it to the dealership at auction. Because of that I got it for the "used" price although it only had 28 miles on it.

I love it. It makes me giggle to think about how insanely giddy it makes me feel. It has a V6 engine so it has the umph that my Honda has and I get all the cargo room that I wanted. The Honda Element just ain't cute enough to beat that.

Now I've got to go back to Cary to drive my other car home.

Posted by Tiffany at October 14, 2005 06:04 PM | TrackBack