I have a series of updates that I originally thought would be a good Five for Friday post, but that post got unwieldy and long. So I'm going to do shorter posts with updates and then resume my regular sporadic posting about books and nonsense.
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We have been test driving cars for months. On one hand, we're in a good position because it's not like our old Hyundai is actually out of commission. On the other hand, we'd like to actually make a decision before the snow falls. (NOTE: Snow fell last Saturday. We're already past our self-imposed deadline.)
Here's the situation. We technically have a two car garage, but only if those cars are pretty narrow. Right now we drive two compact cars and we're still squeezing in and out, so we can maybe extend the width of a new car by three or four inches, but then it's going to be super duper tight/impossible. We currently have a 2010 Hyundai Elantra that has served us well, but is on its last tires. We also have a 2019 VW Golf Sportwagen. We don't have his and her cars - we both drive the cars in equal amounts. The VW is basically for Hannah since she fits nicely in the back.
In 2019, when we bought our Sportwagen, I essentially fell in love with it from the test drive. If they still sold Sportwagens in the US, we'd just buy another one. Unfortunately, 80% of the market in this country - man do I wish I was buying a car in Europe - is pickups and SUVs. Sedans are a rarity and compact sedans are even rarer. And, honestly, there aren't any wagons sold in our price range anymore - if we want a wagon that isn't electric, we're looking at Audi ($45,000+), BMW ($100,000+), Mercedes ($76,000+), and Volvo ($70,000+). Would I love a Mercedes or Volvo wagon? YES. Is that price range appropriate for us? NO.
Wagons are great for our lifestyle. We can put the dog in the back and it's perfect for when we go on road trips and there's a place for us to put our cooler. But wagons are so expensive that we eventually settled on test driving the few remaining compact cars left on the market because, after all, we're replacing a sedan.
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The logistics of life are hard, too. We would ideally like to test drive these cars in the daylight. That leaves weekdays off the table since the sun has set by the time we get home from work these days. Most dealerships are only open on Saturdays on weekends. But our Saturdays are often filled with non-car shopping things. So, as you can imagine, this has made all of this a bit more protracted than is ideal.
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I want to fall in love with a car again. Or at least I want one of us to fall in love with a car again. Here's what we've test driven so far.
VW Jetta - Look, it's fine. It's a safe car. If someone put a Jetta in our garage right now, we'd be fine with that. But that's it. Just fine. Also, it doesn't come with a spare tire or floor mats and I was sort of annoyed by the nickel and diming situation.
Subaru Outback - This is an SUV crossover that sometimes gets called a wagon. In the 2026 model year, they're truly going to be an SUV because they are moving up its chassis size, so this might be our last chance if we want a Subaru, or frankly, anything close to a wagon in the future. But do we want one? It's big, barely able to fit in our garage. It accelerates like a dog and is no fun to drive. It's a little on the high side of our price range. It's FINE. The financing deals are great. It has all wheel drive. We also test drove a Legacy (sedan) and it was also fine. We *seem* like we should be Subaru people, but I don't know if we really are.
Honda - We test drove a Civic and an Accord. We test drove Hondas in 2019 when we brought the Sportwagen and I almost had a panic attack because I was so claustrophobic in them. Nothing has changed. Those cars are like caves. I know Honda has its fans, but I am not one of them. (We drive compact cars and I'm used to tight spaces. I was reeeeeally annoyed with the car salesperson who asked what I expected since we were looking at smaller cars. Well, Bob, I guess I was expecting you not to have your interior fabric in dark colors and the windows tinted so it seems like we're belowground.)
Hyundai - We test drove an Elantra (an updated version of our beloved Hyundai) and a Sonata. Frankly, the cars are ugly and look like they've already been in an accident with weird sharp juts and angles. There's a weird gearshift thing. They are fine to drive, but not very exciting. The warranty is very good.
Mazda 3 - I liked this car a lot more than my husband. It's zippy and fun. The financing deals aren't great and my husband thought the engine whined a bit more than he would like. The road noise bothered Dr. BB a lot, too. The warranty is shit. There is a 2026 model that has AWD and we might test drive that one, but then the price isn't as good because it's a new model year.
Toyota - We test drove a Prius. I refuse to tell you how excited I was about the Prius. I thought it was going to solve all our problems. The sightlines are sort of terrible. The regular rearview mirror has a very limited range, so you can turn on this newfangled camera thing and then you have a wider view, but it also made me nauseous. This one had a whine in the engine that irked me and the turn signals made a sound that was like nails on a chalkboard to me. I know that seems silly, but if I had to listen to that noise multiple times a day, I might not survive the drive.
Genesis 2025 G70 AWD - Are you familiar with Genesis? It's the Hyundai luxury brand. It comes with the Hyundai warranty and this one is deeply discounted, which is the only reason it's vaguely at the upper-end of our price range. My husband really likes this one and I'm pretty sure we'll probably end up getting it.
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What's next?
Well, the Genesis got sold, so that's off the table.
We're going to test drive an Outback with a better engine. My husband thinks that's what's going to make me fall in love with it.
We're going to test drive a 2026 AWD Mazda 3.
So the choice is probably the Outback and the Mazda 3. I'll be sure to let you know when and if we figure any of it out.
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Anyone want to just tell me what to do? Do you like car shopping? Do you make decisions a lot more quickly than we do?
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