I mentioned here a while back that I was considering a new car. I went and bought one on Wednesday. It's a 211 Hyundai Elantra, sort of bluish purple as you can see in the pics.
My 2005 Toyota Scion TC was closing in on 118,000 miles, and although it was still running well it was going to need new brakes, a new battery, and a number of other bits of work done pretty soon. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed and I liked that car a lot. I'd grown attached. But...the Elantra gets 40 miles to the gallon while the Scion got around 28, and the Elantra has a much bigger gas tank, which means fewer fill up stops. I commute, as most of you know, and with gas going up I decided it was time for just such a new vehicle. In addition, Lana and are taking a long road trip as soon as school is out and I kind of wanted to go ahead and get a new car before that. The Elantra is a four door and has almost twice the head room and storage room as the Scion. And, as a new car it has all kinds of built in auxilary ports, Ipod docks, USB ports, and electrical plug ins so we can haul our laptops along on our trip and keep up with the world. It still looks sporty.
The Scion was probably the "best" car I ever had in many ways, and the Elantra is going to have to go well to beat it, but so far I'm pretty pleased with it. There was one glitch. On my way home from the dealer I set my radio preferences and the clock, but when I went out later to show it to Lana all my presets were gone and my keyless entry device didn't work. I was worried that I already had some electrical problem, but it turned out after some research that the dealer had forgotten to set one of the fuse box buttons to the "on" position and that took care of it.
Best of all, with trade in, I only paid about $15,000 for the Elantra. And it came with free satellite radio, for three months at least. I've been much enjoying listening to Liquid Metal, the metal only station, and to "Hair World," which plays only 80s so called hair metal bands. A new car is kinda nice, I gotta say.
I really like your new car, hon. I hope you get many, enjoyable miles out of it. It'll be fun to take it on our trip.
ReplyDeleteIt is NICE Charles.
ReplyDeleteI am driving a 1996 Mazda MPV. On some days, I am tired of it, but I am a "soccer" Mom and it just fits my image well.
Seems a nice car. To me the most important thing is being a safe one. For practical reasons.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for myself i have never owned a new car but my kid likes his Elentra that he bought 2 years ago and it runs fine...just make sure your tire tool kit has the wheel lock key in it.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah my current car is a 1994 Honda Civic with 289,500 miles on it and gets me about 30 miles to the gallon. hahahahahahaah
ReplyDeleteNice ride!
ReplyDeleteNice looking car there--I will cry at the pump this morning when I think what it cost you to fill it up (verses me)! But my 10 year old truck still runs well and only has 120k on it. And soon, it'll be the bicycle as I ride 3 miles to work.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! I'm sure it will help you through commute hell.
ReplyDeleteNice wheels. :) I'm sure it'll be great for your trip.
ReplyDeleteAngie
Those Hundais are really becoming popular and that's a lovely one. And not silver like every other car on the road, including ours. Darn you, Phil.
ReplyDeletegrats on the new wheels, charles :)
ReplyDeletea bud of mine in texas had the same idea, but went with a new ford focus, loves it, comes with an unbelievable amount of electronics 'gee whiz' goodies, aka 'sync'... he went from a 4wd gm s-15 pickup....
That's a great-looking car, but ONLY $15,000? I'm so out of it when it comes to prices! Our 4 cars have all been bought used. If the economy were depending on people like us, it would fold.
ReplyDeleteWe may need a new car pretty soon and if that happens, we're in trouble.
smart choice-
ReplyDeleteenjoy in good health you 2
Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Fun Fact about Life in Another Land: NZ has right-hand drive and no domestic auto manufacture. That means all our cars are imported, mostly from Australia or Japan, and by the time we get them our 'new' cars are usually a couple years old.
ReplyDeleteOdd but true! :)
Lana Gramlich, I’m loving the radio too.
ReplyDeleteOcean Girl, This is only the 3rd “new” vehicle I’ve had in my life. I don’t think that’s too man. :) and my image as a hotrod is long past.
Deka Black, this one has a lot of safety features too, which I do appreciate on that long commute.
Mark, Tire tool kit and wheel lock key. Check. I know I could have run my scion a lot longer but what the hell.
Bill Crider, thankee.
sage, I use to take my motorcycle to work a lot when I lived in Metairie and that was sure nice on the gas.
BernardL, I definitely enjoyed the commute more today. Nearly got hit once, but luckily did not.
Angie, I believe it will for sure.
pattinase, I know, I went to the closest Hyundai place a week or so ago but they were sold out and most of the dealers were sold out or only had one or two.
laughingwolf, I’m gonna like a lot of the electrical stuff on our trip. Will be nice to be able to plug in our laptop.
Mary Witzl, Like I mentioned to someone else, this is only the 3rd new car I’ve ever owned. It’s something of a treat for myself I guess.
Cloudia, thankee. It even has “green” seats, as in mostly recycled.
Steve Malley, they told me my particular one was manufactured in Alabama, although of course it has parts in it from everywhere.
All you have to do is plan your road trip before the free Sirius runs out. I can understand the gas concerns, though.
ReplyDeleteX-dell, absolutley
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. Que suave! Looks as cool as it sounds.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! I especially like the color.
ReplyDeleteWe drive the wheels off of our vehicles (the Tahoe is about to click 200 k). I would love to have something brand new.
Have a nice weekend Charles!
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ReplyDeleteVery nice car. I especially like that color and the gas mileage. Hope it brings you many miles of enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the last time I considered a car for anything other than fuel economy and safety, and price. They could create a giant shoebox and if it got over 60 miles a gallon and was reasonably priced, I'd slap the money down and Fred Flinstone my way along the road.
ReplyDeleteRon Scheer, thankee.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, they had a red one, black one and blue one. I figured the red would get the police's attention. I like the blue alot.
Livia, I'm hoping too that this one will last me a good decade at least.
Stewart Sternberg, I'm moving that way more and more, though not quite there yet. You are more mature than I am.
I like it! It's pretty!!! *LOL* Congrats on the new car. I'm trying to hold on to my Mustang for as long as I can.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe best car I ever owned was my 94 Grand Am... aka the Red Grand Am of Doom. Didn't think it was going to be such a good car, I didn't even think it would outlast its payments, but I ended up putting 220k miles on it and still sold it to an interested neighbor and watched it roll down the road under it's own power. Not one engine or transmission problem ever, even though the miles I put on it were hard ones indeed. All i had to do was keep up on the oil and brakes and the occasional alternator and battery.
ReplyDeleteToo bad GM decided to axe the Pontiac brand. Should have gotten rid of the superfluous GMC brand if the wanted to stop redundancy in their models.
Very nice, Charles. Wishing you the best with it ...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new vehicle. I like the look of it, which is always important to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the market for a new vehicle this year, but I think I'll make my purchase sometime in the latter third. I've got my eye on the 2011 Mustang.
That looks like a really sharp car. I, on the other hand, will be driving my $800 egg-beater called a Ford Taurus (with 2nd generation airbags due to being totalled before); while my wife drives the new Town & Country minivan I bought for her six months ago before she dropped the D-Bomb on me.
ReplyDeleteSorry for not keeping up with the blog postings but I've been feeling the blues.
Gabby, I did look at Camaros but I'm old enough to go with gas mileage instead of pure looks. :)
ReplyDeleteeric1313, I almost bought a grand am once upon a time.
Don, thanks, man.
Travis Cody, mustangs are pretty cool but my commute makes the gas mileage thing so important.
JR, perfectly understandable. Don't worry about it.
Good! I mean: i said this earlier for being something of capital importance.. and because thanks to a safe car i'm alive today (nothing serious, but very scary)
ReplyDeleteCharles, I LOVE the color of your new ride! The gas mileage is very cool. I, too, listen to Hair Nation sometimes. Enjoy...
ReplyDeleteWhat, no Hummer?
ReplyDeleteThat is a sleek, nifty looking car and the gas mileage is sweet. Cheers~
Glad to hear you got a neat new car. And not too expensive.
ReplyDeleteI recently had to junk mine.
Some Canadian ephemera:
Cars, cars cars. So representative of us in our dreams.
Curiously, up until recently, Ontario's Transportation minister had been one Harinder Takhar. The name stands out and is somehow amonapotaeic. Makes me think of Harrier, The Car...And under Mr. Takhar's leaderhip, the Ontario Provincial Police were sure busy issuing speeding tickets...Perhaps too many.
Mr. Takhar now has another portfolio.
And I had to junk my own car because it kept failing emission tests, Mr. Takhar's must for all older vehicles.
Heh. Now an old fart myself, I know I would surely fail an emission test. I have become a polluter, like my old Dodge Omni.
Deka Black, I've had a few close calls in cars as well, although more than close on motorcycles. I just stay with cars these days.
ReplyDeletejodi, yes, it's a very nice color for sure.
Erik Donald France, didn't figure I needed the firepower. :)
ivan, hopefully they won't put emission standards on me. I'm afraid I'd fail miserably. I'm definitely an old fart.
That is great mileage, Charles! And a very cute ride! I'm hooked on Satellite radio, especially BBC News.
ReplyDeleteBarrie, the news generally depresses me. I prefer the music.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new car - very nice. I hope it works out well for you.
ReplyDeletePretty. New cars are fun.
ReplyDeleteKate, thankee.
ReplyDeleteCandy, indeed they are.